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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Erythropoietin blood test

CPT 82668the billing code this page is about

Measures erythropoietin, the hormone that signals the body to make red blood cells, in a blood sample.

Hospitals typically charge $92 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,200 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $96. Most fall between $34 and $177 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,200
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 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 3,200 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$41$92$157$257

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($22 vs $257).

How the prices are spread

$15 – $21: 139 hospitals$15$21 – $28: 210 hospitals$28 – $39: 243 hospitals$28$39 – $53: 243 hospitals$53 – $73: 302 hospitals$53$73 – $101: 420 hospitals$101 – $138: 499 hospitals$101$138 – $190: 415 hospitals$190 – $261: 275 hospitals$190$261 – $359: 152 hospitals$261median $92price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,898 of 3,200 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$15$21139
$21$28210
$28$39243
$39$53243
$53$73302
$73$101420
$101$138499
$138$190415
$190$261275
$261$359152

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $92.

Alaska: median $171 across 16 hospitalsAK$171Maine: median $86 across 28 hospitalsME$86Vermont: median $165 across 14 hospitalsVT$165New Hampshire: median $118 across 24 hospitalsNH$118Washington: median $108 across 73 hospitalsWA$108Idaho: median $93 across 21 hospitalsID$93Montana: median $136 across 28 hospitalsMT$136North Dakota: median $100 across 33 hospitalsND$100Minnesota: median $88 across 103 hospitalsMN$88Illinois: median $155 across 141 hospitalsIL$155Wisconsin: median $104 across 101 hospitalsWI$104Michigan: median $39 across 93 hospitalsMI$39New York: median $56 across 103 hospitalsNY$56Massachusetts: median $111 across 50 hospitalsMA$111Oregon: median $89 across 47 hospitalsOR$89Nevada: median $130 across 19 hospitalsNV$130Wyoming: median $100 across 16 hospitalsWY$100South Dakota: median $219 across 34 hospitalsSD$219Iowa: median $113 across 86 hospitalsIA$113Indiana: median $103 across 97 hospitalsIN$103Ohio: median $70 across 137 hospitalsOH$70Pennsylvania: median $96 across 119 hospitalsPA$96New Jersey: median $22 across 53 hospitalsNJ$22Connecticut: median $88 across 21 hospitalsCT$88Rhode Island: median $44 across 10 hospitalsRI$44California: median $32 across 137 hospitalsCA$32Utah: median $125 across 39 hospitalsUT$125Colorado: median $110 across 64 hospitalsCO$110Nebraska: median $160 across 74 hospitalsNE$160Missouri: median $109 across 74 hospitalsMO$109Kentucky: median $104 across 67 hospitalsKY$104West Virginia: median $63 across 43 hospitalsWV$63Virginia: median $99 across 72 hospitalsVA$99Maryland: median $40 across 40 hospitalsMD$40Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $110 across 41 hospitalsAZ$110New Mexico: median $129 across 25 hospitalsNM$129Kansas: median $111 across 85 hospitalsKS$111Arkansas: median $47 across 37 hospitalsAR$47Tennessee: median $68 across 80 hospitalsTN$68North Carolina: median $43 across 82 hospitalsNC$43South Carolina: median $130 across 51 hospitalsSC$130Oklahoma: median $76 across 70 hospitalsOK$76Louisiana: median $63 across 50 hospitalsLA$63Mississippi: median $66 across 53 hospitalsMS$66Alabama: median $99 across 43 hospitalsAL$99Georgia: median $94 across 103 hospitalsGA$94Hawaii: median $86 across 18 hospitalsHI$86Texas: median $134 across 228 hospitalsTX$134Florida: median $22 across 150 hospitalsFL$22
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $92. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD34$219+137%$58 – $340
Alaska AK16$171+85%$73 – $257
Vermont VT14$165+78%$88 – $304
Nebraska NE74$160+73%$74 – $222
Illinois IL141$155+68%$81 – $263
Montana MT28$136+47%$91 – $207
Texas TX228$134+45%$75 – $311
South Carolina SC51$130+41%$104 – $226
Nevada NV19$130+40%$27 – $245
New Mexico NM25$129+40%$74 – $178
Utah UT39$125+35%$106 – $170
New Hampshire NH24$118+28%$30 – $264
Iowa IA86$113+22%$64 – $162
Massachusetts MA50$111+20%$55 – $155
Kansas KS85$111+20%$66 – $160
Arizona AZ41$110+19%$27 – $268
Colorado CO64$110+19%$35 – $164
Missouri MO74$109+17%$61 – $181
Washington WA73$108+17%$73 – $152
Kentucky KY67$104+13%$58 – $237
Wisconsin WI101$104+12%$77 – $199
Indiana IN97$103+11%$39 – $227
Wyoming WY16$100+8%$38 – $183
North Dakota ND33$100+8%$36 – $147
Virginia VA72$99+7%$33 – $174
Alabama AL43$99+7%$35 – $234
Pennsylvania PA119$96+4%$28 – $215
Georgia GA103$94+2%$41 – $207
Idaho ID21$930%$26 – $139
Oregon OR47$89−4%$56 – $120
Minnesota MN103$88−4%$36 – $176
Connecticut CT21$88−5%$67 – $157
Hawaii HI18$86−6%$52 – $174
Maine ME28$86−7%$33 – $182
Oklahoma OK70$76−17%$41 – $128
Ohio OH137$70−25%$43 – $141
Tennessee TN80$68−27%$33 – $155
Mississippi MS53$66−28%$24 – $107
Louisiana LA50$63−31%$34 – $135
West Virginia WV43$63−32%$14 – $104
New York NY103$56−39%$19 – $188
Arkansas AR37$47−49%$27 – $85
Rhode Island RI10$44−53%$33 – $151
North Carolina NC82$43−54%$36 – $157
Maryland MD40$40−57%$31 – $49
Michigan MI93$39−58%$27 – $119
California CA137$32−66%$11 – $107
Florida FL150$22−76%$10 – $96
New Jersey NJ53$22−77%$21 – $64
Delaware DE7not 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 $92.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,220$85$30 – $167
Children’s48$75$26 – $232
Critical access922$113$58 – $195
Ownership
For-profit433$125$34 – $376
Government601$99$38 – $169
Non-profit2,156$89$34 – $164
System affiliation
Part of a system2,608$92$34 – $182
Independent592$96$41 – $168

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$156
Median cash price$92
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

2,173 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $92 and the average of the middle 60% is $96; most fall between $36 and $170.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,173 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
$23$43$92$153$239

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($23 vs $239).

Of the 2,395 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,173 gave a usable cash price; 113 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 109 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,200 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,492 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,200
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here164
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 — excluded127
Hospitals that filed this code3,492

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 Erythropoietin.

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, “Erythropoietin blood test (CPT 82668) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-82668-erythropoietin-blood-test