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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Free triiodothyronine (free T3) blood test

CPT 84481the billing code this page is about

A blood test that measures the unbound, active form of the thyroid hormone T3.

Hospitals typically charge $95 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,336 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $100. Most fall between $41 and $185 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,336
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 3,336 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
$23$49$95$159$259

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($23 vs $259).

How the prices are spread

$17 – $23: 158 hospitals$17$23 – $31: 156 hospitals$31 – $43: 228 hospitals$31$43 – $58: 320 hospitals$58 – $80: 386 hospitals$58$80 – $109: 484 hospitals$109 – $149: 489 hospitals$109$149 – $204: 404 hospitals$204 – $278: 251 hospitals$204$278 – $380: 129 hospitals$278median $95price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,005 of 3,336 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$17$23158
$23$31156
$31$43228
$43$58320
$58$80386
$80$109484
$109$149489
$149$204404
$204$278251
$278$380129

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $95.

Alaska: median $153 across 18 hospitalsAK$153Maine: median $82 across 28 hospitalsME$82Vermont: median $125 across 14 hospitalsVT$125New Hampshire: median $101 across 25 hospitalsNH$101Washington: median $88 across 76 hospitalsWA$88Idaho: median $66 across 24 hospitalsID$66Montana: median $106 across 29 hospitalsMT$106North Dakota: median $106 across 33 hospitalsND$106Minnesota: median $102 across 107 hospitalsMN$102Illinois: median $125 across 140 hospitalsIL$125Wisconsin: median $95 across 106 hospitalsWI$95Michigan: median $63 across 96 hospitalsMI$63New York: median $68 across 103 hospitalsNY$68Massachusetts: median $107 across 53 hospitalsMA$107Oregon: median $74 across 49 hospitalsOR$74Nevada: median $111 across 21 hospitalsNV$111Wyoming: median $75 across 16 hospitalsWY$75South Dakota: median $208 across 41 hospitalsSD$208Iowa: median $98 across 89 hospitalsIA$98Indiana: median $102 across 96 hospitalsIN$102Ohio: median $76 across 143 hospitalsOH$76Pennsylvania: median $85 across 122 hospitalsPA$85New Jersey: median $19 across 57 hospitalsNJ$19Connecticut: median $79 across 23 hospitalsCT$79Rhode Island: median $73 across 10 hospitalsRI$73California: median $61 across 136 hospitalsCA$61Utah: median $89 across 43 hospitalsUT$89Colorado: median $132 across 72 hospitalsCO$132Nebraska: median $172 across 82 hospitalsNE$172Missouri: median $82 across 77 hospitalsMO$82Kentucky: median $118 across 68 hospitalsKY$118West Virginia: median $106 across 43 hospitalsWV$106Virginia: median $106 across 73 hospitalsVA$106Maryland: median $40 across 40 hospitalsMD$40Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $84 across 42 hospitalsAZ$84New Mexico: median $130 across 29 hospitalsNM$130Kansas: median $120 across 90 hospitalsKS$120Arkansas: median $43 across 38 hospitalsAR$43Tennessee: median $53 across 82 hospitalsTN$53North Carolina: median $97 across 90 hospitalsNC$97South Carolina: median $121 across 52 hospitalsSC$121Oklahoma: median $87 across 74 hospitalsOK$87Louisiana: median $48 across 53 hospitalsLA$48Mississippi: median $50 across 56 hospitalsMS$50Alabama: median $77 across 43 hospitalsAL$77Georgia: median $97 across 108 hospitalsGA$97Hawaii: median $126 across 19 hospitalsHI$126Texas: median $140 across 245 hospitalsTX$140Florida: median $66 across 155 hospitalsFL$66
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $95. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD41$208+119%$146 – $290
Nebraska NE82$172+81%$93 – $235
Alaska AK18$153+61%$80 – $287
Texas TX245$140+47%$56 – $259
Colorado CO72$132+39%$57 – $370
New Mexico NM29$130+37%$73 – $165
Hawaii HI19$126+33%$85 – $147
Illinois IL140$125+32%$72 – $230
Vermont VT14$125+32%$47 – $245
South Carolina SC52$121+28%$88 – $178
Kansas KS90$120+26%$88 – $159
Kentucky KY68$118+25%$40 – $309
Nevada NV21$111+17%$26 – $161
Massachusetts MA53$107+12%$35 – $165
Virginia VA73$106+12%$75 – $205
West Virginia WV43$106+12%$56 – $192
Montana MT29$106+11%$71 – $152
North Dakota ND33$106+11%$32 – $137
Minnesota MN107$102+8%$33 – $157
Indiana IN96$102+7%$39 – $236
New Hampshire NH25$101+7%$69 – $212
Iowa IA89$98+3%$55 – $156
North Carolina NC90$97+2%$32 – $180
Georgia GA108$97+2%$36 – $166
Wisconsin WI106$950%$58 – $147
Utah UT43$89−6%$76 – $135
Washington WA76$88−7%$52 – $152
Oklahoma OK74$87−8%$55 – $127
Pennsylvania PA122$85−10%$26 – $199
Arizona AZ42$84−12%$36 – $232
Maine ME28$82−14%$46 – $200
Missouri MO77$82−14%$56 – $190
Connecticut CT23$79−17%$47 – $141
Alabama AL43$77−19%$37 – $280
Ohio OH143$76−20%$40 – $133
Wyoming WY16$75−21%$27 – $167
Oregon OR49$74−23%$44 – $125
Rhode Island RI10$73−23%$61 – $95
New York NY103$68−29%$17 – $184
Florida FL155$66−30%$16 – $222
Idaho ID24$66−30%$12 – $126
Michigan MI96$63−33%$44 – $118
California CA136$61−36%$15 – $217
Tennessee TN82$53−44%$34 – $136
Mississippi MS56$50−47%$24 – $124
Louisiana LA53$48−50%$26 – $112
Arkansas AR38$43−55%$26 – $68
Maryland MD40$40−58%$31 – $49
New Jersey NJ57$19−79%$19 – $57
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 $95.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,280$88$36 – $187
Children’s61$94$33 – $147
Critical access985$111$54 – $183
Ownership
For-profit469$134$46 – $347
Government637$101$44 – $172
Non-profit2,220$89$39 – $166
System affiliation
Part of a system2,693$95$40 – $188
Independent643$95$44 – $167

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$160
Median cash price$95
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

2,244 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $95 and the average of the middle 60% is $99; most fall between $42 and $180.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,244 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
$27$52$95$154$241

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($27 vs $241).

Of the 2,491 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,244 gave a usable cash price; 138 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 109 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,336 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (84%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,654 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,336
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here187
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 — excluded130
Hospitals that filed this code3,654

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 HC Free T3(Free Triiodothyonine).

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, “Free triiodothyronine (free T3) blood test (CPT 84481) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-84481-free-triiodothyronine-free-t3-blood-test