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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Myelin basic protein test in spinal fluid

CPT 83873the billing code this page is about

A test that measures myelin basic protein, released when nerve insulation breaks down, in a sample of cerebrospinal fluid.

Hospitals typically charge $72 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,229 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $79. Most fall between $30 and $154 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,229
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,229 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$36$72$136$222

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $222).

How the prices are spread

$14 – $20: 150 hospitals$14$20 – $27: 132 hospitals$27 – $38: 182 hospitals$27$38 – $52: 231 hospitals$52 – $71: 274 hospitals$52$71 – $97: 307 hospitals$97 – $134: 278 hospitals$97$134 – $183: 231 hospitals$183 – $252: 159 hospitals$183$252 – $346: 64 hospitals$252median $72price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,008 of 2,229 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$14$20150
$20$27132
$27$38182
$38$52231
$52$71274
$71$97307
$97$134278
$134$183231
$183$252159
$252$34664

By state

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

Alaska: median $170 across 10 hospitalsAK$170Maine: median $48 across 17 hospitalsME$48Vermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $56 across 18 hospitalsNH$56Washington: median $79 across 49 hospitalsWA$79Idaho: median $65 across 17 hospitalsID$65Montana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $49 across 20 hospitalsMN$49Illinois: median $97 across 94 hospitalsIL$97Wisconsin: median $98 across 62 hospitalsWI$98Michigan: median $15 across 40 hospitalsMI$15New York: median $54 across 85 hospitalsNY$54Massachusetts: median $97 across 39 hospitalsMA$97Oregon: median $55 across 34 hospitalsOR$55Nevada: median $84 across 14 hospitalsNV$84Wyoming: median $70 across 11 hospitalsWY$70South Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $64 across 36 hospitalsIA$64Indiana: median $68 across 78 hospitalsIN$68Ohio: median $77 across 102 hospitalsOH$77Pennsylvania: median $80 across 116 hospitalsPA$80New Jersey: median $20 across 54 hospitalsNJ$20Connecticut: median $86 across 21 hospitalsCT$86Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $25 across 112 hospitalsCA$25Utah: median $77 across 37 hospitalsUT$77Colorado: median $100 across 39 hospitalsCO$100Nebraska: median $87 across 30 hospitalsNE$87Missouri: median $90 across 53 hospitalsMO$90Kentucky: median $83 across 46 hospitalsKY$83West Virginia: median $56 across 17 hospitalsWV$56Virginia: median $58 across 57 hospitalsVA$58Maryland: median $159 across 37 hospitalsMD$159Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $124 across 33 hospitalsAZ$124New Mexico: median $148 across 19 hospitalsNM$148Kansas: median $89 across 36 hospitalsKS$89Arkansas: median $39 across 25 hospitalsAR$39Tennessee: median $57 across 63 hospitalsTN$57North Carolina: median $96 across 70 hospitalsNC$96South Carolina: median $133 across 45 hospitalsSC$133Oklahoma: median $64 across 51 hospitalsOK$64Louisiana: median $46 across 40 hospitalsLA$46Mississippi: median $62 across 36 hospitalsMS$62Alabama: median $64 across 27 hospitalsAL$64Georgia: median $85 across 78 hospitalsGA$85Hawaii: median $97 across 13 hospitalsHI$97Texas: median $109 across 190 hospitalsTX$109Florida: median $21 across 129 hospitalsFL$21
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 AK10$170+135%$117 – $201
Maryland MD37$159+120%$120 – $192
New Mexico NM19$148+105%$55 – $178
South Carolina SC45$133+83%$55 – $222
Arizona AZ33$124+72%$30 – $156
Texas TX190$109+50%$54 – $317
Colorado CO39$100+39%$44 – $211
Wisconsin WI62$98+35%$61 – $128
Illinois IL94$97+34%$45 – $218
Massachusetts MA39$97+34%$42 – $173
Hawaii HI13$97+34%$43 – $137
North Carolina NC70$96+33%$20 – $159
Missouri MO53$90+24%$62 – $209
Kansas KS36$89+23%$52 – $226
Nebraska NE30$87+20%$50 – $142
Connecticut CT21$86+19%$65 – $143
Georgia GA78$85+18%$47 – $156
Nevada NV14$84+16%$25 – $160
Kentucky KY46$83+15%$43 – $217
Pennsylvania PA116$80+10%$29 – $213
Washington WA49$79+9%$47 – $131
Ohio OH102$77+7%$53 – $108
Utah UT37$77+6%$65 – $151
Wyoming WY11$70−3%$40 – $125
Indiana IN78$68−6%$31 – $152
Idaho ID17$65−10%$38 – $92
Iowa IA36$64−11%$64 – $101
Alabama AL27$64−12%$28 – $173
Oklahoma OK51$64−12%$38 – $133
Mississippi MS36$62−15%$44 – $137
Virginia VA57$58−19%$20 – $187
Tennessee TN63$57−21%$22 – $118
New Hampshire NH18$56−22%$26 – $154
West Virginia WV17$56−23%$51 – $83
Oregon OR34$55−24%$37 – $91
New York NY85$54−25%$21 – $128
Minnesota MN20$49−32%$25 – $109
Maine ME17$48−34%$30 – $137
Louisiana LA40$46−36%$30 – $70
Arkansas AR25$39−46%$31 – $85
California CA112$25−65%$15 – $51
Florida FL129$21−71%$13 – $53
New Jersey NJ54$20−73%$17 – $63
Michigan MI40$15−79%$7 – $78
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not 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 care1,833$72$28 – $152
Children’s44$65$25 – $176
Critical access345$83$44 – $158
Ownership
For-profit353$85$26 – $278
Government308$60$28 – $149
Non-profit1,561$72$31 – $143
System affiliation
Part of a system1,874$72$30 – $155
Independent355$73$32 – $151

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$123
Median cash price$72
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

1,588 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $77 and the average of the middle 60% is $82; most fall between $34 and $154.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,588 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
$20$40$77$134$215

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $215).

Of the 1,764 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,588 gave a usable cash price; 102 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 74 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,229 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (56%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,455 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,229
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here135
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 — excluded90
Hospitals that filed this code2,455

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 ASSAY OF CSF PROTEIN.

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, “Myelin basic protein test in spinal fluid (CPT 83873) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-83873-myelin-basic-protein-test-in-spinal-fluid