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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Protoporphyrin screen in red blood cells

CPT 84203the billing code this page is about

A screening blood test that checks for protoporphyrin in red blood cells without giving an exact amount.

Hospitals typically charge $24 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 220 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $44. Most fall between $11 and $106 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
220
States
34
Filings dated
Dec 2024 – 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 220 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
$10$12$24$81$193

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $193).

How the prices are spread

$8 – $12: 46 hospitals$8$12 – $17: 21 hospitals$17 – $24: 23 hospitals$17$24 – $34: 23 hospitals$34 – $48: 9 hospitals$34$48 – $68: 12 hospitals$68 – $96: 24 hospitals$68$96 – $137: 26 hospitals$137 – $194: 5 hospitals$137$194 – $274: 13 hospitals$194median $24price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (202 of 220 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$8$1246
$12$1721
$17$2423
$24$3423
$34$489
$48$6812
$68$9624
$96$13726
$137$1945
$194$27413

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $24.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $49 across 13 hospitalsWA$49Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $10 across 12 hospitalsNY$10Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital 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 $24 across 15 hospitalsIA$24Indiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $274 across 16 hospitalsOH$274Pennsylvania: median $7 across 13 hospitalsPA$7New Jersey: median $11 across 27 hospitalsNJ$11Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $106 across 34 hospitalsCA$106Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCONebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMOKentucky: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $18 across 12 hospitalsOK$18Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $24. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH16$274+1043%$244 – $352
California CA34$106+341%$77 – $106
Washington WA13$49+104%$44 – $90
Iowa IA15$240%$14 – $24
Oklahoma OK12$18−27%$18 – $18
New Jersey NJ27$11−55%$10 – $11
New York NY12$10−59%$10 – $10
Pennsylvania PA13$7−70%$7 – $11
Illinois IL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $24.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care195$24$11 – $106
Children’s1fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access22$54$14 – $120
Ownership
For-profit16fewer than 20 hospitals
Government18fewer than 20 hospitals
Non-profit184$24$11 – $106
System affiliation
Part of a system195$24$11 – $106
Independent25$18$11 – $57

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$83
Median cash price$24
Cash as a share of list, median hospital59%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 41%. 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

143 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $54 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $18 and $106.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 143 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
$13$22$54$106$195

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $195).

Of the 154 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 143 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 10 a list price only.

How complete is this

220 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 234 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted220
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here3
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 — excluded10
Hospitals that filed this code234

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 5, 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 TEST RBC PROTOPORPHYRIN.

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, “Protoporphyrin screen in red blood cells (CPT 84203) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-84203-protoporphyrin-screen-in-red-blood-cells