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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Chloride test on another body fluid

CPT 82438the billing code this page is about

Measures chloride in a sample other than blood or urine, such as sweat or another body fluid.

Hospitals typically charge $33 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,351 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $36. Most fall between $13 and $77 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,351
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 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 2,351 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
$8$16$33$64$125

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($8 vs $125).

How the prices are spread

$6 – $8: 129 hospitals$6$8 – $11: 144 hospitals$11 – $16: 183 hospitals$11$16 – $23: 297 hospitals$23 – $33: 288 hospitals$23$33 – $46: 366 hospitals$46 – $66: 258 hospitals$46$66 – $94: 213 hospitals$94 – $135: 172 hospitals$94$135 – $192: 69 hospitals$135median $33price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,119 of 2,351 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$6$8129
$8$11144
$11$16183
$16$23297
$23$33288
$33$46366
$46$66258
$66$94213
$94$135172
$135$19269

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $33.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $19 across 17 hospitalsME$19Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $40 across 10 hospitalsNH$40Washington: median $22 across 46 hospitalsWA$22Idaho: median $30 across 17 hospitalsID$30Montana: median $32 across 14 hospitalsMT$32North Dakota: median $26 across 15 hospitalsND$26Minnesota: median $52 across 47 hospitalsMN$52Illinois: median $51 across 115 hospitalsIL$51Wisconsin: median $44 across 84 hospitalsWI$44Michigan: median $17 across 74 hospitalsMI$17New York: median $18 across 95 hospitalsNY$18Massachusetts: median $22 across 38 hospitalsMA$22Oregon: median $28 across 22 hospitalsOR$28Nevada: median $27 across 16 hospitalsNV$27Wyoming: median $34 across 11 hospitalsWY$34South Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $34 across 42 hospitalsIA$34Indiana: median $28 across 82 hospitalsIN$28Ohio: median $29 across 119 hospitalsOH$29Pennsylvania: median $25 across 107 hospitalsPA$25New Jersey: median $6 across 52 hospitalsNJ$6Connecticut: median $22 across 12 hospitalsCT$22Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $42 across 119 hospitalsCA$42Utah: median $131 across 36 hospitalsUT$131Colorado: median $54 across 52 hospitalsCO$54Nebraska: median $47 across 36 hospitalsNE$47Missouri: median $44 across 59 hospitalsMO$44Kentucky: median $45 across 36 hospitalsKY$45West Virginia: median $36 across 23 hospitalsWV$36Virginia: median $45 across 58 hospitalsVA$45Maryland: median $27 across 31 hospitalsMD$27Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $35 across 33 hospitalsAZ$35New Mexico: median $56 across 13 hospitalsNM$56Kansas: median $38 across 41 hospitalsKS$38Arkansas: median $38 across 19 hospitalsAR$38Tennessee: median $21 across 55 hospitalsTN$21North Carolina: median $37 across 68 hospitalsNC$37South Carolina: median $42 across 39 hospitalsSC$42Oklahoma: median $22 across 50 hospitalsOK$22Louisiana: median $22 across 40 hospitalsLA$22Mississippi: median $22 across 43 hospitalsMS$22Alabama: median $35 across 35 hospitalsAL$35Georgia: median $41 across 77 hospitalsGA$41Hawaii: median $31 across 13 hospitalsHI$31Texas: median $32 across 187 hospitalsTX$32Florida: median $20 across 116 hospitalsFL$20
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $33. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT36$131+296%$108 – $154
New Mexico NM13$56+69%$16 – $77
Colorado CO52$54+64%$27 – $128
Minnesota MN47$52+57%$33 – $70
Illinois IL115$51+55%$21 – $104
Nebraska NE36$47+43%$18 – $87
Virginia VA58$45+36%$23 – $69
Kentucky KY36$45+35%$15 – $104
Missouri MO59$44+33%$24 – $79
Wisconsin WI84$44+32%$22 – $61
California CA119$42+27%$9 – $101
South Carolina SC39$42+27%$21 – $51
Georgia GA77$41+23%$30 – $55
New Hampshire NH10$40+21%$26 – $143
Arkansas AR19$38+14%$19 – $55
Kansas KS41$38+14%$11 – $68
North Carolina NC68$37+13%$15 – $75
West Virginia WV23$36+8%$10 – $119
Alabama AL35$35+7%$16 – $131
Arizona AZ33$35+6%$5 – $58
Wyoming WY11$34+3%$31 – $62
Iowa IA42$34+2%$21 – $85
Montana MT14$32−2%$23 – $59
Texas TX187$32−4%$13 – $140
Hawaii HI13$31−5%$29 – $69
Idaho ID17$30−9%$17 – $78
Ohio OH119$29−12%$14 – $70
Oregon OR22$28−14%$22 – $44
Indiana IN82$28−16%$12 – $64
Maryland MD31$27−17%$21 – $31
Nevada NV16$27−19%$7 – $92
North Dakota ND15$26−21%$17 – $35
Pennsylvania PA107$25−24%$8 – $97
Oklahoma OK50$22−32%$17 – $47
Louisiana LA40$22−32%$8 – $46
Washington WA46$22−32%$16 – $48
Mississippi MS43$22−32%$16 – $39
Connecticut CT12$22−33%$17 – $25
Massachusetts MA38$22−33%$13 – $52
Tennessee TN55$21−35%$8 – $68
Florida FL116$20−38%$5 – $123
Maine ME17$19−41%$11 – $44
New York NY95$18−46%$7 – $61
Michigan MI74$17−48%$8 – $36
New Jersey NJ52$6−83%$6 – $23
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $33.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,832$31$12 – $77
Children’s52$56$18 – $150
Critical access457$38$19 – $70
Ownership
For-profit338$44$13 – $192
Government333$33$14 – $65
Non-profit1,670$32$13 – $71
System affiliation
Part of a system1,979$33$13 – $79
Independent372$35$16 – $70

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$58
Median cash price$33
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

1,663 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $34 and the average of the middle 60% is $36; most fall between $14 and $71.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,663 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
$9$17$34$61$110

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($9 vs $110).

Of the 1,853 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,663 gave a usable cash price; 103 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 87 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,351 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (59%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,583 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,351
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here129
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 — excluded103
Hospitals that filed this code2,583

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 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Chloride-Fluid.

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, “Chloride test on another body fluid (CPT 82438) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82438-chloride-test-on-another-body-fluid