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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Blood test for free light chains, each type measured

CPT 83521the billing code this page is about

Measures free immunoglobulin light chains in blood; the code is billed once for each chain type (kappa or lambda) measured.

Hospitals typically charge $54 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,711 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $61. Most fall between $26 and $127 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,711
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 2,711 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
$18$29$54$111$187

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $187).

How the prices are spread

$14 – $19: 156 hospitals$14$19 – $25: 215 hospitals$25 – $33: 341 hospitals$25$33 – $44: 328 hospitals$44 – $58: 296 hospitals$44$58 – $78: 242 hospitals$78 – $103: 256 hospitals$78$103 – $138: 275 hospitals$138 – $183: 186 hospitals$138$183 – $244: 146 hospitals$183median $54price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,441 of 2,711 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$14$19156
$19$25215
$25$33341
$33$44328
$44$58296
$58$78242
$78$103256
$103$138275
$138$183186
$183$244146

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $54.

Alaska: median $61 across 16 hospitalsAK$61Maine: median $34 across 24 hospitalsME$34Vermont: median $202 across 11 hospitalsVT$202New Hampshire: median $82 across 23 hospitalsNH$82Washington: median $49 across 63 hospitalsWA$49Idaho: median $48 across 19 hospitalsID$48Montana: median $71 across 26 hospitalsMT$71North Dakota: median $61 across 32 hospitalsND$61Minnesota: median $55 across 95 hospitalsMN$55Illinois: median $95 across 111 hospitalsIL$95Wisconsin: median $65 across 89 hospitalsWI$65Michigan: median $41 across 90 hospitalsMI$41New York: median $40 across 100 hospitalsNY$40Massachusetts: median $69 across 48 hospitalsMA$69Oregon: median $53 across 39 hospitalsOR$53Nevada: median $52 across 13 hospitalsNV$52Wyoming: median $53 across 12 hospitalsWY$53South Dakota: median $60 across 17 hospitalsSD$60Iowa: median $77 across 72 hospitalsIA$77Indiana: median $44 across 76 hospitalsIN$44Ohio: median $52 across 120 hospitalsOH$52Pennsylvania: median $71 across 104 hospitalsPA$71New Jersey: median $20 across 47 hospitalsNJ$20Connecticut: median $30 across 21 hospitalsCT$30Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $31 across 112 hospitalsCA$31Utah: median $173 across 38 hospitalsUT$173Colorado: median $54 across 51 hospitalsCO$54Nebraska: median $140 across 70 hospitalsNE$140Missouri: median $72 across 67 hospitalsMO$72Kentucky: median $52 across 58 hospitalsKY$52West Virginia: median $35 across 35 hospitalsWV$35Virginia: median $38 across 69 hospitalsVA$38Maryland: median $32 across 33 hospitalsMD$32Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $34 across 29 hospitalsAZ$34New Mexico: median $35 across 21 hospitalsNM$35Kansas: median $85 across 58 hospitalsKS$85Arkansas: median $22 across 29 hospitalsAR$22Tennessee: median $37 across 65 hospitalsTN$37North Carolina: median $84 across 76 hospitalsNC$84South Carolina: median $38 across 44 hospitalsSC$38Oklahoma: median $75 across 61 hospitalsOK$75Louisiana: median $33 across 44 hospitalsLA$33Mississippi: median $26 across 48 hospitalsMS$26Alabama: median $36 across 20 hospitalsAL$36Georgia: median $73 across 80 hospitalsGA$73Hawaii: median $54 across 13 hospitalsHI$54Texas: median $57 across 172 hospitalsTX$57Florida: median $32 across 136 hospitalsFL$32
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $54. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Vermont VT11$202+277%$97 – $238
Utah UT38$173+223%$46 – $204
Nebraska NE70$140+161%$64 – $195
Illinois IL111$95+77%$36 – $190
Kansas KS58$85+59%$45 – $157
North Carolina NC76$84+56%$24 – $129
New Hampshire NH23$82+52%$35 – $127
Iowa IA72$77+44%$52 – $155
Oklahoma OK61$75+40%$43 – $110
Georgia GA80$73+36%$41 – $88
Missouri MO67$72+34%$39 – $141
Pennsylvania PA104$71+33%$29 – $192
Montana MT26$71+32%$29 – $141
Massachusetts MA48$69+29%$37 – $121
Wisconsin WI89$65+22%$39 – $137
Alaska AK16$61+14%$18 – $119
North Dakota ND32$61+13%$33 – $111
South Dakota SD17$60+12%$35 – $136
Texas TX172$57+6%$23 – $220
Minnesota MN95$55+3%$41 – $122
Hawaii HI13$54+1%$33 – $87
Colorado CO51$540%$35 – $176
Oregon OR39$53−2%$20 – $81
Wyoming WY12$53−2%$38 – $123
Nevada NV13$52−3%$17 – $181
Kentucky KY58$52−3%$20 – $170
Ohio OH120$52−3%$28 – $137
Washington WA63$49−8%$21 – $95
Idaho ID19$48−10%$16 – $179
Indiana IN76$44−19%$25 – $79
Michigan MI90$41−24%$23 – $65
New York NY100$40−26%$18 – $74
Virginia VA69$38−28%$19 – $136
South Carolina SC44$38−28%$35 – $122
Tennessee TN65$37−30%$24 – $62
Alabama AL20$36−32%$17 – $120
West Virginia WV35$35−35%$32 – $75
New Mexico NM21$35−35%$24 – $232
Arizona AZ29$34−36%$17 – $114
Maine ME24$34−37%$18 – $124
Louisiana LA44$33−38%$15 – $72
Maryland MD33$32−40%$15 – $44
Florida FL136$32−40%$16 – $76
California CA112$31−43%$17 – $95
Connecticut CT21$30−44%$30 – $73
Mississippi MS48$26−51%$15 – $43
Arkansas AR29$22−59%$11 – $112
New Jersey NJ47$20−63%$17 – $41
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $54.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,956$45$23 – $114
Children’s25$70$27 – $138
Critical access720$76$35 – $149
Ownership
For-profit365$56$23 – $193
Government462$61$31 – $133
Non-profit1,874$52$26 – $121
System affiliation
Part of a system2,296$53$26 – $129
Independent415$58$28 – $127

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$90
Median cash price$54
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

1,839 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $54 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $27 and $124.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,839 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$30$54$107$164

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $164).

Of the 2,030 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,839 gave a usable cash price; 105 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 86 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,711 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (69%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,942 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,711
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here139
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded88
Hospitals that filed this code2,942

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 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 Kappa Qnt Flc(Klflc).

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, “Blood test for free light chains, each type measured (CPT 83521) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83521-blood-test-for-free-light-chains-each-type-measured