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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Free cortisol test

CPT 82530the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that measures the unbound (free) form of the stress hormone cortisol, commonly in a urine or saliva sample.

Hospitals typically charge $74 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,140 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $80. Most fall between $28 and $157 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,140
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – 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 3,140 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
$17$36$74$137$225

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($17 vs $225).

How the prices are spread

$13 – $18: 164 hospitals$13$18 – $25: 225 hospitals$25 – $34: 217 hospitals$25$34 – $46: 243 hospitals$46 – $64: 316 hospitals$46$64 – $88: 474 hospitals$88 – $121: 421 hospitals$88$121 – $166: 349 hospitals$166 – $227: 272 hospitals$166$227 – $312: 147 hospitals$227median $74price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,828 of 3,140 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$13$18164
$18$25225
$25$34217
$34$46243
$46$64316
$64$88474
$88$121421
$121$166349
$166$227272
$227$312147

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $74.

Alaska: median $137 across 17 hospitalsAK$137Maine: median $70 across 28 hospitalsME$70Vermont: median $143 across 13 hospitalsVT$143New Hampshire: median $69 across 24 hospitalsNH$69Washington: median $89 across 75 hospitalsWA$89Idaho: median $74 across 21 hospitalsID$74Montana: median $111 across 29 hospitalsMT$111North Dakota: median $78 across 31 hospitalsND$78Minnesota: median $74 across 100 hospitalsMN$74Illinois: median $119 across 137 hospitalsIL$119Wisconsin: median $110 across 101 hospitalsWI$110Michigan: median $20 across 76 hospitalsMI$20New York: median $50 across 102 hospitalsNY$50Massachusetts: median $75 across 51 hospitalsMA$75Oregon: median $51 across 47 hospitalsOR$51Nevada: median $106 across 19 hospitalsNV$106Wyoming: median $70 across 16 hospitalsWY$70South Dakota: median $179 across 35 hospitalsSD$179Iowa: median $91 across 85 hospitalsIA$91Indiana: median $71 across 95 hospitalsIN$71Ohio: median $75 across 137 hospitalsOH$75Pennsylvania: median $70 across 119 hospitalsPA$70New Jersey: median $19 across 56 hospitalsNJ$19Connecticut: median $85 across 21 hospitalsCT$85Rhode Island: median $91 across 10 hospitalsRI$91California: median $21 across 118 hospitalsCA$21Utah: median $86 across 40 hospitalsUT$86Colorado: median $91 across 62 hospitalsCO$91Nebraska: median $134 across 73 hospitalsNE$134Missouri: median $102 across 73 hospitalsMO$102Kentucky: median $85 across 68 hospitalsKY$85West Virginia: median $38 across 42 hospitalsWV$38Virginia: median $85 across 70 hospitalsVA$85Maryland: median $82 across 39 hospitalsMD$82Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $68 across 38 hospitalsAZ$68New Mexico: median $144 across 21 hospitalsNM$144Kansas: median $104 across 82 hospitalsKS$104Arkansas: median $26 across 36 hospitalsAR$26Tennessee: median $47 across 80 hospitalsTN$47North Carolina: median $59 across 87 hospitalsNC$59South Carolina: median $146 across 52 hospitalsSC$146Oklahoma: median $60 across 70 hospitalsOK$60Louisiana: median $43 across 51 hospitalsLA$43Mississippi: median $28 across 53 hospitalsMS$28Alabama: median $78 across 42 hospitalsAL$78Georgia: median $77 across 105 hospitalsGA$77Hawaii: median $104 across 16 hospitalsHI$104Texas: median $95 across 229 hospitalsTX$95Florida: median $22 across 142 hospitalsFL$22
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $74. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD35$179+141%$52 – $299
South Carolina SC52$146+97%$76 – $225
New Mexico NM21$144+94%$80 – $205
Vermont VT13$143+92%$88 – $253
Alaska AK17$137+83%$59 – $251
Nebraska NE73$134+80%$67 – $220
Illinois IL137$119+60%$70 – $215
Montana MT29$111+49%$66 – $207
Wisconsin WI101$110+48%$68 – $205
Nevada NV19$106+43%$27 – $196
Hawaii HI16$104+40%$53 – $225
Kansas KS82$104+39%$61 – $146
Missouri MO73$102+37%$54 – $172
Texas TX229$95+28%$48 – $231
Iowa IA85$91+22%$57 – $128
Colorado CO62$91+22%$49 – $152
Rhode Island RI10$91+22%$39 – $133
Washington WA75$89+20%$54 – $152
Utah UT40$86+15%$73 – $176
Kentucky KY68$85+14%$43 – $122
Virginia VA70$85+14%$13 – $167
Connecticut CT21$85+14%$62 – $139
Maryland MD39$82+10%$60 – $98
Alabama AL42$78+5%$27 – $186
North Dakota ND31$78+5%$32 – $130
Georgia GA105$77+4%$39 – $170
Massachusetts MA51$75+1%$56 – $151
Ohio OH137$750%$40 – $116
Idaho ID21$740%$23 – $100
Minnesota MN100$74−1%$34 – $158
Indiana IN95$71−4%$30 – $142
Wyoming WY16$70−6%$35 – $122
Pennsylvania PA119$70−6%$19 – $198
Maine ME28$70−7%$28 – $110
New Hampshire NH24$69−7%$30 – $256
Arizona AZ38$68−8%$26 – $168
Oklahoma OK70$60−20%$25 – $99
North Carolina NC87$59−21%$38 – $160
Oregon OR47$51−32%$21 – $118
New York NY102$50−33%$19 – $106
Tennessee TN80$47−37%$22 – $132
Louisiana LA51$43−42%$29 – $103
West Virginia WV42$38−49%$9 – $92
Mississippi MS53$28−62%$18 – $81
Arkansas AR36$26−65%$20 – $76
Florida FL142$22−70%$12 – $77
California CA118$21−72%$8 – $33
Michigan MI76$20−74%$14 – $39
New Jersey NJ56$19−74%$18 – $55
Delaware DE6not 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 $74.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,171$70$23 – $148
Children’s50$60$32 – $157
Critical access910$92$44 – $168
Ownership
For-profit429$81$25 – $295
Government591$80$35 – $151
Non-profit2,111$73$27 – $146
System affiliation
Part of a system2,550$73$27 – $160
Independent590$80$37 – $146

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$120
Median cash price$74
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,118 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $74 and the average of the middle 60% is $79; most fall between $32 and $148.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,118 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
$19$37$74$134$213

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $213).

Of the 2,338 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,118 gave a usable cash price; 117 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 103 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,140 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (79%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,418 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,140
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here154
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,418

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 July 20, 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 Procedural Vein Sampling Cortisol.

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, “Free cortisol test (CPT 82530) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82530-free-cortisol-test