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Procedure price report · Pathology

Full gene sequencing of the alpha globin genes

CPT 81259the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that reads the full coding sequence of both alpha globin genes, used when common deletion testing does not explain the findings.

Hospitals typically charge $770 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,011 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $812. Most fall between $450 and $1,372 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,011
States
50
Filings dated
Jun 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 1,011 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
$315$504$770$1,188$1,909

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($315 vs $1,909).

How the prices are spread

$231 – $293: 41 hospitals$231$293 – $374: 67 hospitals$374 – $476: 82 hospitals$374$476 – $606: 140 hospitals$606 – $771: 131 hospitals$606$771 – $982: 148 hospitals$982 – $1,250: 128 hospitals$982$1,250 – $1,591: 67 hospitals$1,591 – $2,025: 73 hospitals$1,591$2,025 – $2,579: 39 hospitals$2,025median $770price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (916 of 1,011 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$231$29341
$293$37467
$374$47682
$476$606140
$606$771131
$771$982148
$982$1,250128
$1,250$1,59167
$1,591$2,02573
$2,025$2,57939

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $770.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $494 across 21 hospitalsWA$494Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $478 across 45 hospitalsMN$478Illinois: median $748 across 44 hospitalsIL$748Wisconsin: median $699 across 62 hospitalsWI$699Michigan: median $828 across 27 hospitalsMI$828New York: median $643 across 40 hospitalsNY$643Massachusetts: median $1,035 across 15 hospitalsMA$1,035Oregon: median $720 across 14 hospitalsOR$720Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $576 across 22 hospitalsIA$576Indiana: median $760 across 24 hospitalsIN$760Ohio: median $1,013 across 69 hospitalsOH$1,013Pennsylvania: median $1,240 across 31 hospitalsPA$1,240New Jersey: median $660 across 33 hospitalsNJ$660Connecticut: 8 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 $1,372 across 30 hospitalsCA$1,372Utah: median $1,036 across 24 hospitalsUT$1,036Colorado: median $475 across 25 hospitalsCO$475Nebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $901 across 35 hospitalsMO$901Kentucky: median $1,800 across 21 hospitalsKY$1,800West Virginia: median $828 across 22 hospitalsWV$828Virginia: median $770 across 33 hospitalsVA$770Maryland: median $976 across 16 hospitalsMD$976Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $690 across 13 hospitalsAZ$690New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $937 across 12 hospitalsKS$937Arkansas: median $451 across 15 hospitalsAR$451Tennessee: median $756 across 25 hospitalsTN$756North Carolina: median $617 across 20 hospitalsNC$617South Carolina: median $945 across 17 hospitalsSC$945Oklahoma: median $734 across 19 hospitalsOK$734Louisiana: median $742 across 17 hospitalsLA$742Mississippi: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $338 across 47 hospitalsGA$338Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $788 across 66 hospitalsTX$788Florida: median $367 across 26 hospitalsFL$367
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $770. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kentucky KY21$1,800+134%$627 – $2,999
California CA30$1,372+78%$549 – $1,372
Pennsylvania PA31$1,240+61%$432 – $5,424
Utah UT24$1,036+35%$1,036 – $1,218
Massachusetts MA15$1,035+34%$831 – $1,255
Ohio OH69$1,013+32%$569 – $1,308
Maryland MD16$976+27%$730 – $2,524
South Carolina SC17$945+23%$552 – $945
Kansas KS12$937+22%$605 – $5,074
Missouri MO35$901+17%$454 – $1,156
Michigan MI27$828+8%$799 – $1,739
West Virginia WV22$828+7%$828 – $1,670
Texas TX66$788+2%$450 – $1,101
Virginia VA33$7700%$231 – $1,763
Indiana IN24$760−1%$646 – $1,228
Tennessee TN25$756−2%$236 – $770
Illinois IL44$748−3%$565 – $1,244
Louisiana LA17$742−4%$297 – $834
Oklahoma OK19$734−5%$460 – $1,285
Oregon OR14$720−6%$720 – $1,251
Wisconsin WI62$699−9%$565 – $1,909
Arizona AZ13$690−10%$347 – $917
New Jersey NJ33$660−14%$600 – $715
New York NY40$643−17%$600 – $1,413
North Carolina NC20$617−20%$617 – $953
Iowa IA22$576−25%$576 – $987
Washington WA21$494−36%$346 – $974
Minnesota MN45$478−38%$290 – $592
Colorado CO25$475−38%$310 – $757
Arkansas AR15$451−41%$291 – $526
Florida FL26$367−52%$293 – $2,084
Georgia GA47$338−56%$166 – $1,909
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not 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 $770.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care812$770$436 – $1,372
Children’s27$605$473 – $1,142
Critical access166$799$455 – $1,339
Ownership
For-profit62$864$338 – $1,800
Government129$617$352 – $1,106
Non-profit814$788$468 – $1,372
System affiliation
Part of a system903$788$450 – $1,372
Independent108$662$434 – $1,135

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,381
Median cash price$770
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

770 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $799 and the average of the middle 60% is $846; most fall between $441 and $1,413.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 770 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
$310$501$799$1,244$1,950

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($310 vs $1,950).

Of the 849 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 770 gave a usable cash price; 57 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,011 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (26%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,110 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,011
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here74
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded23
Hospitals that filed this code1,110

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 HBA1/HBA2 FULL GENE SEQUENCE.

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, “Full gene sequencing of the alpha globin genes (CPT 81259) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81259-full-gene-sequencing-of-the-alpha-globin-genes