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Procedure price report · Laboratory - Chemistry and Hematology

Red blood cell osmotic fragility test

CPT 85555the billing code this page is about

A blood test measuring how readily red blood cells rupture in salt solutions of decreasing strength, performed without prior incubation of the sample.

Hospitals typically charge $80 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,039 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $90. Most fall between $23 and $203 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,039
States
48
Filings dated
Nov 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 1,039 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
$10$31$80$166$352

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 35× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $352).

How the prices are spread

$7 – $12: 101 hospitals$7$12 – $18: 46 hospitals$18 – $28: 60 hospitals$18$28 – $43: 109 hospitals$43 – $67: 90 hospitals$43$67 – $105: 171 hospitals$105 – $163: 165 hospitals$105$163 – $253: 114 hospitals$253 – $393: 63 hospitals$253$393 – $610: 35 hospitals$393median $80price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (954 of 1,039 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$7$12101
$12$1846
$18$2860
$28$43109
$43$6790
$67$105171
$105$163165
$163$253114
$253$39363
$393$61035

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $80.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $88 across 51 hospitalsIL$88Wisconsin: median $140 across 24 hospitalsWI$140Michigan: median $60 across 26 hospitalsMI$60New York: median $24 across 49 hospitalsNY$24Massachusetts: median $64 across 29 hospitalsMA$64Oregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $31 across 19 hospitalsIA$31Indiana: median $75 across 42 hospitalsIN$75Ohio: median $119 across 68 hospitalsOH$119Pennsylvania: median $18 across 43 hospitalsPA$18New Jersey: median $8 across 38 hospitalsNJ$8Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $74 across 61 hospitalsCA$74Utah: median $36 across 28 hospitalsUT$36Colorado: median $241 across 24 hospitalsCO$241Nebraska: median $98 across 10 hospitalsNE$98Missouri: median $101 across 21 hospitalsMO$101Kentucky: median $57 across 21 hospitalsKY$57West Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $125 across 15 hospitalsVA$125Maryland: median $56 across 20 hospitalsMD$56Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $16 across 14 hospitalsAZ$16New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $807 across 16 hospitalsKS$807Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $12 across 27 hospitalsTN$12North Carolina: median $191 across 43 hospitalsNC$191South Carolina: median $139 across 21 hospitalsSC$139Oklahoma: median $48 across 26 hospitalsOK$48Louisiana: median $42 across 14 hospitalsLA$42Mississippi: median $31 across 13 hospitalsMS$31Alabama: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $352 across 25 hospitalsGA$352Hawaii: median $155 across 10 hospitalsHI$155Texas: median $152 across 115 hospitalsTX$152Florida: median $87 across 41 hospitalsFL$87
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $80. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS16$807+913%$160 – $1,169
Georgia GA25$352+341%$193 – $372
Colorado CO24$241+203%$103 – $301
North Carolina NC43$191+139%$85 – $232
Hawaii HI10$155+94%$47 – $155
Texas TX115$152+91%$75 – $442
Wisconsin WI24$140+76%$67 – $140
South Carolina SC21$139+75%$139 – $218
Virginia VA15$125+56%$12 – $177
Ohio OH68$119+49%$34 – $148
Missouri MO21$101+27%$72 – $656
Nebraska NE10$98+23%$10 – $287
Illinois IL51$88+10%$32 – $194
Florida FL41$87+9%$67 – $194
Indiana IN42$75−6%$11 – $187
California CA61$74−7%$55 – $75
Massachusetts MA29$64−20%$23 – $426
Michigan MI26$60−25%$10 – $150
Kentucky KY21$57−29%$22 – $204
Maryland MD20$56−30%$35 – $66
Oklahoma OK26$48−39%$25 – $62
Louisiana LA14$42−47%$10 – $324
Utah UT28$36−54%$31 – $69
Iowa IA19$31−61%$31 – $83
Mississippi MS13$31−61%$18 – $108
New York NY49$24−70%$7 – $93
Pennsylvania PA43$18−78%$6 – $517
Arizona AZ14$16−80%$6 – $200
Tennessee TN27$12−85%$11 – $114
New Jersey NJ38$8−90%$7 – $13
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $80.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care892$76$22 – $203
Children’s25$187$55 – $403
Critical access118$83$23 – $200
Ownership
For-profit150$155$23 – $630
Government107$83$18 – $191
Non-profit778$75$23 – $164
System affiliation
Part of a system906$80$23 – $203
Independent133$73$19 – $203

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$150
Median cash price$80
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

716 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $80 and the average of the middle 60% is $91; most fall between $31 and $189.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 716 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
$14$35$80$152$268

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $268).

Of the 792 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 716 gave a usable cash price; 49 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 27 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,039 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (26%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,138 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,039
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here72
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded27
Hospitals that filed this code1,138

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 RBC OSMOTIC FRAGILITY.

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, “Red blood cell osmotic fragility test (CPT 85555) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-85555-red-blood-cell-osmotic-fragility-test