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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Protein electrophoresis on urine or spinal fluid

CPT 84166the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that concentrates a fluid such as urine or cerebrospinal fluid and separates its proteins into groups for measurement.

Hospitals typically charge $71 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,203 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $75. Most fall between $29 and $139 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,203
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 3,203 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$34$71$123$207

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $207).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $17: 107 hospitals$12$17 – $23: 215 hospitals$23 – $32: 268 hospitals$23$32 – $44: 258 hospitals$44 – $61: 361 hospitals$44$61 – $84: 459 hospitals$84 – $116: 489 hospitals$84$116 – $161: 409 hospitals$161 – $223: 219 hospitals$161$223 – $308: 103 hospitals$223median $71price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,888 of 3,203 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$17107
$17$23215
$23$32268
$32$44258
$44$61361
$61$84459
$84$116489
$116$161409
$161$223219
$223$308103

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $71.

Alaska: median $64 across 17 hospitalsAK$64Maine: median $52 across 28 hospitalsME$52Vermont: median $91 across 14 hospitalsVT$91New Hampshire: median $81 across 23 hospitalsNH$81Washington: median $100 across 76 hospitalsWA$100Idaho: median $85 across 22 hospitalsID$85Montana: median $63 across 30 hospitalsMT$63North Dakota: median $102 across 33 hospitalsND$102Minnesota: median $83 across 99 hospitalsMN$83Illinois: median $104 across 139 hospitalsIL$104Wisconsin: median $110 across 90 hospitalsWI$110Michigan: median $56 across 99 hospitalsMI$56New York: median $65 across 103 hospitalsNY$65Massachusetts: median $93 across 49 hospitalsMA$93Oregon: median $54 across 48 hospitalsOR$54Nevada: median $64 across 19 hospitalsNV$64Wyoming: median $74 across 15 hospitalsWY$74South Dakota: median $124 across 38 hospitalsSD$124Iowa: median $83 across 87 hospitalsIA$83Indiana: median $61 across 95 hospitalsIN$61Ohio: median $80 across 139 hospitalsOH$80Pennsylvania: median $71 across 120 hospitalsPA$71New Jersey: median $21 across 55 hospitalsNJ$21Connecticut: median $52 across 22 hospitalsCT$52Rhode Island: median $41 across 10 hospitalsRI$41California: median $25 across 136 hospitalsCA$25Utah: median $145 across 39 hospitalsUT$145Colorado: median $100 across 68 hospitalsCO$100Nebraska: median $120 across 78 hospitalsNE$120Missouri: median $68 across 72 hospitalsMO$68Kentucky: median $88 across 69 hospitalsKY$88West Virginia: median $60 across 42 hospitalsWV$60Virginia: median $88 across 73 hospitalsVA$88Maryland: median $66 across 40 hospitalsMD$66Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $60 across 38 hospitalsAZ$60New Mexico: median $74 across 28 hospitalsNM$74Kansas: median $66 across 80 hospitalsKS$66Arkansas: median $29 across 36 hospitalsAR$29Tennessee: median $36 across 79 hospitalsTN$36North Carolina: median $76 across 86 hospitalsNC$76South Carolina: median $128 across 49 hospitalsSC$128Oklahoma: median $53 across 73 hospitalsOK$53Louisiana: median $44 across 48 hospitalsLA$44Mississippi: median $31 across 53 hospitalsMS$31Alabama: median $65 across 44 hospitalsAL$65Georgia: median $87 across 103 hospitalsGA$87Hawaii: median $116 across 18 hospitalsHI$116Texas: median $94 across 226 hospitalsTX$94Florida: median $24 across 148 hospitalsFL$24
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $71. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT39$145+104%$60 – $171
South Carolina SC49$128+80%$64 – $190
South Dakota SD38$124+74%$86 – $185
Nebraska NE78$120+68%$64 – $168
Hawaii HI18$116+62%$46 – $176
Wisconsin WI90$110+54%$64 – $117
Illinois IL139$104+45%$52 – $188
North Dakota ND33$102+43%$34 – $130
Washington WA76$100+41%$61 – $136
Colorado CO68$100+40%$39 – $154
Texas TX226$94+32%$17 – $330
Massachusetts MA49$93+30%$44 – $143
Vermont VT14$91+27%$50 – $165
Virginia VA73$88+24%$31 – $234
Kentucky KY69$88+23%$37 – $150
Georgia GA103$87+22%$40 – $146
Idaho ID22$85+19%$79 – $127
Minnesota MN99$83+17%$44 – $138
Iowa IA87$83+16%$64 – $121
New Hampshire NH23$81+13%$43 – $226
Ohio OH139$80+12%$48 – $120
North Carolina NC86$76+6%$22 – $136
New Mexico NM28$74+4%$41 – $96
Wyoming WY15$74+3%$33 – $126
Pennsylvania PA120$710%$21 – $210
Missouri MO72$68−5%$46 – $124
Kansas KS80$66−7%$41 – $137
Maryland MD40$66−7%$52 – $81
Alabama AL44$65−9%$33 – $145
New York NY103$65−10%$18 – $113
Alaska AK17$64−10%$23 – $116
Nevada NV19$64−10%$25 – $152
Montana MT30$63−12%$42 – $130
Indiana IN95$61−15%$29 – $98
Arizona AZ38$60−16%$23 – $266
West Virginia WV42$60−16%$30 – $107
Michigan MI99$56−22%$21 – $87
Oregon OR48$54−24%$27 – $93
Oklahoma OK73$53−25%$29 – $87
Maine ME28$52−28%$28 – $117
Connecticut CT22$52−28%$47 – $83
Louisiana LA48$44−39%$25 – $78
Rhode Island RI10$41−42%$22 – $69
Tennessee TN79$36−50%$15 – $76
Mississippi MS53$31−56%$17 – $71
Arkansas AR36$29−59%$20 – $93
California CA136$25−65%$8 – $74
Florida FL148$24−66%$10 – $134
New Jersey NJ55$21−71%$20 – $60
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 $71.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,233$65$25 – $137
Children’s42$70$29 – $149
Critical access918$86$41 – $141
Ownership
For-profit433$79$24 – $294
Government596$75$32 – $133
Non-profit2,164$70$29 – $134
System affiliation
Part of a system2,624$73$29 – $143
Independent579$68$30 – $119

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$119
Median cash price$71
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

2,194 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $74 and the average of the middle 60% is $77; most fall between $31 and $138.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,194 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$74$124$196

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $196).

Of the 2,420 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,194 gave a usable cash price; 124 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,203 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 3,488 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,203
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here160
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded122
Hospitals that filed this code3,488

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 Protein Electrop Fxj&Quan Oth Flus Concentrati.

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, “Protein electrophoresis on urine or spinal fluid (CPT 84166) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-84166-protein-electrophoresis-on-urine-or-spinal-fluid