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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Blood test for lactic acid (lactate)

CPT 83605the billing code this page is about

Measures the level of lactate, or lactic acid, in a blood sample; the code covers one lactate measurement, not a group of tests.

Hospitals typically charge $72 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,408 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $75. Most fall between $30 and $142 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,408
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 3,408 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$37$72$123$206

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $206).

How the prices are spread

$13 – $17: 141 hospitals$13$17 – $24: 213 hospitals$24 – $33: 220 hospitals$24$33 – $45: 279 hospitals$45 – $62: 488 hospitals$45$62 – $85: 470 hospitals$85 – $116: 521 hospitals$85$116 – $160: 373 hospitals$160 – $219: 249 hospitals$160$219 – $301: 116 hospitals$219median $72price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,070 of 3,408 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$13$17141
$17$24213
$24$33220
$33$45279
$45$62488
$62$85470
$85$116521
$116$160373
$160$219249
$219$301116

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $72.

Alaska: median $163 across 19 hospitalsAK$163Maine: median $58 across 28 hospitalsME$58Vermont: median $112 across 14 hospitalsVT$112New Hampshire: median $64 across 24 hospitalsNH$64Washington: median $86 across 77 hospitalsWA$86Idaho: median $71 across 25 hospitalsID$71Montana: median $106 across 34 hospitalsMT$106North Dakota: median $77 across 34 hospitalsND$77Minnesota: median $53 across 106 hospitalsMN$53Illinois: median $108 across 143 hospitalsIL$108Wisconsin: median $71 across 108 hospitalsWI$71Michigan: median $32 across 102 hospitalsMI$32New York: median $39 across 119 hospitalsNY$39Massachusetts: median $77 across 52 hospitalsMA$77Oregon: median $65 across 51 hospitalsOR$65Nevada: median $76 across 22 hospitalsNV$76Wyoming: median $64 across 16 hospitalsWY$64South Dakota: median $115 across 41 hospitalsSD$115Iowa: median $80 across 89 hospitalsIA$80Indiana: median $71 across 97 hospitalsIN$71Ohio: median $52 across 143 hospitalsOH$52Pennsylvania: median $64 across 122 hospitalsPA$64New Jersey: median $13 across 54 hospitalsNJ$13Connecticut: median $54 across 23 hospitalsCT$54Rhode Island: median $51 across 10 hospitalsRI$51California: median $143 across 164 hospitalsCA$143Utah: median $62 across 42 hospitalsUT$62Colorado: median $78 across 72 hospitalsCO$78Nebraska: median $125 across 84 hospitalsNE$125Missouri: median $79 across 77 hospitalsMO$79Kentucky: median $73 across 68 hospitalsKY$73West Virginia: median $60 across 44 hospitalsWV$60Virginia: median $83 across 73 hospitalsVA$83Maryland: median $50 across 41 hospitalsMD$50Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $90 across 42 hospitalsAZ$90New Mexico: median $110 across 30 hospitalsNM$110Kansas: median $75 across 92 hospitalsKS$75Arkansas: median $40 across 37 hospitalsAR$40Tennessee: median $38 across 83 hospitalsTN$38North Carolina: median $87 across 92 hospitalsNC$87South Carolina: median $93 across 53 hospitalsSC$93Oklahoma: median $43 across 73 hospitalsOK$43Louisiana: median $39 across 49 hospitalsLA$39Mississippi: median $44 across 54 hospitalsMS$44Alabama: median $59 across 44 hospitalsAL$59Georgia: median $72 across 110 hospitalsGA$72Hawaii: median $71 across 20 hospitalsHI$71Texas: median $99 across 249 hospitalsTX$99Florida: median $85 across 155 hospitalsFL$85
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $72. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK19$163+126%$127 – $224
California CA164$143+98%$26 – $265
Nebraska NE84$125+74%$60 – $163
South Dakota SD41$115+60%$81 – $193
Vermont VT14$112+56%$71 – $190
New Mexico NM30$110+52%$55 – $147
Illinois IL143$108+50%$50 – $185
Montana MT34$106+47%$54 – $141
Texas TX249$99+38%$37 – $203
South Carolina SC53$93+29%$76 – $156
Arizona AZ42$90+25%$20 – $386
North Carolina NC92$87+21%$56 – $101
Washington WA77$86+19%$48 – $146
Florida FL155$85+18%$21 – $278
Virginia VA73$83+16%$46 – $126
Iowa IA89$80+11%$52 – $98
Missouri MO77$79+10%$37 – $156
Colorado CO72$78+8%$15 – $199
Massachusetts MA52$77+7%$37 – $104
North Dakota ND34$77+7%$58 – $94
Nevada NV22$76+6%$40 – $185
Kansas KS92$75+4%$47 – $108
Kentucky KY68$73+1%$35 – $133
Georgia GA110$720%$23 – $106
Indiana IN97$71−1%$23 – $131
Idaho ID25$71−1%$51 – $83
Wisconsin WI108$71−2%$48 – $104
Hawaii HI20$71−2%$58 – $109
Oregon OR51$65−10%$47 – $109
Wyoming WY16$64−11%$54 – $114
Pennsylvania PA122$64−12%$18 – $136
New Hampshire NH24$64−12%$38 – $166
Utah UT42$62−14%$52 – $102
West Virginia WV44$60−17%$36 – $94
Alabama AL44$59−19%$31 – $144
Maine ME28$58−19%$30 – $139
Connecticut CT23$54−25%$30 – $89
Minnesota MN106$53−27%$21 – $112
Ohio OH143$52−28%$38 – $101
Rhode Island RI10$51−30%$40 – $84
Maryland MD41$50−31%$36 – $64
Mississippi MS54$44−39%$24 – $70
Oklahoma OK73$43−41%$25 – $85
Arkansas AR37$40−45%$25 – $78
Louisiana LA49$39−46%$17 – $77
New York NY119$39−46%$20 – $122
Tennessee TN83$38−48%$23 – $103
Michigan MI102$32−56%$16 – $60
New Jersey NJ54$13−82%$12 – $36
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 $72.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,323$66$26 – $149
Children’s68$69$27 – $117
Critical access1,007$80$44 – $129
Ownership
For-profit473$99$35 – $293
Government651$75$35 – $129
Non-profit2,274$67$28 – $132
System affiliation
Part of a system2,752$73$28 – $146
Independent656$71$34 – $124

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$117
Median cash price$72
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

2,288 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $71 and the average of the middle 60% is $74; most fall between $31 and $138.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,288 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$38$71$118$202

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $202).

Of the 2,528 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,288 gave a usable cash price; 127 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 113 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,408 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (86%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,718 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,408
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here175
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 — excluded134
Hospitals that filed this code3,718

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 Lactic Acid - Bg Syringe.

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 lactic acid (lactate) (CPT 83605) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83605-blood-test-for-lactic-acid-lactate