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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Dibucaine number test for cholinesterase variants

CPT 82638the billing code this page is about

A blood enzyme test that reports how much a chemical inhibitor blocks cholinesterase activity, used to identify inherited variants of the enzyme.

Hospitals typically charge $45 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,205 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $48. Most fall between $17 and $98 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,205
States
49
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 1,205 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
$12$22$45$86$144

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $144).

How the prices are spread

$8 – $11: 29 hospitals$8$11 – $15: 119 hospitals$15 – $21: 91 hospitals$15$21 – $29: 138 hospitals$29 – $40: 117 hospitals$29$40 – $55: 161 hospitals$55 – $76: 155 hospitals$55$76 – $106: 126 hospitals$106 – $146: 103 hospitals$106$146 – $201: 49 hospitals$146median $45price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,088 of 1,205 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$8$1129
$11$15119
$15$2191
$21$29138
$29$40117
$40$55161
$55$76155
$76$106126
$106$146103
$146$20149

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $45.

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: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $30 across 30 hospitalsWA$30Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $43 across 10 hospitalsMN$43Illinois: median $55 across 45 hospitalsIL$55Wisconsin: median $50 across 34 hospitalsWI$50Michigan: median $12 across 27 hospitalsMI$12New York: median $21 across 57 hospitalsNY$21Massachusetts: median $58 across 34 hospitalsMA$58Oregon: median $50 across 14 hospitalsOR$50Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $31 across 18 hospitalsIA$31Indiana: median $27 across 47 hospitalsIN$27Ohio: median $55 across 83 hospitalsOH$55Pennsylvania: median $44 across 69 hospitalsPA$44New Jersey: median $13 across 37 hospitalsNJ$13Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $95 across 51 hospitalsCA$95Utah: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $104 across 24 hospitalsCO$104Nebraska: median $81 across 15 hospitalsNE$81Missouri: median $25 across 18 hospitalsMO$25Kentucky: median $37 across 29 hospitalsKY$37West Virginia: median $8 across 12 hospitalsWV$8Virginia: median $31 across 43 hospitalsVA$31Maryland: median $63 across 15 hospitalsMD$63Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $90 across 18 hospitalsAZ$90New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $44 across 10 hospitalsKS$44Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $22 across 30 hospitalsTN$22North Carolina: median $27 across 38 hospitalsNC$27South Carolina: median $60 across 22 hospitalsSC$60Oklahoma: median $45 across 27 hospitalsOK$45Louisiana: median $29 across 19 hospitalsLA$29Mississippi: median $32 across 19 hospitalsMS$32Alabama: median $30 across 10 hospitalsAL$30Georgia: median $51 across 37 hospitalsGA$51Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $60 across 100 hospitalsTX$60Florida: median $14 across 73 hospitalsFL$14
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $45. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO24$104+131%$68 – $721
California CA51$95+110%$9 – $124
Arizona AZ18$90+100%$29 – $90
Nebraska NE15$81+80%$25 – $140
Maryland MD15$63+40%$47 – $93
South Carolina SC22$60+34%$60 – $122
Texas TX100$60+34%$32 – $115
Massachusetts MA34$58+29%$37 – $156
Ohio OH83$55+23%$35 – $116
Illinois IL45$55+22%$22 – $80
Georgia GA37$51+13%$25 – $148
Oregon OR14$50+11%$15 – $63
Wisconsin WI34$50+11%$40 – $88
Oklahoma OK27$450%$24 – $59
Kansas KS10$44−1%$35 – $64
Pennsylvania PA69$44−1%$12 – $108
Minnesota MN10$43−5%$43 – $45
Kentucky KY29$37−18%$15 – $145
Mississippi MS19$32−30%$20 – $59
Iowa IA18$31−31%$31 – $80
Virginia VA43$31−32%$9 – $71
Alabama AL10$30−34%$14 – $57
Washington WA30$30−34%$26 – $50
Louisiana LA19$29−36%$17 – $61
North Carolina NC38$27−40%$17 – $98
Indiana IN47$27−41%$16 – $47
Missouri MO18$25−45%$19 – $52
Tennessee TN30$22−52%$21 – $85
New York NY57$21−54%$12 – $77
Florida FL73$14−69%$6 – $43
New Jersey NJ37$13−70%$12 – $34
Michigan MI27$12−73%$7 – $17
West Virginia WV12$8−82%$8 – $61
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not 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 $45.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,022$45$16 – $98
Children’s20$60$22 – $91
Critical access158$45$22 – $104
Ownership
For-profit184$56$16 – $181
Government112$32$14 – $76
Non-profit904$45$18 – $95
System affiliation
Part of a system1,064$45$17 – $98
Independent141$50$20 – $93

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$82
Median cash price$45
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

834 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $52 and the average of the middle 60% is $54; most fall between $23 and $100.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 834 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
$14$26$52$88$139

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $139).

Of the 936 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 834 gave a usable cash price; 47 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 55 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,205 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (30%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,320 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,205
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here57
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 — excluded57
Hospitals that filed this code1,320

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 Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as ASSAY OF DIBUCAINE NUMBER.

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, “Dibucaine number test for cholinesterase variants (CPT 82638) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82638-dibucaine-number-test-for-cholinesterase-variants