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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Cell counting in fluid with doctor interpretation

CPT 86153the billing code this page is about

Physician interpretation and written report for a test that selects and counts specific cells, such as circulating tumor cells, in a fluid sample.

Hospitals typically charge $82 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 150 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $100. Most fall between $55 and $214 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
150
States
27
Filings dated
Jun 2025 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 23, 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 150 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
$32$59$82$167$325

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($32 vs $325).

How the prices are spread

$18 – $25: 4 hospitals$18$25 – $35: 14 hospitals$35 – $49: 6 hospitals$35$49 – $69: 26 hospitals$69 – $96: 24 hospitals$69$96 – $134: 26 hospitals$134 – $187: 9 hospitals$134$187 – $260: 16 hospitals$260 – $363: 6 hospitals$260$363 – $507: 7 hospitals$363median $82price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (138 of 150 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$18$254
$25$3514
$35$496
$49$6926
$69$9624
$96$13426
$134$1879
$187$26016
$260$3636
$363$5077

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $82.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $32 across 11 hospitalsIL$32Wisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNYMassachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 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 $62 across 11 hospitalsIA$62Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figurePANew Jersey: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNJConnecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $82 across 27 hospitalsCA$82Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceARTennessee: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $55 across 10 hospitalsOK$55Louisiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $110 across 17 hospitalsTX$110Florida: median $215 across 17 hospitalsFL$215
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $82. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL17$215+161%$203 – $215
Texas TX17$110+33%$110 – $119
California CA27$820%$82 – $167
Iowa IA11$62−25%$62 – $62
Oklahoma OK10$55−33%$15 – $55
Illinois IL11$32−61%$32 – $62
New York NY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Pennsylvania PA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $82.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care134$82$55 – $215
Critical access15fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit15fewer than 20 hospitals
Government19fewer than 20 hospitals
Non-profit115$82$55 – $180
System affiliation
Part of a system133$82$47 – $214
Independent17fewer than 20 hospitals

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$171
Median cash price$82
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

123 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $82 and the average of the middle 60% is $97; most fall between $55 and $214.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 123 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
$37$62$82$180$300

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $300).

Of the 144 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 123 gave a usable cash price; 12 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 9 a list price only.

How complete is this

150 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (4%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 177 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted150
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here6
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 — excluded21
Hospitals that filed this code177

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 5, 2026 and September 23, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as CELL ENUMERATION PHYS INTERP.

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, “Cell counting in fluid with doctor interpretation (CPT 86153) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86153-cell-counting-in-fluid-with-doctor-interpretation