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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Serum pretreatment by red cell absorption, each absorption

CPT 86978the billing code this page is about

Laboratory step in which a patient's serum is absorbed with red blood cells of known type to sort out which antibodies are present; billed once for each absorption performed.

Hospitals typically charge $123 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,400 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $129. Most fall between $64 and $238 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,400
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 2,400 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
$46$71$123$207$347

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($46 vs $347).

How the prices are spread

$31 – $42: 86 hospitals$31$42 – $55: 167 hospitals$55 – $73: 238 hospitals$55$73 – $96: 304 hospitals$96 – $128: 352 hospitals$96$128 – $169: 342 hospitals$169 – $224: 243 hospitals$169$224 – $296: 231 hospitals$296 – $392: 108 hospitals$296$392 – $519: 90 hospitals$392median $123price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,161 of 2,400 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$31$4286
$42$55167
$55$73238
$73$96304
$96$128352
$128$169342
$169$224243
$224$296231
$296$392108
$392$51990

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$60
Median cash price$123
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.0×

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 $123.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $42 across 24 hospitalsME$42Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $137 across 16 hospitalsNH$137Washington: median $173 across 55 hospitalsWA$173Idaho: median $169 across 15 hospitalsID$169Montana: median $149 across 11 hospitalsMT$149North Dakota: median $94 across 10 hospitalsND$94Minnesota: median $96 across 59 hospitalsMN$96Illinois: median $118 across 107 hospitalsIL$118Wisconsin: median $132 across 90 hospitalsWI$132Michigan: median $81 across 59 hospitalsMI$81New York: median $93 across 81 hospitalsNY$93Massachusetts: median $115 across 40 hospitalsMA$115Oregon: median $92 across 31 hospitalsOR$92Nevada: median $147 across 15 hospitalsNV$147Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $115 across 11 hospitalsSD$115Iowa: median $119 across 51 hospitalsIA$119Indiana: median $95 across 78 hospitalsIN$95Ohio: median $144 across 124 hospitalsOH$144Pennsylvania: median $116 across 100 hospitalsPA$116New Jersey: median $68 across 48 hospitalsNJ$68Connecticut: median $53 across 10 hospitalsCT$53Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $105 across 112 hospitalsCA$105Utah: median $403 across 31 hospitalsUT$403Colorado: median $305 across 49 hospitalsCO$305Nebraska: median $146 across 47 hospitalsNE$146Missouri: median $109 across 60 hospitalsMO$109Kentucky: median $129 across 43 hospitalsKY$129West Virginia: median $94 across 22 hospitalsWV$94Virginia: median $124 across 64 hospitalsVA$124Maryland: median $245 across 34 hospitalsMD$245Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $147 across 35 hospitalsAZ$147New Mexico: median $155 across 13 hospitalsNM$155Kansas: median $124 across 55 hospitalsKS$124Arkansas: median $83 across 25 hospitalsAR$83Tennessee: median $90 across 63 hospitalsTN$90North Carolina: median $125 across 63 hospitalsNC$125South Carolina: median $120 across 45 hospitalsSC$120Oklahoma: median $82 across 50 hospitalsOK$82Louisiana: median $49 across 41 hospitalsLA$49Mississippi: median $52 across 29 hospitalsMS$52Alabama: median $88 across 35 hospitalsAL$88Georgia: median $107 across 77 hospitalsGA$107Hawaii: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $213 across 197 hospitalsTX$213Florida: median $176 across 129 hospitalsFL$176
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $123. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT31$403+228%$329 – $474
Colorado CO49$305+148%$141 – $717
Maryland MD34$245+99%$167 – $312
Texas TX197$213+74%$94 – $447
Florida FL129$176+43%$74 – $280
Washington WA55$173+41%$65 – $344
Idaho ID15$169+38%$95 – $238
New Mexico NM13$155+26%$75 – $196
Montana MT11$149+21%$131 – $181
Nevada NV15$147+20%$29 – $249
Arizona AZ35$147+20%$72 – $578
Nebraska NE47$146+19%$108 – $270
Ohio OH124$144+17%$74 – $267
New Hampshire NH16$137+11%$116 – $204
Wisconsin WI90$132+7%$87 – $150
Kentucky KY43$129+5%$61 – $225
North Carolina NC63$125+2%$56 – $183
Virginia VA64$124+1%$90 – $152
Kansas KS55$124+1%$77 – $224
South Carolina SC45$120−3%$87 – $154
Iowa IA51$119−3%$64 – $174
Illinois IL107$118−4%$56 – $217
Pennsylvania PA100$116−5%$67 – $212
South Dakota SD11$115−6%$91 – $423
Massachusetts MA40$115−7%$66 – $184
Missouri MO60$109−11%$82 – $220
Georgia GA77$107−13%$100 – $194
California CA112$105−15%$47 – $200
Minnesota MN59$96−22%$53 – $168
Indiana IN78$95−23%$59 – $225
West Virginia WV22$94−24%$54 – $135
North Dakota ND10$94−24%$71 – $137
New York NY81$93−24%$50 – $165
Oregon OR31$92−26%$58 – $187
Tennessee TN63$90−27%$55 – $175
Alabama AL35$88−28%$48 – $209
Arkansas AR25$83−32%$44 – $133
Oklahoma OK50$82−34%$45 – $173
Michigan MI59$81−34%$31 – $105
New Jersey NJ48$68−45%$33 – $82
Connecticut CT10$53−57%$46 – $86
Mississippi MS29$52−58%$30 – $78
Louisiana LA41$49−60%$22 – $118
Maine ME24$42−66%$34 – $88
Hawaii HI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $123.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,865$121$62 – $244
Children’s40$130$86 – $272
Critical access486$125$67 – $214
Ownership
For-profit364$147$70 – $420
Government353$113$60 – $208
Non-profit1,674$121$64 – $225
System affiliation
Part of a system2,018$124$64 – $244
Independent382$113$60 – $220

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$200
Median cash price$123
Cash as a share of list, median hospital63%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 37%. 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

1,680 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $123 and the average of the middle 60% is $129; most fall between $65 and $230.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,680 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
$47$75$123$200$320

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $320).

Of the 1,863 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,680 gave a usable cash price; 104 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 79 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,400 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (61%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,621 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,400
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here139
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded79
Hospitals that filed this code2,621

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 RBC Adsorption (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, “Serum pretreatment by red cell absorption, each absorption (CPT 86978) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-86978-serum-pretreatment-by-red-cell-absorption-each-absorption