HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Multiple amino acid screen, present or absent, per specimen

CPT 82128the billing code this page is about

Laboratory test that checks a specimen for the presence of several amino acids without measuring amounts; billed once for each specimen tested.

Hospitals typically charge $71 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 907 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $84. Most fall between $24 and $169 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
907
States
48
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 907 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
$16$28$71$159$289

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($16 vs $289).

How the prices are spread

$14 – $20: 97 hospitals$14$20 – $28: 87 hospitals$28 – $40: 85 hospitals$28$40 – $56: 62 hospitals$56 – $80: 121 hospitals$56$80 – $114: 76 hospitals$114 – $161: 123 hospitals$114$161 – $229: 106 hospitals$229 – $325: 36 hospitals$229$325 – $461: 32 hospitals$325median $71price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (825 of 907 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$14$2097
$20$2887
$28$4085
$40$5662
$56$80121
$80$11476
$114$161123
$161$229106
$229$32536
$325$46132

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $71.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $32 across 12 hospitalsWA$32Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $24 across 12 hospitalsMN$24Illinois: median $64 across 55 hospitalsIL$64Wisconsin: median $94 across 27 hospitalsWI$94Michigan: median $19 across 19 hospitalsMI$19New York: median $21 across 35 hospitalsNY$21Massachusetts: median $63 across 16 hospitalsMA$63Oregon: median $62 across 13 hospitalsOR$62Nevada: 4 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 $64 across 18 hospitalsIA$64Indiana: median $29 across 67 hospitalsIN$29Ohio: median $62 across 44 hospitalsOH$62Pennsylvania: median $42 across 52 hospitalsPA$42New Jersey: median $15 across 43 hospitalsNJ$15Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $169 across 35 hospitalsCA$169Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $165 across 35 hospitalsCO$165Nebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $82 across 12 hospitalsMO$82Kentucky: median $59 across 30 hospitalsKY$59West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $98 across 16 hospitalsVA$98Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $231 across 13 hospitalsKS$231Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $24 across 12 hospitalsTN$24North Carolina: median $155 across 16 hospitalsNC$155South Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $146 across 20 hospitalsOK$146Louisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: median $43 across 17 hospitalsMS$43Alabama: median $29 across 10 hospitalsAL$29Georgia: median $210 across 34 hospitalsGA$210Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $139 across 115 hospitalsTX$139Florida: median $26 across 34 hospitalsFL$26
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $71. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS13$231+224%$98 – $289
Georgia GA34$210+196%$61 – $315
California CA35$169+138%$30 – $169
Colorado CO35$165+132%$105 – $457
North Carolina NC16$155+117%$114 – $165
Oklahoma OK20$146+106%$66 – $201
Texas TX115$139+95%$38 – $342
Virginia VA16$98+38%$77 – $145
Wisconsin WI27$94+32%$77 – $142
Missouri MO12$82+15%$26 – $131
Iowa IA18$64−10%$64 – $103
Illinois IL55$64−10%$25 – $194
Massachusetts MA16$63−11%$34 – $128
Ohio OH44$62−12%$58 – $155
Oregon OR13$62−12%$57 – $110
Kentucky KY30$59−17%$20 – $140
Mississippi MS17$43−40%$20 – $149
Pennsylvania PA52$42−41%$13 – $144
Washington WA12$32−54%$28 – $80
Indiana IN67$29−59%$19 – $61
Alabama AL10$29−59%$15 – $69
Florida FL34$26−64%$15 – $101
Tennessee TN12$24−66%$18 – $33
Minnesota MN12$24−67%$24 – $65
New York NY35$21−70%$14 – $87
Michigan MI19$19−73%$13 – $77
New Jersey NJ43$15−79%$14 – $69
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $71.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care733$64$22 – $169
Children’s30$60$36 – $152
Critical access141$94$43 – $169
Ownership
For-profit144$109$23 – $437
Government117$80$26 – $171
Non-profit643$64$24 – $169
System affiliation
Part of a system765$75$24 – $169
Independent142$66$26 – $163

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$147
Median cash price$71
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

597 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $80 and the average of the middle 60% is $95; most fall between $31 and $170.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 597 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
$22$40$80$165$282

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($22 vs $282).

Of the 652 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 597 gave a usable cash price; 18 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 37 a list price only.

How complete is this

907 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (23%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 978 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted907
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here26
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 — excluded44
Hospitals that filed this code978

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Hc Amino Acids, Multiple Qual.

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, “Multiple amino acid screen, present or absent, per specimen (CPT 82128) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82128-multiple-amino-acid-screen-present-or-absent-per-specimen