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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Blood crossmatch using incubation method, each unit

CPT 86921the billing code this page is about

Laboratory test that checks whether a unit of donor blood is compatible with the patient's blood, using an incubation technique; billed once for each unit of blood tested.

Hospitals typically charge $134 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,344 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $147. Most fall between $58 and $305 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,344
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 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 1,344 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
$34$70$134$258$484

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($34 vs $484).

How the prices are spread

$27 – $37: 73 hospitals$27$37 – $51: 80 hospitals$51 – $71: 118 hospitals$51$71 – $98: 157 hospitals$98 – $136: 187 hospitals$98$136 – $189: 179 hospitals$189 – $262: 157 hospitals$189$262 – $363: 140 hospitals$363 – $503: 64 hospitals$363$503 – $698: 56 hospitals$503median $134price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,211 of 1,344 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$27$3773
$37$5180
$51$71118
$71$98157
$98$136187
$136$189179
$189$262157
$262$363140
$363$50364
$503$69856

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$174
Median cash price$134
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.77×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $134.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $69 across 14 hospitalsME$69Vermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $190 across 24 hospitalsWA$190Idaho: median $455 across 10 hospitalsID$455Montana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $239 across 11 hospitalsND$239Minnesota: median $46 across 26 hospitalsMN$46Illinois: median $123 across 66 hospitalsIL$123Wisconsin: median $83 across 38 hospitalsWI$83Michigan: median $156 across 21 hospitalsMI$156New York: median $203 across 67 hospitalsNY$203Massachusetts: median $148 across 28 hospitalsMA$148Oregon: median $112 across 23 hospitalsOR$112Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $123 across 36 hospitalsIA$123Indiana: median $159 across 51 hospitalsIN$159Ohio: median $122 across 65 hospitalsOH$122Pennsylvania: median $196 across 57 hospitalsPA$196New Jersey: median $190 across 34 hospitalsNJ$190Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $338 across 85 hospitalsCA$338Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $140 across 23 hospitalsNE$140Missouri: median $81 across 42 hospitalsMO$81Kentucky: median $128 across 25 hospitalsKY$128West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $158 across 50 hospitalsVA$158Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $157 across 18 hospitalsAZ$157New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $76 across 38 hospitalsKS$76Arkansas: median $97 across 17 hospitalsAR$97Tennessee: median $101 across 38 hospitalsTN$101North Carolina: median $80 across 35 hospitalsNC$80South Carolina: median $65 across 17 hospitalsSC$65Oklahoma: median $108 across 38 hospitalsOK$108Louisiana: median $81 across 20 hospitalsLA$81Mississippi: median $42 across 17 hospitalsMS$42Alabama: median $154 across 27 hospitalsAL$154Georgia: median $172 across 40 hospitalsGA$172Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $147 across 74 hospitalsTX$147Florida: median $178 across 78 hospitalsFL$178
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $134. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Idaho ID10$455+240%$82 – $1,315
California CA85$338+153%$200 – $468
North Dakota ND11$239+79%$140 – $266
New York NY67$203+52%$39 – $377
Pennsylvania PA57$196+47%$47 – $302
New Jersey NJ34$190+42%$54 – $484
Washington WA24$190+42%$88 – $344
Florida FL78$178+33%$74 – $531
Georgia GA40$172+28%$99 – $387
Indiana IN51$159+19%$31 – $213
Virginia VA50$158+18%$92 – $218
Arizona AZ18$157+18%$67 – $248
Michigan MI21$156+17%$12 – $190
Alabama AL27$154+15%$106 – $283
Massachusetts MA28$148+11%$83 – $202
Texas TX74$147+10%$65 – $428
Nebraska NE23$140+5%$63 – $226
Kentucky KY25$128−4%$32 – $164
Iowa IA36$123−8%$38 – $156
Illinois IL66$123−8%$69 – $144
Ohio OH65$122−9%$86 – $654
Oregon OR23$112−16%$24 – $304
Oklahoma OK38$108−19%$45 – $173
Tennessee TN38$101−25%$28 – $300
Arkansas AR17$97−28%$84 – $189
Wisconsin WI38$83−38%$69 – $100
Louisiana LA20$81−39%$55 – $233
Missouri MO42$81−40%$45 – $148
North Carolina NC35$80−40%$55 – $109
Kansas KS38$76−43%$50 – $130
Maine ME14$69−48%$42 – $140
South Carolina SC17$65−51%$49 – $122
Minnesota MN26$46−65%$11 – $103
Mississippi MS17$42−69%$29 – $91
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $134.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,010$147$62 – $333
Children’s30$96$77 – $298
Critical access299$104$50 – $213
Ownership
For-profit239$189$83 – $522
Government209$109$55 – $213
Non-profit891$125$57 – $283
System affiliation
Part of a system1,105$139$60 – $331
Independent239$112$56 – $233

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$199
Median cash price$134
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

837 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $136 and the average of the middle 60% is $148; most fall between $63 and $305.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 837 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$74$136$260$410

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($32 vs $410).

Of the 940 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 837 gave a usable cash price; 58 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 45 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,344 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (34%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,476 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,344
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here85
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 — excluded47
Hospitals that filed this code1,476

Sections not shown for this setting

  • 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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Compatibility Test, Incubate.

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 crossmatch using incubation method, each unit (CPT 86921) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86921-blood-crossmatch-using-incubation-method-each-unit