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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Platelet count (automated)

CPT 85049the billing code this page is about

An automated machine count of the platelets in a blood sample, billed on its own rather than as part of a full blood count.

Hospitals typically charge $37 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,232 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $40. Most fall between $17 and $75 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,232
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 3,232 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$20$37$65$121

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $121).

How the prices are spread

$6 – $9: 112 hospitals$6$9 – $13: 172 hospitals$13 – $19: 271 hospitals$13$19 – $26: 386 hospitals$26 – $37: 555 hospitals$26$37 – $53: 510 hospitals$53 – $76: 431 hospitals$53$76 – $108: 257 hospitals$108 – $154: 166 hospitals$108$154 – $219: 51 hospitals$154median $37price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,911 of 3,232 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$6$9112
$9$13172
$13$19271
$19$26386
$26$37555
$37$53510
$53$76431
$76$108257
$108$154166
$154$21951

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $37.

Alaska: median $58 across 15 hospitalsAK$58Maine: median $29 across 28 hospitalsME$29Vermont: median $52 across 13 hospitalsVT$52New Hampshire: median $35 across 24 hospitalsNH$35Washington: median $36 across 75 hospitalsWA$36Idaho: median $34 across 24 hospitalsID$34Montana: median $40 across 31 hospitalsMT$40North Dakota: median $35 across 35 hospitalsND$35Minnesota: median $37 across 106 hospitalsMN$37Illinois: median $54 across 135 hospitalsIL$54Wisconsin: median $33 across 106 hospitalsWI$33Michigan: median $27 across 89 hospitalsMI$27New York: median $20 across 99 hospitalsNY$20Massachusetts: median $35 across 51 hospitalsMA$35Oregon: median $37 across 47 hospitalsOR$37Nevada: median $37 across 20 hospitalsNV$37Wyoming: median $35 across 16 hospitalsWY$35South Dakota: median $65 across 35 hospitalsSD$65Iowa: median $34 across 85 hospitalsIA$34Indiana: median $29 across 95 hospitalsIN$29Ohio: median $29 across 141 hospitalsOH$29Pennsylvania: median $26 across 117 hospitalsPA$26New Jersey: median $5 across 56 hospitalsNJ$5Connecticut: median $23 across 23 hospitalsCT$23Rhode Island: median $37 across 10 hospitalsRI$37California: median $94 across 152 hospitalsCA$94Utah: median $26 across 40 hospitalsUT$26Colorado: median $46 across 67 hospitalsCO$46Nebraska: median $55 across 77 hospitalsNE$55Missouri: median $37 across 76 hospitalsMO$37Kentucky: median $44 across 66 hospitalsKY$44West Virginia: median $38 across 38 hospitalsWV$38Virginia: median $47 across 72 hospitalsVA$47Maryland: median $11 across 41 hospitalsMD$11Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $48 across 42 hospitalsAZ$48New Mexico: median $54 across 25 hospitalsNM$54Kansas: median $27 across 85 hospitalsKS$27Arkansas: median $16 across 38 hospitalsAR$16Tennessee: median $22 across 80 hospitalsTN$22North Carolina: median $36 across 88 hospitalsNC$36South Carolina: median $45 across 46 hospitalsSC$45Oklahoma: median $26 across 68 hospitalsOK$26Louisiana: median $19 across 50 hospitalsLA$19Mississippi: median $22 across 54 hospitalsMS$22Alabama: median $32 across 43 hospitalsAL$32Georgia: median $37 across 104 hospitalsGA$37Hawaii: median $40 across 19 hospitalsHI$40Texas: median $78 across 228 hospitalsTX$78Florida: median $100 across 150 hospitalsFL$100
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $37. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL150$100+172%$17 – $516
California CA152$94+155%$30 – $140
Texas TX228$78+111%$34 – $136
South Dakota SD35$65+77%$49 – $112
Alaska AK15$58+56%$24 – $100
Nebraska NE77$55+50%$36 – $74
Illinois IL135$54+47%$33 – $84
New Mexico NM25$54+47%$31 – $68
Vermont VT13$52+41%$26 – $97
Arizona AZ42$48+31%$10 – $319
Virginia VA72$47+28%$17 – $108
Colorado CO67$46+25%$30 – $99
South Carolina SC46$45+22%$36 – $54
Kentucky KY66$44+20%$16 – $65
Montana MT31$40+9%$25 – $52
Hawaii HI19$40+8%$22 – $50
West Virginia WV38$38+3%$23 – $50
Nevada NV20$37+1%$18 – $87
Georgia GA104$37+1%$16 – $73
Oregon OR47$370%$17 – $46
Minnesota MN106$370%$15 – $60
Missouri MO76$370%$20 – $66
Rhode Island RI10$370%$12 – $43
Washington WA75$36−2%$18 – $60
North Carolina NC88$36−3%$18 – $54
Massachusetts MA51$35−4%$15 – $60
North Dakota ND35$35−5%$31 – $41
Wyoming WY16$35−6%$9 – $63
New Hampshire NH24$35−6%$22 – $97
Iowa IA85$34−6%$28 – $50
Idaho ID24$34−7%$20 – $64
Wisconsin WI106$33−9%$24 – $48
Alabama AL43$32−14%$19 – $125
Indiana IN95$29−21%$12 – $60
Ohio OH141$29−22%$20 – $44
Maine ME28$29−22%$12 – $58
Kansas KS85$27−26%$20 – $51
Michigan MI89$27−27%$18 – $37
Oklahoma OK68$26−28%$16 – $58
Utah UT40$26−29%$22 – $72
Pennsylvania PA117$26−29%$7 – $65
Connecticut CT23$23−39%$17 – $32
Tennessee TN80$22−41%$13 – $53
Mississippi MS54$22−41%$12 – $44
New York NY99$20−45%$8 – $58
Louisiana LA50$19−49%$10 – $44
Arkansas AR38$16−56%$11 – $60
Maryland MD41$11−70%$9 – $13
New Jersey NJ56$5−86%$5 – $20
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 $37.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,249$36$15 – $81
Children’s65$43$21 – $80
Critical access908$39$22 – $64
Ownership
For-profit452$62$23 – $319
Government581$39$18 – $66
Non-profit2,189$34$16 – $67
System affiliation
Part of a system2,636$37$17 – $78
Independent596$36$18 – $70

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$62
Median cash price$37
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

2,177 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $37 and the average of the middle 60% is $41; most fall between $18 and $75.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,177 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
$12$22$37$65$108

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $108).

Of the 2,410 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,177 gave a usable cash price; 129 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 104 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,232 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,524 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,232
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here164
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded126
Hospitals that filed this code3,524

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 Platelet Count,Automated.

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, “Platelet count (automated) (CPT 85049) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85049-platelet-count-automated