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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Microscope review of red blood cell appearance

CPT 85008the billing code this page is about

A technologist examines a blood smear under a microscope to assess the size and shape of red blood cells, without a cell count.

Hospitals typically charge $25 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,223 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $28. Most fall between $10 and $55 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,223
States
50
Filings dated
Feb 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 1,223 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
$6$12$25$48$105

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($6 vs $105).

How the prices are spread

$4 – $6: 60 hospitals$4$6 – $8: 76 hospitals$8 – $12: 104 hospitals$8$12 – $17: 128 hospitals$17 – $25: 189 hospitals$17$25 – $36: 184 hospitals$36 – $53: 166 hospitals$36$53 – $78: 89 hospitals$78 – $113: 56 hospitals$78$113 – $166: 53 hospitals$113median $25price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,105 of 1,223 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$4$660
$6$876
$8$12104
$12$17128
$17$25189
$25$36184
$36$53166
$53$7889
$78$11356
$113$16653

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $25.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $31 across 13 hospitalsME$31Vermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $20 across 42 hospitalsWA$20Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: median $20 across 10 hospitalsMT$20North Dakota: median $34 across 11 hospitalsND$34Minnesota: median $40 across 21 hospitalsMN$40Illinois: median $36 across 41 hospitalsIL$36Wisconsin: median $29 across 24 hospitalsWI$29Michigan: median $16 across 40 hospitalsMI$16New York: median $10 across 53 hospitalsNY$10Massachusetts: median $13 across 27 hospitalsMA$13Oregon: median $36 across 25 hospitalsOR$36Nevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $33 across 13 hospitalsSD$33Iowa: median $34 across 25 hospitalsIA$34Indiana: median $18 across 22 hospitalsIN$18Ohio: median $25 across 66 hospitalsOH$25Pennsylvania: median $14 across 46 hospitalsPA$14New Jersey: median $4 across 39 hospitalsNJ$4Connecticut: median $15 across 16 hospitalsCT$15Rhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $31 across 85 hospitalsCA$31Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $20 across 28 hospitalsCO$20Nebraska: median $29 across 25 hospitalsNE$29Missouri: median $26 across 21 hospitalsMO$26Kentucky: median $14 across 10 hospitalsKY$14West Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $27 across 18 hospitalsVA$27Maryland: median $11 across 18 hospitalsMD$11Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $72 across 18 hospitalsAZ$72New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $80 across 24 hospitalsKS$80Arkansas: median $11 across 10 hospitalsAR$11Tennessee: median $17 across 20 hospitalsTN$17North Carolina: median $41 across 48 hospitalsNC$41South Carolina: median $26 across 13 hospitalsSC$26Oklahoma: median $14 across 21 hospitalsOK$14Louisiana: median $7 across 10 hospitalsLA$7Mississippi: median $10 across 19 hospitalsMS$10Alabama: median $44 across 17 hospitalsAL$44Georgia: median $28 across 64 hospitalsGA$28Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $40 across 118 hospitalsTX$40Florida: median $36 across 53 hospitalsFL$36
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $25. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS24$80+226%$28 – $186
Arizona AZ18$72+193%$10 – $152
Alabama AL17$44+77%$11 – $137
North Carolina NC48$41+67%$7 – $49
Minnesota MN21$40+65%$24 – $40
Texas TX118$40+63%$10 – $64
Florida FL53$36+48%$12 – $171
Oregon OR25$36+46%$15 – $42
Illinois IL41$36+45%$18 – $54
North Dakota ND11$34+37%$20 – $42
Iowa IA25$34+36%$29 – $37
South Dakota SD13$33+34%$21 – $68
Maine ME13$31+26%$15 – $80
California CA85$31+25%$17 – $64
Nebraska NE25$29+18%$16 – $42
Wisconsin WI24$29+16%$17 – $45
Georgia GA64$28+12%$21 – $60
Virginia VA18$27+11%$8 – $43
Missouri MO21$26+6%$17 – $301
South Carolina SC13$26+6%$13 – $34
Ohio OH66$25+3%$9 – $128
Washington WA42$20−17%$13 – $29
Colorado CO28$20−18%$11 – $91
Montana MT10$20−19%$7 – $34
Indiana IN22$18−26%$12 – $49
Tennessee TN20$17−32%$4 – $30
Michigan MI40$16−35%$6 – $24
Connecticut CT16$15−39%$9 – $29
Pennsylvania PA46$14−43%$3 – $43
Oklahoma OK21$14−45%$10 – $31
Kentucky KY10$14−45%$8 – $20
Massachusetts MA27$13−47%$8 – $46
Arkansas AR10$11−54%$7 – $33
Maryland MD18$11−56%$8 – $15
Mississippi MS19$10−59%$6 – $19
New York NY53$10−61%$3 – $47
Louisiana LA10$7−70%$5 – $42
New Jersey NJ39$4−85%$3 – $208
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $25.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care937$24$9 – $55
Children’s25$47$9 – $105
Critical access256$27$15 – $48
Ownership
For-profit183$34$12 – $152
Government186$23$10 – $49
Non-profit849$24$9 – $49
System affiliation
Part of a system1,014$27$10 – $54
Independent209$22$10 – $58

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$47
Median cash price$25
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

850 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $27 and the average of the middle 60% is $28; most fall between $11 and $54.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 850 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
$7$14$27$48$94

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($7 vs $94).

Of the 933 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 850 gave a usable cash price; 31 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 51 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,223 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (31%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,329 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,223
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here48
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded55
Hospitals that filed this code1,329

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 Hc Blood Smear Micro Exam W/O Manual Diff.

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, “Microscope review of red blood cell appearance (CPT 85008) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85008-microscope-review-of-red-blood-cell-appearance