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Procedure price report · Pathology

MLH1 gene methylation test

CPT 81288the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that checks whether the control region of the MLH1 gene is chemically silenced in a tissue or blood sample, used in evaluating Lynch syndrome and related tumors.

Hospitals typically charge $405 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,450 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $412. Most fall between $230 and $649 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,450
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 1,450 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
$186$274$405$593$875

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($186 vs $875).

How the prices are spread

$132 – $165: 31 hospitals$132$165 – $207: 113 hospitals$207 – $258: 121 hospitals$207$258 – $323: 212 hospitals$323 – $403: 174 hospitals$323$403 – $504: 241 hospitals$504 – $630: 168 hospitals$504$630 – $787: 105 hospitals$787 – $984: 102 hospitals$787$984 – $1,230: 39 hospitals$984median $405price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,306 of 1,450 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$132$16531
$165$207113
$207$258121
$258$323212
$323$403174
$403$504241
$504$630168
$630$787105
$787$984102
$984$1,23039

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $405.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $467 across 13 hospitalsME$467Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $441 across 10 hospitalsNH$441Washington: median $344 across 39 hospitalsWA$344Idaho: median $355 across 10 hospitalsID$355Montana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $440 across 60 hospitalsMN$440Illinois: median $544 across 54 hospitalsIL$544Wisconsin: median $478 across 80 hospitalsWI$478Michigan: median $297 across 58 hospitalsMI$297New York: median $338 across 53 hospitalsNY$338Massachusetts: median $693 across 32 hospitalsMA$693Oregon: median $378 across 13 hospitalsOR$378Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 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 $283 across 25 hospitalsIA$283Indiana: median $349 across 68 hospitalsIN$349Ohio: median $425 across 92 hospitalsOH$425Pennsylvania: median $588 across 72 hospitalsPA$588New Jersey: median $212 across 41 hospitalsNJ$212Connecticut: median $617 across 13 hospitalsCT$617Rhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $442 across 38 hospitalsCA$442Utah: median $363 across 25 hospitalsUT$363Colorado: median $323 across 19 hospitalsCO$323Nebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $382 across 30 hospitalsMO$382Kentucky: median $522 across 22 hospitalsKY$522West Virginia: median $369 across 20 hospitalsWV$369Virginia: median $318 across 58 hospitalsVA$318Maryland: median $614 across 24 hospitalsMD$614Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $375 across 25 hospitalsAZ$375New Mexico: median $403 across 11 hospitalsNM$403Kansas: median $861 across 13 hospitalsKS$861Arkansas: median $333 across 12 hospitalsAR$333Tennessee: median $285 across 29 hospitalsTN$285North Carolina: median $359 across 44 hospitalsNC$359South Carolina: median $633 across 26 hospitalsSC$633Oklahoma: median $217 across 34 hospitalsOK$217Louisiana: median $154 across 20 hospitalsLA$154Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $343 across 12 hospitalsAL$343Georgia: median $369 across 62 hospitalsGA$369Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $288 across 84 hospitalsTX$288Florida: median $295 across 52 hospitalsFL$295
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $405. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS13$861+113%$284 – $1,035
Massachusetts MA32$693+71%$427 – $825
South Carolina SC26$633+56%$445 – $653
Connecticut CT13$617+52%$264 – $818
Maryland MD24$614+52%$289 – $753
Pennsylvania PA72$588+45%$254 – $1,124
Illinois IL54$544+34%$186 – $610
Kentucky KY22$522+29%$229 – $551
Wisconsin WI80$478+18%$450 – $696
Maine ME13$467+15%$164 – $500
California CA38$442+9%$252 – $442
New Hampshire NH10$441+9%$187 – $731
Minnesota MN60$440+9%$344 – $469
Ohio OH92$425+5%$308 – $863
New Mexico NM11$4030%$333 – $507
Missouri MO30$382−6%$285 – $408
Oregon OR13$378−7%$260 – $437
Arizona AZ25$375−7%$189 – $1,629
West Virginia WV20$369−9%$295 – $918
Georgia GA62$369−9%$359 – $649
Utah UT25$363−10%$363 – $427
North Carolina NC44$359−11%$229 – $373
Idaho ID10$355−12%$341 – $363
Indiana IN68$349−14%$150 – $586
Washington WA39$344−15%$230 – $447
Alabama AL12$343−15%$212 – $499
New York NY53$338−17%$192 – $838
Arkansas AR12$333−18%$189 – $339
Colorado CO19$323−20%$270 – $1,942
Virginia VA58$318−21%$268 – $637
Michigan MI58$297−27%$182 – $711
Florida FL52$295−27%$190 – $665
Texas TX84$288−29%$272 – $703
Tennessee TN29$285−30%$138 – $290
Iowa IA25$283−30%$185 – $441
Oklahoma OK34$217−47%$115 – $441
New Jersey NJ41$212−48%$192 – $299
Louisiana LA20$154−62%$111 – $309
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not 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 $405.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,188$376$221 – $653
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access244$437$288 – $624
Ownership
For-profit141$406$245 – $872
Government164$363$221 – $577
Non-profit1,138$410$231 – $637
System affiliation
Part of a system1,317$408$233 – $649
Independent133$350$218 – $622

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$693
Median cash price$405
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

1,112 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $425 and the average of the middle 60% is $428; most fall between $247 and $666.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,112 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
$185$285$425$610$879

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($185 vs $879).

Of the 1,237 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,112 gave a usable cash price; 79 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 45 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,450 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (37%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,578 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,450
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here82
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded44
Hospitals that filed this code1,578

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 MLH1 GENE.

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, “MLH1 gene methylation test (CPT 81288) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81288-mlh1-gene-methylation-test