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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Protein analysis by Western blot with report

CPT 84181the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that separates and identifies specific proteins in blood or another body fluid using the Western blot method, including written interpretation.

Hospitals typically charge $107 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,640 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $115. Most fall between $38 and $220 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,640
States
49
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 1,640 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
$26$49$107$195$338

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($26 vs $338).

How the prices are spread

$19 – $26: 92 hospitals$19$26 – $37: 140 hospitals$37 – $51: 113 hospitals$37$51 – $71: 142 hospitals$71 – $99: 217 hospitals$71$99 – $137: 182 hospitals$137 – $191: 252 hospitals$137$191 – $265: 169 hospitals$265 – $369: 125 hospitals$265$369 – $513: 45 hospitals$369median $107price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,477 of 1,640 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$19$2692
$26$37140
$37$51113
$51$71142
$71$99217
$99$137182
$137$191252
$191$265169
$265$369125
$369$51345

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $107.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $161 across 15 hospitalsME$161Vermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $112 across 15 hospitalsNH$112Washington: median $85 across 50 hospitalsWA$85Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $216 across 27 hospitalsMN$216Illinois: median $150 across 77 hospitalsIL$150Wisconsin: median $83 across 26 hospitalsWI$83Michigan: median $62 across 32 hospitalsMI$62New York: median $43 across 72 hospitalsNY$43Massachusetts: median $91 across 41 hospitalsMA$91Oregon: median $88 across 19 hospitalsOR$88Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $49 across 24 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $84 across 63 hospitalsIN$84Ohio: median $232 across 81 hospitalsOH$232Pennsylvania: median $123 across 107 hospitalsPA$123New Jersey: median $19 across 44 hospitalsNJ$19Connecticut: median $72 across 12 hospitalsCT$72Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $93 across 80 hospitalsCA$93Utah: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $168 across 32 hospitalsCO$168Nebraska: median $178 across 25 hospitalsNE$178Missouri: median $145 across 43 hospitalsMO$145Kentucky: median $167 across 26 hospitalsKY$167West Virginia: median $82 across 16 hospitalsWV$82Virginia: median $54 across 45 hospitalsVA$54Maryland: median $144 across 25 hospitalsMD$144Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $122 across 21 hospitalsAZ$122New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $189 across 25 hospitalsKS$189Arkansas: median $84 across 20 hospitalsAR$84Tennessee: median $71 across 40 hospitalsTN$71North Carolina: median $161 across 64 hospitalsNC$161South Carolina: median $202 across 30 hospitalsSC$202Oklahoma: median $135 across 37 hospitalsOK$135Louisiana: median $41 across 29 hospitalsLA$41Mississippi: median $75 across 36 hospitalsMS$75Alabama: median $182 across 19 hospitalsAL$182Georgia: median $94 across 65 hospitalsGA$94Hawaii: median $214 across 10 hospitalsHI$214Texas: median $151 across 108 hospitalsTX$151Florida: median $44 across 64 hospitalsFL$44
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $107. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH81$232+116%$77 – $368
Minnesota MN27$216+102%$128 – $602
Hawaii HI10$214+100%$128 – $237
South Carolina SC30$202+88%$70 – $206
Kansas KS25$189+77%$105 – $585
Alabama AL19$182+70%$44 – $264
Nebraska NE25$178+66%$64 – $229
Colorado CO32$168+57%$98 – $290
Kentucky KY26$167+56%$82 – $200
Maine ME15$161+51%$85 – $278
North Carolina NC64$161+50%$26 – $279
Texas TX108$151+41%$68 – $221
Illinois IL77$150+40%$49 – $308
Missouri MO43$145+35%$73 – $398
Maryland MD25$144+35%$97 – $176
Oklahoma OK37$135+26%$57 – $171
Pennsylvania PA107$123+15%$21 – $227
Arizona AZ21$122+14%$77 – $124
New Hampshire NH15$112+5%$84 – $161
Georgia GA65$94−12%$52 – $322
California CA80$93−13%$38 – $152
Massachusetts MA41$91−15%$56 – $165
Oregon OR19$88−18%$42 – $146
Washington WA50$85−20%$41 – $134
Arkansas AR20$84−21%$34 – $185
Indiana IN63$84−21%$30 – $235
Wisconsin WI26$83−23%$83 – $127
West Virginia WV16$82−23%$43 – $136
Mississippi MS36$75−30%$46 – $108
Connecticut CT12$72−33%$38 – $91
Tennessee TN40$71−34%$30 – $153
Michigan MI32$62−42%$24 – $158
Virginia VA45$54−49%$32 – $179
Iowa IA24$49−55%$49 – $178
Florida FL64$44−59%$22 – $168
New York NY72$43−60%$20 – $113
Louisiana LA29$41−62%$27 – $111
New Jersey NJ44$19−82%$17 – $131
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not 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 $107.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,315$100$35 – $214
Children’s21$214$53 – $340
Critical access298$123$56 – $227
Ownership
For-profit204$133$51 – $322
Government229$99$38 – $216
Non-profit1,201$102$38 – $213
System affiliation
Part of a system1,390$104$38 – $216
Independent250$111$43 – $272

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$188
Median cash price$107
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

1,141 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $107 and the average of the middle 60% is $116; most fall between $43 and $221.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,141 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
$29$55$107$196$322

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($29 vs $322).

Of the 1,257 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,141 gave a usable cash price; 61 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 55 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,640 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (41%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,766 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,640
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here62
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded64
Hospitals that filed this code1,766

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 WESTERN BLOT TEST.

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 analysis by Western blot with report (CPT 84181) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-84181-protein-analysis-by-western-blot-with-report