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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Red cell preparation by density separation

CPT 86972the billing code this page is about

Laboratory step that separates red blood cells by density before antibody or compatibility testing is performed; billed in addition to the test itself.

Hospitals typically charge $172 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,408 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $183. Most fall between $87 and $336 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,408
States
48
Filings dated
Jan 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 1,408 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
$63$100$172$298$458

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($63 vs $458).

How the prices are spread

$44 – $58: 52 hospitals$44$58 – $77: 90 hospitals$77 – $101: 153 hospitals$77$101 – $133: 136 hospitals$133 – $174: 224 hospitals$133$174 – $229: 202 hospitals$229 – $302: 138 hospitals$229$302 – $397: 136 hospitals$397 – $523: 95 hospitals$397$523 – $688: 45 hospitals$523median $172price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,271 of 1,408 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$44$5852
$58$7790
$77$101153
$101$133136
$133$174224
$174$229202
$229$302138
$302$397136
$397$52395
$523$68845

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$174
Median cash price$172
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.99×

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 $172.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $368 across 13 hospitalsWA$368Idaho: median $193 across 11 hospitalsID$193Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $184 across 18 hospitalsMN$184Illinois: median $165 across 79 hospitalsIL$165Wisconsin: median $128 across 41 hospitalsWI$128Michigan: median $112 across 23 hospitalsMI$112New York: median $203 across 57 hospitalsNY$203Massachusetts: median $199 across 27 hospitalsMA$199Oregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $116 across 34 hospitalsIA$116Indiana: median $180 across 67 hospitalsIN$180Ohio: median $223 across 90 hospitalsOH$223Pennsylvania: median $315 across 53 hospitalsPA$315New Jersey: median $190 across 23 hospitalsNJ$190Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $252 across 46 hospitalsCA$252Utah: median $172 across 26 hospitalsUT$172Colorado: median $242 across 21 hospitalsCO$242Nebraska: median $146 across 22 hospitalsNE$146Missouri: median $139 across 43 hospitalsMO$139Kentucky: median $164 across 35 hospitalsKY$164West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $238 across 60 hospitalsVA$238Maryland: median $90 across 15 hospitalsMD$90Delaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: median $65 across 20 hospitalsAZ$65New Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $171 across 21 hospitalsKS$171Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $112 across 42 hospitalsTN$112North Carolina: median $100 across 44 hospitalsNC$100South Carolina: median $132 across 25 hospitalsSC$132Oklahoma: median $114 across 32 hospitalsOK$114Louisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $160 across 22 hospitalsAL$160Georgia: median $151 across 70 hospitalsGA$151Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $154 across 141 hospitalsTX$154Florida: median $289 across 106 hospitalsFL$289
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $172. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Washington WA13$368+114%$166 – $811
Pennsylvania PA53$315+83%$109 – $622
Florida FL106$289+68%$172 – $521
California CA46$252+47%$85 – $403
Colorado CO21$242+41%$155 – $500
Virginia VA60$238+38%$128 – $366
Ohio OH90$223+29%$104 – $424
New York NY57$203+18%$118 – $344
Massachusetts MA27$199+16%$105 – $470
Idaho ID11$193+12%$68 – $193
New Jersey NJ23$190+10%$54 – $225
Minnesota MN18$184+7%$85 – $332
Indiana IN67$180+5%$107 – $329
Utah UT26$1720%$172 – $202
Kansas KS21$171−1%$137 – $431
Illinois IL79$165−4%$123 – $226
Kentucky KY35$164−4%$69 – $242
Alabama AL22$160−7%$86 – $1,020
Texas TX141$154−11%$61 – $288
Georgia GA70$151−12%$87 – $362
Nebraska NE22$146−15%$89 – $180
Missouri MO43$139−19%$81 – $323
South Carolina SC25$132−24%$114 – $181
Wisconsin WI41$128−25%$87 – $226
Iowa IA34$116−33%$75 – $165
Oklahoma OK32$114−34%$37 – $172
Michigan MI23$112−35%$78 – $168
Tennessee TN42$112−35%$66 – $298
North Carolina NC44$100−42%$63 – $157
Maryland MD15$90−47%$65 – $101
Arizona AZ20$65−62%$64 – $277
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $172.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,147$173$87 – $347
Children’s23$225$112 – $452
Critical access229$165$90 – $301
Ownership
For-profit230$188$87 – $417
Government189$152$100 – $272
Non-profit980$172$87 – $331
System affiliation
Part of a system1,215$172$87 – $345
Independent193$173$99 – $309

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$290
Median cash price$172
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

987 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $172 and the average of the middle 60% is $182; most fall between $87 and $340.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 987 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
$62$93$172$306$457

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $457).

Of the 1,098 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 987 gave a usable cash price; 68 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 43 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,408 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 1,533 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,408
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here79
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 — excluded45
Hospitals that filed this code1,533

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 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 RBC PRETX INCUBATJ W/DENSITY.

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 preparation by density separation (CPT 86972) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86972-red-cell-preparation-by-density-separation