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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Red cell pretreatment with chemicals for antibody testing

CPT 86970the billing code this page is about

Laboratory step in which donor or patient red blood cells are incubated with chemicals or drugs before antibody detection, identification, or compatibility testing; billed once for each pretreatment.

Hospitals typically charge $91 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,179 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $97. Most fall between $49 and $169 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,179
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,179 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$56$91$151$259

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($34 vs $259).

How the prices are spread

$25 – $33: 96 hospitals$25$33 – $43: 118 hospitals$43 – $56: 221 hospitals$43$56 – $73: 298 hospitals$73 – $95: 299 hospitals$73$95 – $124: 319 hospitals$124 – $162: 216 hospitals$124$162 – $211: 191 hospitals$211 – $276: 140 hospitals$211$276 – $360: 65 hospitals$276median $91price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,963 of 2,179 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$25$3396
$33$43118
$43$56221
$56$73298
$73$95299
$95$124319
$124$162216
$162$211191
$211$276140
$276$36065

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$60
Median cash price$91
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.51×

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 $91.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $53 across 21 hospitalsME$53Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $143 across 17 hospitalsNH$143Washington: median $88 across 57 hospitalsWA$88Idaho: median $83 across 16 hospitalsID$83Montana: median $112 across 11 hospitalsMT$112North Dakota: median $86 across 15 hospitalsND$86Minnesota: median $54 across 56 hospitalsMN$54Illinois: median $100 across 106 hospitalsIL$100Wisconsin: median $88 across 77 hospitalsWI$88Michigan: median $46 across 35 hospitalsMI$46New York: median $81 across 78 hospitalsNY$81Massachusetts: median $100 across 34 hospitalsMA$100Oregon: median $50 across 27 hospitalsOR$50Nevada: median $128 across 15 hospitalsNV$128Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $112 across 43 hospitalsIA$112Indiana: median $115 across 79 hospitalsIN$115Ohio: median $106 across 112 hospitalsOH$106Pennsylvania: median $112 across 99 hospitalsPA$112New Jersey: median $52 across 44 hospitalsNJ$52Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $99 across 95 hospitalsCA$99Utah: median $721 across 31 hospitalsUT$721Colorado: median $116 across 45 hospitalsCO$116Nebraska: median $107 across 39 hospitalsNE$107Missouri: median $94 across 54 hospitalsMO$94Kentucky: median $83 across 43 hospitalsKY$83West Virginia: median $48 across 20 hospitalsWV$48Virginia: median $125 across 65 hospitalsVA$125Maryland: median $76 across 35 hospitalsMD$76Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $102 across 35 hospitalsAZ$102New Mexico: median $66 across 14 hospitalsNM$66Kansas: median $68 across 49 hospitalsKS$68Arkansas: median $62 across 16 hospitalsAR$62Tennessee: median $90 across 62 hospitalsTN$90North Carolina: median $69 across 55 hospitalsNC$69South Carolina: median $88 across 45 hospitalsSC$88Oklahoma: median $52 across 46 hospitalsOK$52Louisiana: median $32 across 34 hospitalsLA$32Mississippi: median $35 across 21 hospitalsMS$35Alabama: median $53 across 24 hospitalsAL$53Georgia: median $115 across 76 hospitalsGA$115Hawaii: median $114 across 10 hospitalsHI$114Texas: median $132 across 156 hospitalsTX$132Florida: median $114 across 110 hospitalsFL$114
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 UT31$721+692%$240 – $848
New Hampshire NH17$143+57%$97 – $249
Texas TX156$132+46%$53 – $159
Nevada NV15$128+41%$64 – $205
Virginia VA65$125+37%$89 – $228
Colorado CO45$116+28%$89 – $275
Indiana IN79$115+27%$56 – $215
Georgia GA76$115+26%$48 – $166
Florida FL110$114+26%$62 – $242
Hawaii HI10$114+26%$74 – $283
Pennsylvania PA99$112+23%$60 – $324
Montana MT11$112+23%$81 – $163
Iowa IA43$112+23%$77 – $165
Nebraska NE39$107+18%$77 – $200
Ohio OH112$106+16%$63 – $233
Arizona AZ35$102+12%$58 – $206
Illinois IL106$100+10%$62 – $164
Massachusetts MA34$100+10%$60 – $184
California CA95$99+8%$45 – $162
Missouri MO54$94+3%$56 – $139
Tennessee TN62$90−1%$42 – $141
Wisconsin WI77$88−3%$60 – $153
Washington WA57$88−3%$52 – $127
South Carolina SC45$88−4%$51 – $112
North Dakota ND15$86−5%$40 – $105
Kentucky KY43$83−9%$25 – $164
Idaho ID16$83−9%$50 – $166
New York NY78$81−11%$34 – $141
Maryland MD35$76−17%$63 – $99
North Carolina NC55$69−24%$56 – $121
Kansas KS49$68−26%$36 – $125
New Mexico NM14$66−27%$52 – $156
Arkansas AR16$62−32%$55 – $143
Minnesota MN56$54−41%$25 – $99
Maine ME21$53−42%$29 – $75
Alabama AL24$53−42%$35 – $286
New Jersey NJ44$52−43%$33 – $81
Oklahoma OK46$52−43%$40 – $169
Oregon OR27$50−45%$36 – $114
West Virginia WV20$48−48%$31 – $90
Michigan MI35$46−49%$22 – $85
Mississippi MS21$35−62%$25 – $101
Louisiana LA34$32−65%$22 – $81
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not 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 care1,691$92$50 – $174
Children’s36$67$46 – $138
Critical access445$90$48 – $153
Ownership
For-profit314$113$56 – $249
Government322$75$47 – $136
Non-profit1,536$91$49 – $165
System affiliation
Part of a system1,822$92$49 – $174
Independent357$83$48 – $160

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$153
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

1,535 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $92 and the average of the middle 60% is $100; most fall between $51 and $175.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,535 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$59$92$154$248

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $248).

Of the 1,707 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,535 gave a usable cash price; 95 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 77 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,179 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (55%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,392 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,179
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here134
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded77
Hospitals that filed this code2,392

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 Pretreat Cells: Chemical/Drug, Each (Reference Lab).

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 cell pretreatment with chemicals for antibody testing (CPT 86970) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86970-red-cell-pretreatment-with-chemicals-for-antibody-testing