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Procedure price report · Pathology

MSH2 gene test for a known family variant

CPT 81296the billing code this page is about

A blood or tissue test that looks only for a specific MSH2 gene change already identified in a family member, part of Lynch syndrome (hereditary colon cancer) evaluation.

Hospitals typically charge $440 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 284 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $478. Most fall between $338 and $820 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
284
States
33
Filings dated
Aug 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 284 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
$236$338$440$676$907

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 3.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($236 vs $907).

How the prices are spread

$160 – $193: 12 hospitals$160$193 – $233: 2 hospitals$233 – $281: 9 hospitals$233$281 – $340: 40 hospitals$340 – $410: 54 hospitals$340$410 – $495: 39 hospitals$495 – $597: 23 hospitals$495$597 – $721: 24 hospitals$721 – $870: 20 hospitals$721$870 – $1,050: 33 hospitals$870median $440price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (256 of 284 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$160$19312
$193$2332
$233$2819
$281$34040
$340$41054
$410$49539
$495$59723
$597$72124
$721$87020
$870$1,05033

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $440.

Alaska: 1 hospital 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $768 across 10 hospitalsWA$768Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $375 across 18 hospitalsMN$375Illinois: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $442 across 19 hospitalsMI$442New York: median $338 across 17 hospitalsNY$338Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $676 across 13 hospitalsIA$676Indiana: median $534 across 15 hospitalsIN$534Ohio: median $820 across 20 hospitalsOH$820Pennsylvania: median $167 across 16 hospitalsPA$167New Jersey: median $372 across 22 hospitalsNJ$372Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $907 across 22 hospitalsCA$907Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceARTennessee: median $166 across 10 hospitalsTN$166North Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSCOklahoma: median $306 across 16 hospitalsOK$306Louisiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $405 across 16 hospitalsTX$405Florida: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $440. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA22$907+106%$907 – $907
Ohio OH20$820+86%$415 – $827
Washington WA10$768+75%$402 – $1,007
Iowa IA13$676+54%$676 – $676
Indiana IN15$534+21%$428 – $645
Michigan MI19$4420%$442 – $522
Texas TX16$405−8%$405 – $405
Minnesota MN18$375−15%$348 – $440
New Jersey NJ22$372−16%$338 – $372
New York NY17$338−23%$338 – $405
Oklahoma OK16$306−30%$182 – $343
Pennsylvania PA16$167−62%$132 – $236
Tennessee TN10$166−62%$159 – $166
Missouri MO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $440.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care231$405$331 – $820
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access44$534$440 – $768
Ownership
For-profit17fewer than 20 hospitals
Government31$338$301 – $442
Non-profit234$442$338 – $827
System affiliation
Part of a system264$442$335 – $820
Independent20$401$352 – $811

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$845
Median cash price$440
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

191 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $442 and the average of the middle 60% is $498; most fall between $306 and $827.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 191 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
$167$335$442$676$907

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($167 vs $907).

Of the 208 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 191 gave a usable cash price; 5 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

284 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (7%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 321 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted284
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here23
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 code321

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 5, 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 MSH2 GENE KNOWN VARIANTS.

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, “MSH2 gene test for a known family variant (CPT 81296) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81296-msh2-gene-test-for-a-known-family-variant