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Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Heavy metals screening test

CPT 83015the billing code this page is about

A screening laboratory test that checks a blood or urine sample for the presence of heavy metals, covering any number of metals in one test.

Hospitals typically charge $90 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 671 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $105. Most fall between $32 and $211 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
671
States
47
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 671 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
$21$37$90$188$332

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($21 vs $332).

How the prices are spread

$19 – $26: 83 hospitals$19$26 – $36: 49 hospitals$36 – $50: 67 hospitals$36$50 – $69: 59 hospitals$69 – $96: 56 hospitals$69$96 – $132: 50 hospitals$132 – $182: 94 hospitals$132$182 – $250: 84 hospitals$250 – $345: 33 hospitals$250$345 – $476: 32 hospitals$345median $90price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (607 of 671 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$19$2683
$26$3649
$36$5067
$50$6959
$69$9656
$96$13250
$132$18294
$182$25084
$250$34533
$345$47632

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $90.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $164 across 25 hospitalsIL$164Wisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $29 across 15 hospitalsMI$29New York: median $38 across 37 hospitalsNY$38Massachusetts: median $67 across 16 hospitalsMA$67Oregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $32 across 16 hospitalsIA$32Indiana: median $200 across 23 hospitalsIN$200Ohio: median $179 across 12 hospitalsOH$179Pennsylvania: median $24 across 26 hospitalsPA$24New Jersey: median $23 across 31 hospitalsNJ$23Connecticut: 4 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 $69 across 47 hospitalsCA$69Utah: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $188 across 15 hospitalsCO$188Nebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $162 across 10 hospitalsMO$162Kentucky: median $143 across 22 hospitalsKY$143West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $117 across 17 hospitalsVA$117Maryland: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: median $139 across 13 hospitalsAR$139Tennessee: median $108 across 13 hospitalsTN$108North Carolina: median $211 across 23 hospitalsNC$211South Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $37 across 27 hospitalsOK$37Louisiana: median $96 across 11 hospitalsLA$96Mississippi: median $70 across 17 hospitalsMS$70Alabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $160 across 45 hospitalsGA$160Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $203 across 69 hospitalsTX$203Florida: median $37 across 39 hospitalsFL$37
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $90. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
North Carolina NC23$211+134%$167 – $227
Texas TX69$203+126%$51 – $787
Indiana IN23$200+122%$84 – $377
Colorado CO15$188+109%$94 – $200
Ohio OH12$179+99%$175 – $226
Illinois IL25$164+82%$26 – $216
Missouri MO10$162+80%$43 – $304
Georgia GA45$160+78%$39 – $287
Kentucky KY22$143+59%$133 – $256
Arkansas AR13$139+55%$61 – $163
Virginia VA17$117+29%$86 – $123
Tennessee TN13$108+20%$33 – $320
Louisiana LA11$96+6%$27 – $158
Mississippi MS17$70−23%$65 – $116
California CA47$69−23%$37 – $152
Massachusetts MA16$67−26%$46 – $111
New York NY37$38−58%$21 – $156
Florida FL39$37−59%$23 – $146
Oklahoma OK27$37−59%$37 – $164
Iowa IA16$32−64%$32 – $102
Michigan MI15$29−68%$19 – $38
Pennsylvania PA26$24−73%$14 – $66
New Jersey NJ31$23−74%$21 – $24
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $90.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care547$86$29 – $207
Children’s6fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access116$113$63 – $230
Ownership
For-profit120$144$37 – $385
Government98$95$39 – $175
Non-profit451$82$28 – $203
System affiliation
Part of a system567$86$30 – $209
Independent104$98$42 – $224

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$200
Median cash price$90
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

394 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $98 and the average of the middle 60% is $110; most fall between $37 and $203.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 394 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
$26$39$98$188$275

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($26 vs $275).

Of the 423 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 394 gave a usable cash price; 7 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

671 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (17%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 715 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted671
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here17
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 — excluded26
Hospitals that filed this code715

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Hc Heavy Metal Screen.

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, “Heavy metals screening test (CPT 83015) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83015-heavy-metals-screening-test