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Procedure price report · Pathology

Immunoglobulin heavy chain clone test, amplified method

CPT 81261the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that uses an amplification method to look for an abnormal single-clone population of B cells, used in evaluating lymphoma and related blood disorders.

Hospitals typically charge $394 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,654 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $427. Most fall between $218 and $820 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,654
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 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 1,654 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
$170$252$394$716$1,115

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($170 vs $1,115).

How the prices are spread

$132 – $169: 83 hospitals$132$169 – $217: 150 hospitals$217 – $278: 204 hospitals$217$278 – $356: 259 hospitals$356 – $456: 181 hospitals$356$456 – $585: 143 hospitals$585 – $750: 169 hospitals$585$750 – $961: 145 hospitals$961 – $1,232: 110 hospitals$961$1,232 – $1,580: 47 hospitals$1,232median $394price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,491 of 1,654 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$132$16983
$169$217150
$217$278204
$278$356259
$356$456181
$456$585143
$585$750169
$750$961145
$961$1,232110
$1,232$1,58047

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $394.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $217 across 10 hospitalsME$217Vermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $264 across 14 hospitalsNH$264Washington: median $513 across 43 hospitalsWA$513Idaho: median $263 across 12 hospitalsID$263Montana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $378 across 65 hospitalsMN$378Illinois: median $496 across 64 hospitalsIL$496Wisconsin: median $615 across 75 hospitalsWI$615Michigan: median $374 across 36 hospitalsMI$374New York: median $348 across 68 hospitalsNY$348Massachusetts: median $702 across 39 hospitalsMA$702Oregon: median $292 across 16 hospitalsOR$292Nevada: median $289 across 12 hospitalsNV$289Wyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $249 across 28 hospitalsIA$249Indiana: median $317 across 62 hospitalsIN$317Ohio: median $439 across 107 hospitalsOH$439Pennsylvania: median $405 across 73 hospitalsPA$405New Jersey: median $218 across 38 hospitalsNJ$218Connecticut: median $376 across 13 hospitalsCT$376Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $504 across 40 hospitalsCA$504Utah: median $1,120 across 26 hospitalsUT$1,120Colorado: median $503 across 43 hospitalsCO$503Nebraska: median $457 across 22 hospitalsNE$457Missouri: median $417 across 44 hospitalsMO$417Kentucky: median $473 across 31 hospitalsKY$473West Virginia: median $589 across 19 hospitalsWV$589Virginia: median $631 across 45 hospitalsVA$631Maryland: median $356 across 34 hospitalsMD$356Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $545 across 25 hospitalsAZ$545New Mexico: median $346 across 10 hospitalsNM$346Kansas: median $738 across 20 hospitalsKS$738Arkansas: median $324 across 18 hospitalsAR$324Tennessee: median $280 across 23 hospitalsTN$280North Carolina: median $204 across 56 hospitalsNC$204South Carolina: median $289 across 34 hospitalsSC$289Oklahoma: median $315 across 39 hospitalsOK$315Louisiana: median $269 across 27 hospitalsLA$269Mississippi: median $308 across 22 hospitalsMS$308Alabama: median $366 across 19 hospitalsAL$366Georgia: median $314 across 64 hospitalsGA$314Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $300 across 105 hospitalsTX$300Florida: median $202 across 72 hospitalsFL$202
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $394. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT26$1,120+185%$1,120 – $1,318
Kansas KS20$738+88%$400 – $2,337
Massachusetts MA39$702+78%$337 – $965
Virginia VA45$631+60%$261 – $947
Wisconsin WI75$615+56%$322 – $807
West Virginia WV19$589+50%$200 – $1,022
Arizona AZ25$545+39%$266 – $2,071
Washington WA43$513+30%$320 – $682
California CA40$504+28%$154 – $504
Colorado CO43$503+28%$246 – $1,080
Illinois IL64$496+26%$394 – $1,035
Kentucky KY31$473+20%$195 – $1,367
Nebraska NE22$457+16%$180 – $726
Ohio OH107$439+12%$307 – $888
Missouri MO44$417+6%$287 – $850
Pennsylvania PA73$405+3%$224 – $1,062
Minnesota MN65$378−4%$239 – $492
Connecticut CT13$376−4%$254 – $842
Michigan MI36$374−5%$204 – $754
Alabama AL19$366−7%$252 – $1,314
Maryland MD34$356−10%$215 – $735
New York NY68$348−12%$198 – $843
New Mexico NM10$346−12%$202 – $373
Arkansas AR18$324−18%$129 – $474
Indiana IN62$317−20%$228 – $428
Oklahoma OK39$315−20%$168 – $500
Georgia GA64$314−20%$313 – $911
Mississippi MS22$308−22%$129 – $614
Texas TX105$300−24%$289 – $634
Oregon OR16$292−26%$238 – $555
South Carolina SC34$289−27%$283 – $1,106
Nevada NV12$289−27%$89 – $693
Tennessee TN23$280−29%$262 – $347
Louisiana LA27$269−32%$131 – $420
New Hampshire NH14$264−33%$179 – $902
Idaho ID12$263−33%$263 – $660
Iowa IA28$249−37%$190 – $679
New Jersey NJ38$218−45%$198 – $484
Maine ME10$217−45%$182 – $806
North Carolina NC56$204−48%$155 – $529
Florida FL72$202−49%$105 – $594
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $394.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,348$363$210 – $824
Children’s30$440$253 – $738
Critical access267$446$267 – $823
Ownership
For-profit180$415$248 – $961
Government193$368$224 – $682
Non-profit1,272$394$218 – $820
System affiliation
Part of a system1,451$394$224 – $842
Independent203$335$199 – $699

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$727
Median cash price$394
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

1,220 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $394 and the average of the middle 60% is $452; most fall between $239 and $862.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,220 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$263$394$750$1,115

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($176 vs $1,115).

Of the 1,349 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,220 gave a usable cash price; 81 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 48 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,654 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (42%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,810 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,654
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here97
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 — excluded57
Hospitals that filed this code1,810

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 IGH GENE REARRANGE AMP METH.

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, “Immunoglobulin heavy chain clone test, amplified method (CPT 81261) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81261-immunoglobulin-heavy-chain-clone-test-amplified-method