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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Lab test measured by light absorption, not otherwise listed

CPT 84311the billing code this page is about

A laboratory measurement of a substance in blood or another body fluid using a spectrophotometer, billed when no specific test code exists for that substance; one charge per test performed.

Hospitals typically charge $43 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,752 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $48. Most fall between $16 and $106 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,752
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,752 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
$9$20$43$91$178

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($9 vs $178).

How the prices are spread

$7 – $11: 210 hospitals$7$11 – $15: 193 hospitals$15 – $22: 237 hospitals$15$22 – $31: 281 hospitals$31 – $44: 347 hospitals$31$44 – $62: 353 hospitals$62 – $89: 296 hospitals$62$89 – $126: 260 hospitals$126 – $180: 174 hospitals$126$180 – $257: 130 hospitals$180median $43price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,481 of 2,752 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$7$11210
$11$15193
$15$22237
$22$31281
$31$44347
$44$62353
$62$89296
$89$126260
$126$180174
$180$257130

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $43.

Alaska: median $65 across 16 hospitalsAK$65Maine: median $32 across 24 hospitalsME$32Vermont: median $58 across 12 hospitalsVT$58New Hampshire: median $61 across 20 hospitalsNH$61Washington: median $42 across 60 hospitalsWA$42Idaho: median $51 across 21 hospitalsID$51Montana: median $30 across 13 hospitalsMT$30North Dakota: median $41 across 18 hospitalsND$41Minnesota: median $57 across 76 hospitalsMN$57Illinois: median $62 across 122 hospitalsIL$62Wisconsin: median $44 across 97 hospitalsWI$44Michigan: median $13 across 67 hospitalsMI$13New York: median $23 across 100 hospitalsNY$23Massachusetts: median $64 across 48 hospitalsMA$64Oregon: median $38 across 36 hospitalsOR$38Nevada: median $43 across 18 hospitalsNV$43Wyoming: median $39 across 14 hospitalsWY$39South Dakota: median $65 across 13 hospitalsSD$65Iowa: median $39 across 57 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $35 across 80 hospitalsIN$35Ohio: median $40 across 125 hospitalsOH$40Pennsylvania: median $39 across 115 hospitalsPA$39New Jersey: median $9 across 54 hospitalsNJ$9Connecticut: median $61 across 21 hospitalsCT$61Rhode Island: median $52 across 10 hospitalsRI$52California: median $21 across 115 hospitalsCA$21Utah: median $71 across 37 hospitalsUT$71Colorado: median $51 across 54 hospitalsCO$51Nebraska: median $80 across 48 hospitalsNE$80Missouri: median $55 across 68 hospitalsMO$55Kentucky: median $105 across 61 hospitalsKY$105West Virginia: median $18 across 32 hospitalsWV$18Virginia: median $40 across 70 hospitalsVA$40Maryland: median $68 across 40 hospitalsMD$68Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $49 across 38 hospitalsAZ$49New Mexico: median $65 across 23 hospitalsNM$65Kansas: median $110 across 47 hospitalsKS$110Arkansas: median $22 across 32 hospitalsAR$22Tennessee: median $46 across 76 hospitalsTN$46North Carolina: median $60 across 77 hospitalsNC$60South Carolina: median $77 across 48 hospitalsSC$77Oklahoma: median $40 across 57 hospitalsOK$40Louisiana: median $17 across 46 hospitalsLA$17Mississippi: median $30 across 46 hospitalsMS$30Alabama: median $92 across 38 hospitalsAL$92Georgia: median $43 across 90 hospitalsGA$43Hawaii: median $45 across 17 hospitalsHI$45Texas: median $41 across 206 hospitalsTX$41Florida: median $14 across 142 hospitalsFL$14
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $43. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS47$110+159%$42 – $237
Kentucky KY61$105+146%$24 – $215
Alabama AL38$92+116%$21 – $251
Nebraska NE48$80+89%$29 – $217
South Carolina SC48$77+82%$48 – $133
Utah UT37$71+67%$59 – $84
Maryland MD40$68+59%$52 – $81
Alaska AK16$65+53%$27 – $177
New Mexico NM23$65+52%$27 – $109
South Dakota SD13$65+52%$59 – $158
Massachusetts MA48$64+50%$20 – $129
Illinois IL122$62+45%$30 – $131
Connecticut CT21$61+43%$34 – $81
New Hampshire NH20$61+42%$32 – $138
North Carolina NC77$60+41%$32 – $117
Vermont VT12$58+37%$23 – $215
Minnesota MN76$57+34%$42 – $92
Missouri MO68$55+28%$22 – $114
Rhode Island RI10$52+21%$17 – $166
Colorado CO54$51+20%$27 – $69
Idaho ID21$51+19%$24 – $71
Arizona AZ38$49+14%$11 – $195
Tennessee TN76$46+7%$12 – $79
Hawaii HI17$45+6%$43 – $97
Wisconsin WI97$44+4%$28 – $109
Nevada NV18$430%$25 – $114
Georgia GA90$430%$19 – $67
Washington WA60$42−1%$21 – $75
North Dakota ND18$41−3%$34 – $97
Texas TX206$41−4%$11 – $207
Oklahoma OK57$40−5%$20 – $87
Ohio OH125$40−6%$24 – $120
Virginia VA70$40−6%$12 – $109
Pennsylvania PA115$39−8%$12 – $104
Wyoming WY14$39−8%$36 – $104
Iowa IA57$39−9%$30 – $110
Oregon OR36$38−11%$22 – $60
Indiana IN80$35−18%$14 – $86
Maine ME24$32−26%$19 – $88
Montana MT13$30−30%$11 – $107
Mississippi MS46$30−30%$10 – $68
New York NY100$23−46%$12 – $67
Arkansas AR32$22−49%$7 – $50
California CA115$21−50%$7 – $37
West Virginia WV32$18−58%$7 – $82
Louisiana LA46$17−61%$9 – $77
Florida FL142$14−67%$7 – $63
Michigan MI67$13−69%$8 – $45
New Jersey NJ54$9−79%$8 – $26
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 $43.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,077$40$13 – $105
Children’s49$43$15 – $132
Critical access616$55$24 – $117
Ownership
For-profit408$49$14 – $193
Government431$52$18 – $117
Non-profit1,903$40$16 – $99
System affiliation
Part of a system2,298$43$15 – $106
Independent454$42$19 – $105

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$72
Median cash price$43
Cash as a share of list, median hospital61%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 39%. 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

1,909 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $43 and the average of the middle 60% is $49; most fall between $18 and $105.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,909 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
$11$21$43$90$158

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $158).

Of the 2,117 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,909 gave a usable cash price; 109 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 99 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,752 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (70%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,009 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,752
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here145
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 — excluded111
Hospitals that filed this code3,009

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 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 HC Body Fluid Cholesterol.

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, “Lab test measured by light absorption, not otherwise listed (CPT 84311) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-84311-lab-test-measured-by-light-absorption-not-otherwise-listed