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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

White blood cell count (automated)

CPT 85048the billing code this page is about

An automated machine count of the white blood cells in a blood sample, billed as a single test rather than a full blood count panel.

Hospitals typically charge $27 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,971 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $28. Most fall between $11 and $55 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,971
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 2,971 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$13$27$46$86

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($6 vs $86).

How the prices are spread

$4 – $6: 103 hospitals$4$6 – $8: 172 hospitals$8 – $12: 228 hospitals$8$12 – $17: 341 hospitals$17 – $25: 397 hospitals$17$25 – $36: 542 hospitals$36 – $53: 407 hospitals$36$53 – $76: 273 hospitals$76 – $111: 142 hospitals$76$111 – $161: 76 hospitals$111median $27price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,681 of 2,971 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$4$6103
$6$8172
$8$12228
$12$17341
$17$25397
$25$36542
$36$53407
$53$76273
$76$111142
$111$16176

By state

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

Alaska: median $22 across 13 hospitalsAK$22Maine: median $23 across 27 hospitalsME$23Vermont: median $30 across 13 hospitalsVT$30New Hampshire: median $29 across 22 hospitalsNH$29Washington: median $22 across 71 hospitalsWA$22Idaho: median $25 across 23 hospitalsID$25Montana: median $29 across 27 hospitalsMT$29North Dakota: median $25 across 30 hospitalsND$25Minnesota: median $31 across 94 hospitalsMN$31Illinois: median $36 across 125 hospitalsIL$36Wisconsin: median $30 across 93 hospitalsWI$30Michigan: median $16 across 75 hospitalsMI$16New York: median $11 across 94 hospitalsNY$11Massachusetts: median $18 across 43 hospitalsMA$18Oregon: median $29 across 41 hospitalsOR$29Nevada: median $25 across 19 hospitalsNV$25Wyoming: median $23 across 14 hospitalsWY$23South Dakota: median $57 across 34 hospitalsSD$57Iowa: median $28 across 84 hospitalsIA$28Indiana: median $20 across 86 hospitalsIN$20Ohio: median $22 across 138 hospitalsOH$22Pennsylvania: median $17 across 112 hospitalsPA$17New Jersey: median $3 across 51 hospitalsNJ$3Connecticut: median $14 across 21 hospitalsCT$14Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $38 across 132 hospitalsCA$38Utah: median $35 across 37 hospitalsUT$35Colorado: median $37 across 68 hospitalsCO$37Nebraska: median $41 across 66 hospitalsNE$41Missouri: median $25 across 69 hospitalsMO$25Kentucky: median $28 across 63 hospitalsKY$28West Virginia: median $25 across 36 hospitalsWV$25Virginia: median $38 across 70 hospitalsVA$38Maryland: median $11 across 37 hospitalsMD$11Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $51 across 37 hospitalsAZ$51New Mexico: median $20 across 19 hospitalsNM$20Kansas: median $25 across 78 hospitalsKS$25Arkansas: median $14 across 31 hospitalsAR$14Tennessee: median $14 across 80 hospitalsTN$14North Carolina: median $27 across 82 hospitalsNC$27South Carolina: median $47 across 49 hospitalsSC$47Oklahoma: median $25 across 57 hospitalsOK$25Louisiana: median $15 across 48 hospitalsLA$15Mississippi: median $16 across 49 hospitalsMS$16Alabama: median $24 across 43 hospitalsAL$24Georgia: median $20 across 97 hospitalsGA$20Hawaii: median $24 across 16 hospitalsHI$24Texas: median $48 across 202 hospitalsTX$48Florida: median $47 across 142 hospitalsFL$47
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
South Dakota SD34$57+114%$40 – $94
Arizona AZ37$51+92%$14 – $179
Texas TX202$48+80%$21 – $125
Florida FL142$47+76%$13 – $227
South Carolina SC49$47+76%$28 – $79
Nebraska NE66$41+54%$14 – $60
California CA132$38+43%$16 – $72
Virginia VA70$38+42%$10 – $71
Colorado CO68$37+38%$21 – $105
Illinois IL125$36+34%$20 – $60
Utah UT37$35+31%$30 – $72
Minnesota MN94$31+17%$13 – $48
Wisconsin WI93$30+13%$15 – $38
Vermont VT13$30+11%$14 – $37
Montana MT27$29+9%$15 – $43
New Hampshire NH22$29+8%$17 – $68
Oregon OR41$29+7%$18 – $32
Kentucky KY63$28+5%$16 – $55
Iowa IA84$28+5%$17 – $38
North Carolina NC82$27+1%$13 – $43
West Virginia WV36$25−5%$14 – $44
Nevada NV19$25−5%$13 – $76
Kansas KS78$25−6%$14 – $36
North Dakota ND30$25−6%$18 – $37
Idaho ID23$25−7%$13 – $31
Missouri MO69$25−7%$15 – $38
Oklahoma OK57$25−7%$8 – $36
Alabama AL43$24−9%$14 – $66
Hawaii HI16$24−10%$21 – $27
Wyoming WY14$23−14%$5 – $56
Maine ME27$23−15%$14 – $60
Alaska AK13$22−17%$12 – $49
Washington WA71$22−17%$12 – $43
Ohio OH138$22−17%$12 – $36
Georgia GA97$20−24%$12 – $75
Indiana IN86$20−25%$6 – $41
New Mexico NM19$20−26%$9 – $60
Massachusetts MA43$18−32%$9 – $41
Pennsylvania PA112$17−35%$3 – $46
Michigan MI75$16−39%$8 – $26
Mississippi MS49$16−41%$7 – $27
Louisiana LA48$15−44%$6 – $29
Arkansas AR31$14−46%$8 – $36
Tennessee TN80$14−47%$5 – $37
Connecticut CT21$14−49%$10 – $21
New York NY94$11−58%$5 – $41
Maryland MD37$11−60%$8 – $13
New Jersey NJ51$3−89%$3 – $32
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 care2,100$26$10 – $61
Children’s45$30$14 – $57
Critical access816$28$14 – $44
Ownership
For-profit415$50$14 – $203
Government532$25$13 – $46
Non-profit2,014$25$10 – $48
System affiliation
Part of a system2,443$28$11 – $57
Independent528$24$11 – $45

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$43
Median cash price$27
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

2,013 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 $12 and $54.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,013 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$46$78

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($7 vs $78).

Of the 2,225 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,013 gave a usable cash price; 110 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,971 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (75%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,226 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,971
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) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded108
Hospitals that filed this code3,226

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 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 AUTOMATED LEUKOCYTE COUNT.

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, “White blood cell count (automated) (CPT 85048) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85048-white-blood-cell-count-automated