HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Pathology

Friedreich ataxia gene test for repeat expansion

CPT 81284the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test on a blood sample that measures the repeated DNA segment in the FXN gene to see whether an expanded copy linked to Friedreich ataxia is present.

Hospitals typically charge $304 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 358 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $287. Most fall between $137 and $580 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
358
States
38
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 358 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$148$304$469$891

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($98 vs $891).

How the prices are spread

$67 – $89: 15 hospitals$67$89 – $118: 35 hospitals$118 – $157: 55 hospitals$118$157 – $208: 32 hospitals$208 – $276: 11 hospitals$208$276 – $367: 68 hospitals$367 – $486: 44 hospitals$367$486 – $645: 35 hospitals$645 – $856: 15 hospitals$645$856 – $1,135: 20 hospitals$856median $304price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (330 of 358 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$67$8915
$89$11835
$118$15755
$157$20832
$208$27611
$276$36768
$367$48644
$486$64535
$645$85615
$856$1,13520

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $304.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $146 across 10 hospitalsWA$146Idaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: median $469 across 18 hospitalsMN$469Illinois: median $288 across 14 hospitalsIL$288Wisconsin: median $418 across 26 hospitalsWI$418Michigan: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $137 across 25 hospitalsNY$137Massachusetts: median $416 across 10 hospitalsMA$416Oregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 3 hospitals 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 $199 across 14 hospitalsIN$199Ohio: median $1,401 across 27 hospitalsOH$1,401Pennsylvania: median $107 across 16 hospitalsPA$107New Jersey: median $151 across 28 hospitalsNJ$151Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $314 across 21 hospitalsCA$314Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $108 across 10 hospitalsVA$108Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 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 $1,076 across 15 hospitalsNC$1,076South Carolina: median $321 across 12 hospitalsSC$321Oklahoma: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $67 across 10 hospitalsGA$67Hawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $304. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH27$1,401+361%$448 – $1,713
North Carolina NC15$1,076+254%$172 – $1,076
Minnesota MN18$469+54%$98 – $616
Wisconsin WI26$418+37%$308 – $630
Massachusetts MA10$416+37%$240 – $497
South Carolina SC12$321+6%$321 – $321
California CA21$314+3%$314 – $314
Illinois IL14$288−5%$220 – $356
Indiana IN14$199−34%$174 – $301
Iowa IA11$154−49%$154 – $154
New Jersey NJ28$151−50%$137 – $158
Washington WA10$146−52%$146 – $205
New York NY25$137−55%$137 – $304
Tennessee TN16$108−65%$47 – $108
Virginia VA10$108−65%$106 – $367
Pennsylvania PA16$107−65%$91 – $295
Georgia GA10$67−78%$67 – $67
Michigan MI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not 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 $304.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care286$288$137 – $518
Children’s15fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access55$418$267 – $630
Ownership
For-profit18fewer than 20 hospitals
Government41$293$137 – $1,076
Non-profit297$308$137 – $534
System affiliation
Part of a system324$304$137 – $561
Independent34$302$158 – $768

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$560
Median cash price$304
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

242 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $321 and the average of the middle 60% is $369; most fall between $153 and $630.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 242 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$154$321$616$1,076

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($98 vs $1,076).

Of the 249 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 242 gave a usable cash price; 2 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 5 a list price only.

How complete is this

358 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 367 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted358
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here4
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 — excluded3
Hospitals that filed this code367

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 FXN GENE DETC ABNOR ALLELES.

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, “Friedreich ataxia gene test for repeat expansion (CPT 81284) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81284-friedreich-ataxia-gene-test-for-repeat-expansion