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Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Stool culture for each additional type of bacteria

CPT 87046the billing code this page is about

Culture of a stool specimen for one more disease-causing bacterium beyond the first; the charge applies to each additional organism tested for.

Hospitals typically charge $42 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,944 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $44. Most fall between $20 and $80 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,944
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – 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 2,944 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
$13$23$42$71$123

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $123).

How the prices are spread

$9 – $12: 126 hospitals$9$12 – $17: 163 hospitals$17 – $22: 285 hospitals$17$22 – $30: 332 hospitals$30 – $40: 356 hospitals$30$40 – $53: 409 hospitals$53 – $71: 379 hospitals$53$71 – $95: 294 hospitals$95 – $127: 173 hospitals$95$127 – $169: 133 hospitals$127median $42price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,650 of 2,944 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$9$12126
$12$17163
$17$22285
$22$30332
$30$40356
$40$53409
$53$71379
$71$95294
$95$127173
$127$169133

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $42.

Alaska: median $63 across 16 hospitalsAK$63Maine: median $30 across 27 hospitalsME$30Vermont: median $88 across 12 hospitalsVT$88New Hampshire: median $50 across 22 hospitalsNH$50Washington: median $56 across 73 hospitalsWA$56Idaho: median $38 across 15 hospitalsID$38Montana: median $43 across 33 hospitalsMT$43North Dakota: median $56 across 31 hospitalsND$56Minnesota: median $45 across 79 hospitalsMN$45Illinois: median $53 across 130 hospitalsIL$53Wisconsin: median $62 across 98 hospitalsWI$62Michigan: median $21 across 61 hospitalsMI$21New York: median $34 across 97 hospitalsNY$34Massachusetts: median $51 across 49 hospitalsMA$51Oregon: median $32 across 41 hospitalsOR$32Nevada: median $50 across 18 hospitalsNV$50Wyoming: median $40 across 15 hospitalsWY$40South Dakota: median $51 across 38 hospitalsSD$51Iowa: median $39 across 62 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $33 across 80 hospitalsIN$33Ohio: median $38 across 120 hospitalsOH$38Pennsylvania: median $38 across 113 hospitalsPA$38New Jersey: median $11 across 54 hospitalsNJ$11Connecticut: median $29 across 16 hospitalsCT$29Rhode Island: median $35 across 10 hospitalsRI$35California: median $64 across 135 hospitalsCA$64Utah: median $157 across 40 hospitalsUT$157Colorado: median $58 across 62 hospitalsCO$58Nebraska: median $71 across 66 hospitalsNE$71Missouri: median $41 across 67 hospitalsMO$41Kentucky: median $30 across 67 hospitalsKY$30West Virginia: median $27 across 38 hospitalsWV$27Virginia: median $23 across 69 hospitalsVA$23Maryland: median $27 across 33 hospitalsMD$27Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $28 across 39 hospitalsAZ$28New Mexico: median $44 across 24 hospitalsNM$44Kansas: median $46 across 77 hospitalsKS$46Arkansas: median $28 across 26 hospitalsAR$28Tennessee: median $21 across 77 hospitalsTN$21North Carolina: median $37 across 85 hospitalsNC$37South Carolina: median $48 across 50 hospitalsSC$48Oklahoma: median $34 across 70 hospitalsOK$34Louisiana: median $21 across 47 hospitalsLA$21Mississippi: median $23 across 53 hospitalsMS$23Alabama: median $33 across 35 hospitalsAL$33Georgia: median $55 across 99 hospitalsGA$55Hawaii: median $57 across 21 hospitalsHI$57Texas: median $54 across 220 hospitalsTX$54Florida: median $72 across 128 hospitalsFL$72
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $42. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT40$157+272%$43 – $185
Vermont VT12$88+109%$43 – $137
Florida FL128$72+70%$17 – $190
Nebraska NE66$71+70%$34 – $97
California CA135$64+52%$19 – $139
Alaska AK16$63+51%$45 – $95
Wisconsin WI98$62+47%$34 – $73
Colorado CO62$58+38%$21 – $95
Hawaii HI21$57+35%$30 – $88
Washington WA73$56+33%$25 – $87
North Dakota ND31$56+33%$24 – $71
Georgia GA99$55+31%$23 – $83
Texas TX220$54+27%$21 – $137
Illinois IL130$53+25%$27 – $86
South Dakota SD38$51+22%$39 – $83
Massachusetts MA49$51+21%$27 – $91
New Hampshire NH22$50+19%$37 – $97
Nevada NV18$50+18%$20 – $101
South Carolina SC50$48+15%$38 – $94
Kansas KS77$46+10%$31 – $72
Minnesota MN79$45+7%$17 – $60
New Mexico NM24$44+4%$32 – $64
Montana MT33$43+1%$17 – $77
Missouri MO67$41−2%$25 – $70
Wyoming WY15$40−4%$18 – $65
Iowa IA62$39−8%$18 – $53
Ohio OH120$38−9%$26 – $75
Pennsylvania PA113$38−9%$15 – $80
Idaho ID15$38−10%$28 – $66
North Carolina NC85$37−13%$21 – $68
Rhode Island RI10$35−17%$22 – $75
New York NY97$34−19%$10 – $72
Oklahoma OK70$34−20%$19 – $52
Alabama AL35$33−22%$17 – $71
Indiana IN80$33−22%$20 – $58
Oregon OR41$32−24%$17 – $53
Kentucky KY67$30−28%$19 – $60
Maine ME27$30−29%$14 – $62
Connecticut CT16$29−31%$22 – $50
Arkansas AR26$28−34%$18 – $49
Arizona AZ39$28−34%$16 – $62
Maryland MD33$27−35%$21 – $33
West Virginia WV38$27−36%$18 – $45
Mississippi MS53$23−46%$13 – $35
Virginia VA69$23−47%$17 – $85
Michigan MI61$21−49%$16 – $59
Tennessee TN77$21−50%$8 – $48
Louisiana LA47$21−51%$13 – $35
New Jersey NJ54$11−74%$9 – $20
Delaware DE6not 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 $42.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,067$39$18 – $81
Children’s58$63$28 – $95
Critical access810$47$25 – $75
Ownership
For-profit417$52$21 – $162
Government540$43$21 – $74
Non-profit1,978$40$19 – $76
System affiliation
Part of a system2,408$42$19 – $80
Independent536$40$21 – $74

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$70
Median cash price$42
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

2,014 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $44 and the average of the middle 60% is $46; most fall between $21 and $79.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,014 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
$15$24$44$71$118

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $118).

Of the 2,218 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,014 gave a usable cash price; 108 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 96 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,944 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (74%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,203 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,944
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here145
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded111
Hospitals that filed this code3,203

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 July 20, 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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Additional Path, Stool.

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, “Stool culture for each additional type of bacteria (CPT 87046) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87046-stool-culture-for-each-additional-type-of-bacteria