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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Blood test for diphtheria antibodies

CPT 86648the billing code this page is about

A blood test that looks for antibodies to the bacterium that causes diphtheria.

Hospitals typically charge $59 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,405 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $66. Most fall between $26 and $129 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,405
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 1,405 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
$17$30$59$116$204

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($17 vs $204).

How the prices are spread

$15 – $20: 130 hospitals$15$20 – $27: 142 hospitals$27 – $36: 102 hospitals$27$36 – $49: 171 hospitals$49 – $66: 143 hospitals$49$66 – $89: 159 hospitals$89 – $119: 169 hospitals$89$119 – $160: 97 hospitals$160 – $215: 105 hospitals$160$215 – $289: 52 hospitals$215median $59price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,270 of 1,405 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$15$20130
$20$27142
$27$36102
$36$49171
$49$66143
$66$89159
$89$119169
$119$16097
$160$215105
$215$28952

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $59.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $63 across 25 hospitalsWA$63Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $54 across 16 hospitalsMN$54Illinois: median $92 across 70 hospitalsIL$92Wisconsin: median $51 across 32 hospitalsWI$51Michigan: median $21 across 16 hospitalsMI$21New York: median $27 across 64 hospitalsNY$27Massachusetts: median $64 across 31 hospitalsMA$64Oregon: median $50 across 18 hospitalsOR$50Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $49 across 22 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $39 across 56 hospitalsIN$39Ohio: median $85 across 52 hospitalsOH$85Pennsylvania: median $68 across 100 hospitalsPA$68New Jersey: median $17 across 50 hospitalsNJ$17Connecticut: median $81 across 13 hospitalsCT$81Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $42 across 69 hospitalsCA$42Utah: median $27 across 29 hospitalsUT$27Colorado: median $87 across 25 hospitalsCO$87Nebraska: median $122 across 15 hospitalsNE$122Missouri: median $75 across 30 hospitalsMO$75Kentucky: median $68 across 20 hospitalsKY$68West Virginia: median $15 across 19 hospitalsWV$15Virginia: median $41 across 40 hospitalsVA$41Maryland: median $66 across 16 hospitalsMD$66Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $162 across 15 hospitalsAZ$162New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $95 across 30 hospitalsKS$95Arkansas: median $54 across 13 hospitalsAR$54Tennessee: median $42 across 31 hospitalsTN$42North Carolina: median $101 across 44 hospitalsNC$101South Carolina: median $131 across 14 hospitalsSC$131Oklahoma: median $45 across 29 hospitalsOK$45Louisiana: median $28 across 27 hospitalsLA$28Mississippi: median $35 across 24 hospitalsMS$35Alabama: median $44 across 22 hospitalsAL$44Georgia: median $69 across 70 hospitalsGA$69Hawaii: median $35 across 10 hospitalsHI$35Texas: median $81 across 108 hospitalsTX$81Florida: median $24 across 73 hospitalsFL$24
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $59. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ15$162+174%$23 – $162
South Carolina SC14$131+122%$72 – $217
Nebraska NE15$122+106%$56 – $167
North Carolina NC44$101+71%$58 – $215
Kansas KS30$95+60%$41 – $177
Illinois IL70$92+55%$47 – $168
Colorado CO25$87+47%$47 – $206
Ohio OH52$85+43%$49 – $130
Connecticut CT13$81+37%$39 – $127
Texas TX108$81+37%$48 – $117
Missouri MO30$75+26%$59 – $284
Georgia GA70$69+16%$30 – $189
Kentucky KY20$68+14%$26 – $115
Pennsylvania PA100$68+14%$17 – $169
Maryland MD16$66+12%$40 – $102
Massachusetts MA31$64+9%$45 – $125
Washington WA25$63+6%$27 – $76
Minnesota MN16$54−8%$54 – $123
Arkansas AR13$54−9%$21 – $109
Wisconsin WI32$51−13%$45 – $80
Oregon OR18$50−16%$46 – $86
Iowa IA22$49−18%$49 – $60
Oklahoma OK29$45−25%$28 – $92
Alabama AL22$44−26%$22 – $169
California CA69$42−29%$21 – $103
Tennessee TN31$42−29%$26 – $77
Virginia VA40$41−31%$20 – $150
Indiana IN56$39−34%$26 – $166
Mississippi MS24$35−41%$33 – $61
Hawaii HI10$35−41%$35 – $156
Louisiana LA27$28−54%$20 – $41
New York NY64$27−54%$15 – $86
Utah UT29$27−55%$23 – $32
Florida FL73$24−59%$12 – $45
Michigan MI16$21−65%$19 – $74
New Jersey NJ50$17−70%$15 – $204
West Virginia WV19$15−75%$15 – $24
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not 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 $59.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,090$55$24 – $119
Children’s32$82$30 – $169
Critical access280$80$36 – $166
Ownership
For-profit177$70$26 – $205
Government224$60$30 – $146
Non-profit1,001$57$26 – $122
System affiliation
Part of a system1,168$56$24 – $129
Independent237$76$38 – $129

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$111
Median cash price$59
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

945 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $66 and the average of the middle 60% is $69; most fall between $30 and $122.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 945 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
$23$36$66$116$190

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($23 vs $190).

Of the 1,063 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 945 gave a usable cash price; 61 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 57 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,405 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (36%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,540 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,405
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here64
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded70
Hospitals that filed this code1,540

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Hc Diphtheria Antibody.

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 for diphtheria antibodies (CPT 86648) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86648-blood-test-for-diphtheria-antibodies