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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Blood test for iron-binding capacity

CPT 83550the billing code this page is about

Measures how much iron the blood's transport proteins can carry, often reported as total iron-binding capacity.

Hospitals typically charge $55 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,214 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $57. Most fall between $24 and $105 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,214
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 3,214 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$29$55$93$148

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $148).

How the prices are spread

$10 – $13: 151 hospitals$10$13 – $18: 179 hospitals$18 – $25: 198 hospitals$18$25 – $35: 324 hospitals$35 – $48: 410 hospitals$35$48 – $66: 461 hospitals$66 – $90: 511 hospitals$66$90 – $124: 353 hospitals$124 – $171: 222 hospitals$124$171 – $236: 95 hospitals$171median $55price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,904 of 3,214 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$10$13151
$13$18179
$18$25198
$25$35324
$35$48410
$48$66461
$66$90511
$90$124353
$124$171222
$171$23695

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $55.

Alaska: median $75 across 15 hospitalsAK$75Maine: median $41 across 26 hospitalsME$41Vermont: median $75 across 14 hospitalsVT$75New Hampshire: median $49 across 24 hospitalsNH$49Washington: median $60 across 73 hospitalsWA$60Idaho: median $43 across 25 hospitalsID$43Montana: median $52 across 32 hospitalsMT$52North Dakota: median $61 across 33 hospitalsND$61Minnesota: median $52 across 100 hospitalsMN$52Illinois: median $83 across 135 hospitalsIL$83Wisconsin: median $69 across 102 hospitalsWI$69Michigan: median $37 across 95 hospitalsMI$37New York: median $36 across 119 hospitalsNY$36Massachusetts: median $53 across 53 hospitalsMA$53Oregon: median $44 across 43 hospitalsOR$44Nevada: median $56 across 20 hospitalsNV$56Wyoming: median $40 across 16 hospitalsWY$40South Dakota: median $93 across 40 hospitalsSD$93Iowa: median $49 across 87 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $41 across 96 hospitalsIN$41Ohio: median $39 across 137 hospitalsOH$39Pennsylvania: median $49 across 103 hospitalsPA$49New Jersey: median $10 across 57 hospitalsNJ$10Connecticut: median $40 across 23 hospitalsCT$40Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $84 across 150 hospitalsCA$84Utah: median $113 across 40 hospitalsUT$113Colorado: median $68 across 62 hospitalsCO$68Nebraska: median $74 across 80 hospitalsNE$74Missouri: median $53 across 70 hospitalsMO$53Kentucky: median $85 across 68 hospitalsKY$85West Virginia: median $45 across 37 hospitalsWV$45Virginia: median $55 across 67 hospitalsVA$55Maryland: median $35 across 39 hospitalsMD$35Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $81 across 39 hospitalsAZ$81New Mexico: median $78 across 29 hospitalsNM$78Kansas: median $63 across 87 hospitalsKS$63Arkansas: median $22 across 38 hospitalsAR$22Tennessee: median $33 across 77 hospitalsTN$33North Carolina: median $49 across 79 hospitalsNC$49South Carolina: median $58 across 48 hospitalsSC$58Oklahoma: median $33 across 68 hospitalsOK$33Louisiana: median $30 across 50 hospitalsLA$30Mississippi: median $24 across 54 hospitalsMS$24Alabama: median $29 across 35 hospitalsAL$29Georgia: median $57 across 106 hospitalsGA$57Hawaii: median $74 across 21 hospitalsHI$74Texas: median $97 across 247 hospitalsTX$97Florida: median $88 across 140 hospitalsFL$88
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $55. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT40$113+108%$71 – $133
Texas TX247$97+77%$26 – $218
South Dakota SD40$93+71%$46 – $150
Florida FL140$88+60%$16 – $266
Kentucky KY68$85+55%$33 – $122
California CA150$84+54%$30 – $143
Illinois IL135$83+53%$57 – $132
Arizona AZ39$81+48%$15 – $156
New Mexico NM29$78+43%$43 – $107
Alaska AK15$75+38%$56 – $129
Vermont VT14$75+37%$25 – $130
Nebraska NE80$74+36%$39 – $100
Hawaii HI21$74+35%$54 – $96
Wisconsin WI102$69+26%$43 – $84
Colorado CO62$68+24%$38 – $97
Kansas KS87$63+15%$40 – $87
North Dakota ND33$61+11%$16 – $73
Washington WA73$60+10%$31 – $85
South Carolina SC48$58+6%$35 – $83
Georgia GA106$57+5%$25 – $138
Nevada NV20$56+3%$27 – $108
Virginia VA67$55+1%$32 – $119
Missouri MO70$53−2%$36 – $103
Massachusetts MA53$53−2%$30 – $85
Minnesota MN100$52−5%$12 – $86
Montana MT32$52−5%$36 – $70
North Carolina NC79$49−10%$27 – $85
Pennsylvania PA103$49−10%$10 – $103
Iowa IA87$49−10%$34 – $74
New Hampshire NH24$49−11%$29 – $141
West Virginia WV37$45−18%$25 – $96
Oregon OR43$44−19%$27 – $72
Idaho ID25$43−21%$7 – $98
Indiana IN96$41−24%$16 – $66
Maine ME26$41−25%$23 – $92
Connecticut CT23$40−27%$31 – $73
Wyoming WY16$40−27%$17 – $92
Ohio OH137$39−29%$27 – $83
Michigan MI95$37−31%$22 – $55
New York NY119$36−35%$13 – $109
Maryland MD39$35−37%$26 – $43
Tennessee TN77$33−39%$17 – $75
Oklahoma OK68$33−40%$24 – $65
Louisiana LA50$30−45%$18 – $56
Alabama AL35$29−48%$18 – $87
Mississippi MS54$24−57%$15 – $48
Arkansas AR38$22−59%$13 – $57
New Jersey NJ57$10−82%$10 – $30
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $55.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,198$52$21 – $112
Children’s64$77$46 – $152
Critical access943$59$30 – $94
Ownership
For-profit453$80$28 – $266
Government613$56$25 – $94
Non-profit2,139$51$22 – $98
System affiliation
Part of a system2,600$54$22 – $108
Independent614$56$29 – $94

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$91
Median cash price$55
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

2,152 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $55 and the average of the middle 60% is $58; most fall between $26 and $104.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,152 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
$15$30$55$93$141

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $141).

Of the 2,376 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,152 gave a usable cash price; 118 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,214 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 3,513 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,214
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here169
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded126
Hospitals that filed this code3,513

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 Iron Binding Capacity + %Sat.

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 iron-binding capacity (CPT 83550) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83550-blood-test-for-iron-binding-capacity