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Procedure price report · Pathology

Myotonic dystrophy gene test for abnormal repeats

CPT 81234the billing code this page is about

Laboratory analysis of the DMPK gene to look for an abnormal expanded repeat region linked to myotonic dystrophy type 1. Covers one test on one sample.

Hospitals typically charge $322 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 543 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $381. Most fall between $180 and $765 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
543
States
46
Filings dated
Jun 2025 – 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 543 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
$137$206$322$629$1,163

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($137 vs $1,163).

How the prices are spread

$115 – $149: 35 hospitals$115$149 – $194: 59 hospitals$194 – $253: 67 hospitals$194$253 – $329: 94 hospitals$329 – $428: 54 hospitals$329$428 – $556: 39 hospitals$556 – $724: 55 hospitals$556$724 – $941: 35 hospitals$941 – $1,224: 41 hospitals$941$1,224 – $1,593: 13 hospitals$1,224median $322price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (492 of 543 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$115$14935
$149$19459
$194$25367
$253$32994
$329$42854
$428$55639
$556$72455
$724$94135
$941$1,22441
$1,224$1,59313

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $322.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $205 across 16 hospitalsWA$205Idaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $247 across 11 hospitalsND$247Minnesota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $449 across 24 hospitalsIL$449Wisconsin: median $321 across 14 hospitalsWI$321Michigan: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $137 across 21 hospitalsNY$137Massachusetts: median $514 across 10 hospitalsMA$514Oregon: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $154 across 14 hospitalsIA$154Indiana: median $218 across 18 hospitalsIN$218Ohio: median $614 across 57 hospitalsOH$614Pennsylvania: median $206 across 19 hospitalsPA$206New Jersey: median $151 across 25 hospitalsNJ$151Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $314 across 21 hospitalsCA$314Utah: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $405 across 15 hospitalsCO$405Nebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $1,099 across 12 hospitalsKY$1,099West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $325 across 24 hospitalsVA$325Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $178 across 12 hospitalsTN$178North Carolina: median $1,952 across 10 hospitalsNC$1,952South Carolina: median $398 across 16 hospitalsSC$398Oklahoma: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $293 across 38 hospitalsGA$293Hawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $1,163 across 56 hospitalsTX$1,163Florida: median $137 across 15 hospitalsFL$137
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $322. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
North Carolina NC10$1,952+507%$1,952 – $1,952
Texas TX56$1,163+261%$251 – $1,163
Kentucky KY12$1,099+242%$137 – $1,099
Ohio OH57$614+91%$382 – $1,457
Massachusetts MA10$514+60%$416 – $1,221
Illinois IL24$449+40%$288 – $776
Colorado CO15$405+26%$249 – $453
South Carolina SC16$398+24%$398 – $814
Virginia VA24$325+1%$196 – $667
Wisconsin WI14$3210%$321 – $396
California CA21$314−2%$314 – $314
Georgia GA38$293−9%$225 – $629
North Dakota ND11$247−23%$230 – $997
Indiana IN18$218−32%$174 – $422
Pennsylvania PA19$206−36%$91 – $295
Washington WA16$205−36%$115 – $379
Tennessee TN12$178−45%$176 – $203
Iowa IA14$154−52%$154 – $525
New Jersey NJ25$151−53%$137 – $151
Florida FL15$137−57%$110 – $280
New York NY21$137−57%$137 – $364
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not 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 $322.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care455$314$174 – $740
Children’s22$454$261 – $745
Critical access63$388$247 – $913
Ownership
For-profit44$614$216 – $1,163
Government70$301$137 – $846
Non-profit426$314$180 – $652
System affiliation
Part of a system487$321$180 – $765
Independent56$389$187 – $764

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$660
Median cash price$322
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

396 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $398 and the average of the middle 60% is $429; most fall between $225 and $814.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 396 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
$176$250$398$667$1,163

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($176 vs $1,163).

Of the 433 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 396 gave a usable cash price; 25 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 12 a list price only.

How complete is this

543 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (14%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 592 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted543
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here35
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 — excluded13
Hospitals that filed this code592

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 24, 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 DMPK GENE DETC ABNOR ALLELE.

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, “Myotonic dystrophy gene test for abnormal repeats (CPT 81234) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81234-myotonic-dystrophy-gene-test-for-abnormal-repeats