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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Blood test to measure heparin level

CPT 85520the billing code this page is about

Measures the amount of the blood thinner heparin active in a blood sample.

Hospitals typically charge $91 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,882 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $101. Most fall between $38 and $200 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,882
States
50
Filings dated
Nov 2023 – 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 2,882 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
$24$46$91$174$321

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($24 vs $321).

How the prices are spread

$15 – $21: 95 hospitals$15$21 – $30: 170 hospitals$30 – $42: 272 hospitals$30$42 – $60: 316 hospitals$60 – $85: 374 hospitals$60$85 – $120: 341 hospitals$120 – $169: 434 hospitals$120$169 – $239: 282 hospitals$239 – $338: 201 hospitals$239$338 – $478: 119 hospitals$338median $91price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,604 of 2,882 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$15$2195
$21$30170
$30$42272
$42$60316
$60$85374
$85$120341
$120$169434
$169$239282
$239$338201
$338$478119

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $91.

Alaska: median $150 across 14 hospitalsAK$150Maine: median $73 across 27 hospitalsME$73Vermont: median $78 across 13 hospitalsVT$78New Hampshire: median $63 across 18 hospitalsNH$63Washington: median $123 across 63 hospitalsWA$123Idaho: median $129 across 19 hospitalsID$129Montana: median $87 across 17 hospitalsMT$87North Dakota: median $75 across 24 hospitalsND$75Minnesota: median $90 across 98 hospitalsMN$90Illinois: median $134 across 121 hospitalsIL$134Wisconsin: median $112 across 100 hospitalsWI$112Michigan: median $45 across 74 hospitalsMI$45New York: median $47 across 95 hospitalsNY$47Massachusetts: median $142 across 51 hospitalsMA$142Oregon: median $111 across 45 hospitalsOR$111Nevada: median $84 across 16 hospitalsNV$84Wyoming: median $112 across 13 hospitalsWY$112South Dakota: median $194 across 32 hospitalsSD$194Iowa: median $65 across 67 hospitalsIA$65Indiana: median $77 across 89 hospitalsIN$77Ohio: median $72 across 134 hospitalsOH$72Pennsylvania: median $67 across 112 hospitalsPA$67New Jersey: median $15 across 57 hospitalsNJ$15Connecticut: median $60 across 22 hospitalsCT$60Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $161 across 145 hospitalsCA$161Utah: median $327 across 40 hospitalsUT$327Colorado: median $126 across 64 hospitalsCO$126Nebraska: median $162 across 63 hospitalsNE$162Missouri: median $99 across 71 hospitalsMO$99Kentucky: median $80 across 53 hospitalsKY$80West Virginia: median $80 across 31 hospitalsWV$80Virginia: median $72 across 73 hospitalsVA$72Maryland: median $63 across 41 hospitalsMD$63Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $89 across 36 hospitalsAZ$89New Mexico: median $77 across 23 hospitalsNM$77Kansas: median $124 across 48 hospitalsKS$124Arkansas: median $60 across 27 hospitalsAR$60Tennessee: median $49 across 68 hospitalsTN$49North Carolina: median $119 across 79 hospitalsNC$119South Carolina: median $166 across 49 hospitalsSC$166Oklahoma: median $70 across 60 hospitalsOK$70Louisiana: median $50 across 42 hospitalsLA$50Mississippi: median $48 across 45 hospitalsMS$48Alabama: median $83 across 38 hospitalsAL$83Georgia: median $137 across 90 hospitalsGA$137Hawaii: median $80 across 14 hospitalsHI$80Texas: median $130 across 199 hospitalsTX$130Florida: median $71 across 146 hospitalsFL$71
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $91. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT40$327+258%$216 – $384
South Dakota SD32$194+112%$89 – $261
South Carolina SC49$166+82%$93 – $223
Nebraska NE63$162+78%$44 – $282
California CA145$161+77%$39 – $290
Alaska AK14$150+64%$87 – $219
Massachusetts MA51$142+56%$51 – $228
Georgia GA90$137+51%$60 – $199
Illinois IL121$134+47%$42 – $264
Texas TX199$130+43%$63 – $275
Idaho ID19$129+42%$63 – $271
Colorado CO64$126+38%$49 – $412
Kansas KS48$124+36%$57 – $228
Washington WA63$123+35%$60 – $199
North Carolina NC79$119+31%$53 – $167
Wyoming WY13$112+23%$41 – $153
Wisconsin WI100$112+22%$47 – $154
Oregon OR45$111+21%$47 – $166
Missouri MO71$99+8%$64 – $185
Minnesota MN98$90−1%$40 – $166
Arizona AZ36$89−2%$37 – $721
Montana MT17$87−5%$60 – $148
Nevada NV16$84−8%$31 – $150
Alabama AL38$83−9%$24 – $195
Hawaii HI14$80−12%$65 – $106
Kentucky KY53$80−13%$42 – $175
West Virginia WV31$80−13%$47 – $275
Vermont VT13$78−14%$55 – $167
Indiana IN89$77−15%$38 – $179
New Mexico NM23$77−15%$53 – $158
North Dakota ND24$75−18%$23 – $126
Maine ME27$73−19%$35 – $160
Ohio OH134$72−21%$48 – $194
Virginia VA73$72−21%$40 – $197
Florida FL146$71−22%$28 – $257
Oklahoma OK60$70−23%$44 – $150
Pennsylvania PA112$67−27%$15 – $127
Iowa IA67$65−28%$33 – $144
Maryland MD41$63−31%$48 – $75
New Hampshire NH18$63−31%$41 – $601
Arkansas AR27$60−34%$12 – $100
Connecticut CT22$60−34%$46 – $138
Louisiana LA42$50−46%$22 – $133
Tennessee TN68$49−46%$23 – $138
Mississippi MS45$48−48%$20 – $95
New York NY95$47−48%$16 – $138
Michigan MI74$45−51%$30 – $99
New Jersey NJ57$15−83%$14 – $52
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $91.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,132$84$34 – $197
Children’s65$93$66 – $176
Critical access676$109$47 – $215
Ownership
For-profit395$113$48 – $436
Government441$102$39 – $184
Non-profit2,037$86$37 – $191
System affiliation
Part of a system2,409$90$38 – $203
Independent473$95$40 – $185

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$156
Median cash price$91
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

2,022 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $91 and the average of the middle 60% is $101; most fall between $40 and $194.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,022 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$48$91$168$285

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($27 vs $285).

Of the 2,220 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,022 gave a usable cash price; 111 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 87 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,882 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (73%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,133 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,882
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here146
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 — excluded104
Hospitals that filed this code3,133

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 Lmw Heparin Assay.

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, “Blood test to measure heparin level (CPT 85520) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85520-blood-test-to-measure-heparin-level