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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Buffy coat white cell count on blood smear

CPT 85009the billing code this page is about

Blood is spun to concentrate white cells, then the layer is smeared and examined under a microscope for a white cell count with cell types.

Hospitals typically charge $27 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 585 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $29. Most fall between $9 and $55 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
585
States
46
Filings dated
Oct 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 585 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$11$27$47$99

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($6 vs $99).

How the prices are spread

$5 – $7: 69 hospitals$5$7 – $10: 49 hospitals$10 – $14: 38 hospitals$10$14 – $21: 60 hospitals$21 – $29: 68 hospitals$21$29 – $41: 75 hospitals$41 – $59: 104 hospitals$41$59 – $83: 37 hospitals$83 – $118: 25 hospitals$83$118 – $168: 14 hospitals$118median $27price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (539 of 585 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$5$769
$7$1049
$10$1438
$14$2160
$21$2968
$29$4175
$41$59104
$59$8337
$83$11825
$118$16814

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $27.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $8 across 12 hospitalsWA$8Idaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $20 across 30 hospitalsIL$20Wisconsin: median $38 across 23 hospitalsWI$38Michigan: median $38 across 19 hospitalsMI$38New York: median $9 across 32 hospitalsNY$9Massachusetts: median $26 across 17 hospitalsMA$26Oregon: 7 hospitals 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 $11 across 17 hospitalsIA$11Indiana: median $55 across 13 hospitalsIN$55Ohio: median $23 across 30 hospitalsOH$23Pennsylvania: median $19 across 36 hospitalsPA$19New Jersey: median $6 across 26 hospitalsNJ$6Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $45 across 50 hospitalsCA$45Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $69 across 16 hospitalsCO$69Nebraska: median $48 across 16 hospitalsNE$48Missouri: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $30 across 27 hospitalsNC$30South Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $15 across 25 hospitalsOK$15Louisiana: median $8 across 10 hospitalsLA$8Mississippi: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $26 across 18 hospitalsGA$26Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $44 across 56 hospitalsTX$44Florida: median $33 across 18 hospitalsFL$33
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $27. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO16$69+158%$32 – $286
Indiana IN13$55+108%$14 – $80
Nebraska NE16$48+80%$41 – $82
California CA50$45+71%$31 – $71
Texas TX56$44+66%$34 – $168
Michigan MI19$38+42%$7 – $68
Wisconsin WI23$38+41%$29 – $52
Florida FL18$33+24%$17 – $260
North Carolina NC27$30+13%$8 – $49
Massachusetts MA17$26−2%$15 – $48
Georgia GA18$26−3%$25 – $52
Ohio OH30$23−14%$16 – $58
Illinois IL30$20−25%$9 – $44
Pennsylvania PA36$19−29%$4 – $34
Oklahoma OK25$15−43%$9 – $16
Iowa IA17$11−58%$11 – $59
New York NY32$9−66%$5 – $18
Washington WA12$8−68%$8 – $28
Louisiana LA10$8−69%$5 – $10
New Jersey NJ26$6−79%$5 – $6
Tennessee TN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not 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 $27.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care491$26$9 – $52
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access79$34$14 – $68
Ownership
For-profit85$44$13 – $147
Government58$26$6 – $50
Non-profit438$24$9 – $49
System affiliation
Part of a system508$28$9 – $55
Independent77$19$8 – $53

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$59
Median cash price$27
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

408 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $32 and the average of the middle 60% is $32; most fall between $15 and $53.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 408 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$17$32$47$76

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($9 vs $76).

Of the 441 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 408 gave a usable cash price; 18 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 15 a list price only.

How complete is this

585 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (15%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 622 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted585
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here25
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 — excluded11
Hospitals that filed this code622

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 Manual white blood cell count and evaluation.

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, “Buffy coat white cell count on blood smear (CPT 85009) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85009-buffy-coat-white-cell-count-on-blood-smear