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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Tear osmolarity test for dry eye

CPT 83861the billing code this page is about

A test that measures the saltiness (osmolarity) of a small tear sample using a single-use collection and analysis device.

Hospitals typically charge $47 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 224 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $58. Most fall between $22 and $136 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
224
States
30
Filings dated
Oct 2025 – 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 224 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$25$47$134$167

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($22 vs $167).

How the prices are spread

$21 – $26: 60 hospitals$21$26 – $32: 20 hospitals$32 – $39: 7 hospitals$32$39 – $48: 26 hospitals$48 – $59: 13 hospitals$48$59 – $73: 9 hospitals$73 – $90: 2 hospitals$73$90 – $110: 5 hospitals$110 – $136: 18 hospitals$110$136 – $167: 42 hospitals$136median $47price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (202 of 224 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$21$2660
$26$3220
$32$397
$39$4826
$48$5913
$59$739
$73$902
$90$1105
$110$13618
$136$16742

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $47.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: median $28 across 10 hospitalsMN$28Illinois: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: median $146 across 18 hospitalsWI$146Michigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $55 across 27 hospitalsNY$55Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $47 across 13 hospitalsIA$47Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $18 across 18 hospitalsPA$18New Jersey: median $25 across 23 hospitalsNJ$25Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $167 across 38 hospitalsCA$167Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $136 across 18 hospitalsTX$136Florida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $47. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA38$167+254%$134 – $167
Wisconsin WI18$146+210%$25 – $166
Texas TX18$136+188%$109 – $136
New York NY27$55+17%$22 – $55
Iowa IA13$470%$47 – $47
Minnesota MN10$28−40%$24 – $28
New Jersey NJ23$25−48%$22 – $25
Pennsylvania PA18$18−61%$15 – $34
Virginia VA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $47.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care198$47$22 – $136
Critical access24$28$25 – $166
Ownership
For-profit15fewer than 20 hospitals
Government19fewer than 20 hospitals
Non-profit188$47$25 – $136
System affiliation
Part of a system200$47$24 – $136
Independent24$30$22 – $70

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$87
Median cash price$47
Cash as a share of list, median hospital63%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 37%. 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

128 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $134 and the average of the middle 60% is $116; most fall between $40 and $167.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 128 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
$28$47$134$166$167

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($28 vs $167).

Of the 130 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 128 gave a usable cash price; 1 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 1 a list price only.

How complete is this

224 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (6%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 229 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted224
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here4
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 — excluded0
Hospitals that filed this code229

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 Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as MICROFLUID ANALY TEARS.

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, “Tear osmolarity test for dry eye (CPT 83861) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83861-tear-osmolarity-test-for-dry-eye