HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Creatine level test

CPT 82540the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that measures creatine, a muscle-related compound, in blood or urine; this is a different substance from creatinine.

Hospitals typically charge $37 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,478 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $38. Most fall between $12 and $75 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,478
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – 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 1,478 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$37$66$122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($8 vs $122).

How the prices are spread

$5 – $8: 81 hospitals$5$8 – $11: 130 hospitals$11 – $16: 103 hospitals$11$16 – $24: 158 hospitals$24 – $35: 178 hospitals$24$35 – $52: 251 hospitals$52 – $76: 222 hospitals$52$76 – $111: 111 hospitals$111 – $164: 64 hospitals$111$164 – $241: 47 hospitals$164median $37price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,345 of 1,478 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$5$881
$8$11130
$11$16103
$16$24158
$24$35178
$35$52251
$52$76222
$76$111111
$111$16464
$164$24147

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $37.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $29 across 37 hospitalsWA$29Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $51 across 40 hospitalsMN$51Illinois: median $37 across 62 hospitalsIL$37Wisconsin: median $50 across 53 hospitalsWI$50Michigan: median $41 across 49 hospitalsMI$41New York: median $11 across 55 hospitalsNY$11Massachusetts: median $37 across 28 hospitalsMA$37Oregon: median $57 across 14 hospitalsOR$57Nevada: median $25 across 12 hospitalsNV$25Wyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $34 across 25 hospitalsIA$34Indiana: median $19 across 59 hospitalsIN$19Ohio: median $42 across 82 hospitalsOH$42Pennsylvania: median $33 across 71 hospitalsPA$33New Jersey: median $5 across 42 hospitalsNJ$5Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $27 across 67 hospitalsCA$27Utah: median $298 across 32 hospitalsUT$298Colorado: median $57 across 29 hospitalsCO$57Nebraska: median $335 across 13 hospitalsNE$335Missouri: median $78 across 26 hospitalsMO$78Kentucky: median $55 across 34 hospitalsKY$55West Virginia: median $14 across 11 hospitalsWV$14Virginia: median $15 across 50 hospitalsVA$15Maryland: median $24 across 21 hospitalsMD$24Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $36 across 26 hospitalsAZ$36New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $46 across 15 hospitalsKS$46Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $24 across 43 hospitalsTN$24North Carolina: median $10 across 44 hospitalsNC$10South Carolina: median $40 across 26 hospitalsSC$40Oklahoma: median $13 across 32 hospitalsOK$13Louisiana: median $20 across 14 hospitalsLA$20Mississippi: median $18 across 28 hospitalsMS$18Alabama: median $13 across 16 hospitalsAL$13Georgia: median $28 across 62 hospitalsGA$28Hawaii: median $72 across 12 hospitalsHI$72Texas: median $66 across 117 hospitalsTX$66Florida: median $47 across 70 hospitalsFL$47
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $37. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Nebraska NE13$335+806%$25 – $511
Utah UT32$298+706%$145 – $350
Missouri MO26$78+111%$30 – $83
Hawaii HI12$72+95%$42 – $88
Texas TX117$66+79%$37 – $213
Colorado CO29$57+54%$27 – $256
Oregon OR14$57+53%$20 – $63
Kentucky KY34$55+48%$12 – $94
Minnesota MN40$51+38%$20 – $64
Wisconsin WI53$50+35%$23 – $80
Florida FL70$47+28%$14 – $85
Kansas KS15$46+23%$32 – $82
Ohio OH82$42+14%$21 – $79
Michigan MI49$41+10%$6 – $75
South Carolina SC26$40+7%$35 – $58
Illinois IL62$370%$17 – $95
Massachusetts MA28$370%$21 – $64
Arizona AZ26$36−3%$19 – $52
Iowa IA25$34−9%$34 – $67
Pennsylvania PA71$33−11%$5 – $46
Washington WA37$29−21%$14 – $46
Georgia GA62$28−25%$14 – $109
California CA67$27−26%$20 – $48
Nevada NV12$25−32%$14 – $57
Tennessee TN43$24−34%$8 – $50
Maryland MD21$24−36%$17 – $26
Louisiana LA14$20−45%$6 – $68
Indiana IN59$19−50%$10 – $57
Mississippi MS28$18−51%$11 – $27
Virginia VA50$15−58%$10 – $117
West Virginia WV11$14−62%$12 – $102
Alabama AL16$13−66%$7 – $46
Oklahoma OK32$13−66%$8 – $53
New York NY55$11−70%$5 – $51
North Carolina NC44$10−72%$9 – $43
New Jersey NJ42$5−86%$5 – $49
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $37.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,154$36$11 – $75
Children’s52$40$23 – $96
Critical access268$41$17 – $80
Ownership
For-profit207$37$10 – $133
Government196$31$12 – $72
Non-profit1,071$37$12 – $74
System affiliation
Part of a system1,272$37$12 – $75
Independent206$37$14 – $76

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$60
Median cash price$37
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

1,059 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $39 and the average of the middle 60% is $41; most fall between $16 and $78.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,059 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
$10$20$39$67$122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $122).

Of the 1,158 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,059 gave a usable cash price; 60 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 39 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,478 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (37%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,611 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,478
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here99
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 — excluded33
Hospitals that filed this code1,611

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 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 Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as ASSAY OF CREATINE.

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, “Creatine level test (CPT 82540) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82540-creatine-level-test