HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Pathology

CACNA1A gene test for repeat expansion

CPT 81184the billing code this page is about

Laboratory test of the CACNA1A gene to detect abnormally expanded DNA repeat sections, the change linked to an inherited ataxia.

Hospitals typically charge $192 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 472 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $209. Most fall between $116 and $316 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
472
States
43
Filings dated
Dec 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 472 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$86$128$192$314$418

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($86 vs $418).

How the prices are spread

$67 – $87: 29 hospitals$67$87 – $113: 36 hospitals$113 – $146: 91 hospitals$113$146 – $189: 56 hospitals$189 – $245: 24 hospitals$189$245 – $317: 121 hospitals$317 – $411: 21 hospitals$317$411 – $532: 35 hospitals$532 – $688: 9 hospitals$532$688 – $891: 7 hospitals$688median $192price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (429 of 472 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$67$8729
$87$11336
$113$14691
$146$18956
$189$24524
$245$317121
$317$41121
$411$53235
$532$6889
$688$8917

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $192.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $248 across 11 hospitalsWA$248Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $123 across 20 hospitalsMN$123Illinois: median $206 across 20 hospitalsIL$206Wisconsin: median $308 across 32 hospitalsWI$308Michigan: median $189 across 10 hospitalsMI$189New York: median $137 across 26 hospitalsNY$137Massachusetts: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $154 across 11 hospitalsIA$154Indiana: median $198 across 21 hospitalsIN$198Ohio: median $534 across 38 hospitalsOH$534Pennsylvania: median $111 across 20 hospitalsPA$111New Jersey: median $151 across 24 hospitalsNJ$151Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $314 across 22 hospitalsCA$314Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $303 across 12 hospitalsKY$303West Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $106 across 11 hospitalsVA$106Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $108 across 16 hospitalsTN$108North Carolina: median $44 across 11 hospitalsNC$44South Carolina: median $288 across 17 hospitalsSC$288Oklahoma: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $67 across 13 hospitalsGA$67Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $261 across 41 hospitalsTX$261Florida: median $128 across 12 hospitalsFL$128
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $192. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH38$534+178%$133 – $985
California CA22$314+64%$314 – $314
Wisconsin WI32$308+61%$126 – $418
Kentucky KY12$303+58%$133 – $303
South Carolina SC17$288+50%$288 – $297
Texas TX41$261+36%$261 – $413
Washington WA11$248+29%$248 – $518
Illinois IL20$206+8%$137 – $316
Indiana IN21$198+3%$137 – $303
Michigan MI10$189−1%$75 – $418
Iowa IA11$154−20%$154 – $154
New Jersey NJ24$151−21%$137 – $151
New York NY26$137−29%$137 – $347
Florida FL12$128−33%$128 – $137
Minnesota MN20$123−36%$98 – $123
Pennsylvania PA20$111−42%$91 – $875
Tennessee TN16$108−44%$47 – $108
Virginia VA11$106−45%$86 – $108
Georgia GA13$67−65%$67 – $116
North Carolina NC11$44−77%$44 – $53
Massachusetts MA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $192.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care375$189$116 – $316
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access82$198$123 – $360
Ownership
For-profit31$206$128 – $276
Government44$137$116 – $293
Non-profit394$206$116 – $325
System affiliation
Part of a system432$198$116 – $325
Independent40$158$110 – $253

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$413
Median cash price$192
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

330 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $261 and the average of the middle 60% is $254; most fall between $122 and $418.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 330 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$98$133$261$375$875

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($98 vs $875).

Of the 349 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 330 gave a usable cash price; 11 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 8 a list price only.

How complete is this

472 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (12%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 486 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted472
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here7
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded6
Hospitals that filed this code486

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Pathology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as CACNA1A GEN DETC ABNOR ALLEL.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “CACNA1A gene test for repeat expansion (CPT 81184) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81184-cacna1a-gene-test-for-repeat-expansion