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Procedure price report · Pathology

Gene test for sickle cell and hemoglobin variants

CPT 81361the billing code this page is about

Testing of the HBB gene for common variants such as those causing sickle cell disease and related hemoglobin disorders.

Hospitals typically charge $254 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 353 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $307. Most fall between $166 and $538 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
353
States
40
Filings dated
Sep 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 353 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
$99$168$254$537$1,210

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($99 vs $1,210).

How the prices are spread

$65 – $90: 12 hospitals$65$90 – $124: 18 hospitals$124 – $172: 48 hospitals$124$172 – $238: 66 hospitals$238 – $329: 43 hospitals$238$329 – $455: 35 hospitals$455 – $629: 57 hospitals$455$629 – $870: 9 hospitals$870 – $1,203: 3 hospitals$870$1,203 – $1,664: 35 hospitals$1,203median $254price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (326 of 353 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$65$9012
$90$12418
$124$17248
$172$23866
$238$32943
$329$45535
$455$62957
$629$8709
$870$1,2033
$1,203$1,66435

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $254.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $168 across 12 hospitalsWA$168Idaho: 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 $64 across 12 hospitalsMN$64Illinois: median $403 across 17 hospitalsIL$403Wisconsin: median $483 across 30 hospitalsWI$483Michigan: median $207 across 20 hospitalsMI$207New York: median $175 across 19 hospitalsNY$175Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 4 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 $168 across 11 hospitalsIA$168Indiana: median $307 across 18 hospitalsIN$307Ohio: median $481 across 15 hospitalsOH$481Pennsylvania: median $121 across 12 hospitalsPA$121New Jersey: median $192 across 30 hospitalsNJ$192Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,210 across 24 hospitalsCA$1,210Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $269 across 14 hospitalsKY$269West Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $229 across 10 hospitalsGA$229Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $161 across 16 hospitalsTX$161Florida: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $254. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA24$1,210+375%$1,210 – $1,210
Wisconsin WI30$483+90%$66 – $538
Ohio OH15$481+89%$246 – $537
Illinois IL17$403+58%$281 – $403
Indiana IN18$307+21%$252 – $375
Kentucky KY14$269+6%$166 – $1,664
Georgia GA10$229−10%$229 – $229
Michigan MI20$207−19%$143 – $241
New Jersey NJ30$192−24%$175 – $1,054
New York NY19$175−31%$175 – $546
Washington WA12$168−34%$168 – $484
Iowa IA11$168−34%$168 – $168
Texas TX16$161−37%$161 – $469
Pennsylvania PA12$121−53%$115 – $262
Minnesota MN12$64−75%$64 – $65
Florida FL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC1not 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 $254.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care296$252$168 – $538
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access43$324$66 – $538
Ownership
For-profit34$252$143 – $583
Government39$201$158 – $304
Non-profit278$280$168 – $583
System affiliation
Part of a system310$259$166 – $538
Independent43$246$144 – $401

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$575
Median cash price$254
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

216 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $346 and the average of the middle 60% is $369; most fall between $166 and $612.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 216 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
$66$168$346$538$1,210

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($66 vs $1,210).

Of the 231 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 216 gave a usable cash price; 8 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 7 a list price only.

How complete is this

353 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 — counted353
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here9
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded5
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 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 HBB GENE COM 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, “Gene test for sickle cell and hemoglobin variants (CPT 81361) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81361-gene-test-for-sickle-cell-and-hemoglobin-variants