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

Anaerobic bacterial culture with identification

CPT 87075the billing code this page is about

Culture of a specimen from any source except blood, set up without oxygen to grow bacteria that need those conditions, with a first-level identification of what grows.

Hospitals typically charge $86 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,297 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $91. Most fall between $34 and $175 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,297
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 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 3,297 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
$20$42$86$150$273

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $273).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $17: 130 hospitals$12$17 – $25: 167 hospitals$25 – $36: 248 hospitals$25$36 – $53: 372 hospitals$53 – $77: 377 hospitals$53$77 – $113: 599 hospitals$113 – $165: 526 hospitals$113$165 – $240: 306 hospitals$240 – $350: 196 hospitals$240$350 – $511: 48 hospitals$350median $86price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,969 of 3,297 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$17130
$17$25167
$25$36248
$36$53372
$53$77377
$77$113599
$113$165526
$165$240306
$240$350196
$350$51148

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $86.

Alaska: median $176 across 18 hospitalsAK$176Maine: median $63 across 25 hospitalsME$63Vermont: median $151 across 13 hospitalsVT$151New Hampshire: median $81 across 25 hospitalsNH$81Washington: median $84 across 75 hospitalsWA$84Idaho: median $68 across 23 hospitalsID$68Montana: median $82 across 34 hospitalsMT$82North Dakota: median $80 across 33 hospitalsND$80Minnesota: median $82 across 104 hospitalsMN$82Illinois: median $120 across 143 hospitalsIL$120Wisconsin: median $95 across 106 hospitalsWI$95Michigan: median $72 across 96 hospitalsMI$72New York: median $36 across 114 hospitalsNY$36Massachusetts: median $83 across 51 hospitalsMA$83Oregon: median $81 across 49 hospitalsOR$81Nevada: median $86 across 21 hospitalsNV$86Wyoming: median $91 across 16 hospitalsWY$91South Dakota: median $128 across 39 hospitalsSD$128Iowa: median $68 across 86 hospitalsIA$68Indiana: median $51 across 95 hospitalsIN$51Ohio: median $78 across 138 hospitalsOH$78Pennsylvania: median $53 across 121 hospitalsPA$53New Jersey: median $11 across 57 hospitalsNJ$11Connecticut: median $57 across 20 hospitalsCT$57Rhode Island: median $73 across 10 hospitalsRI$73California: median $147 across 157 hospitalsCA$147Utah: median $235 across 42 hospitalsUT$235Colorado: median $122 across 69 hospitalsCO$122Nebraska: median $120 across 81 hospitalsNE$120Missouri: median $71 across 74 hospitalsMO$71Kentucky: median $111 across 67 hospitalsKY$111West Virginia: median $68 across 43 hospitalsWV$68Virginia: median $95 across 73 hospitalsVA$95Maryland: median $106 across 39 hospitalsMD$106Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $85 across 39 hospitalsAZ$85New Mexico: median $99 across 28 hospitalsNM$99Kansas: median $64 across 91 hospitalsKS$64Arkansas: median $23 across 38 hospitalsAR$23Tennessee: median $64 across 80 hospitalsTN$64North Carolina: median $84 across 86 hospitalsNC$84South Carolina: median $195 across 53 hospitalsSC$195Oklahoma: median $92 across 72 hospitalsOK$92Louisiana: median $48 across 50 hospitalsLA$48Mississippi: median $72 across 56 hospitalsMS$72Alabama: median $88 across 39 hospitalsAL$88Georgia: median $140 across 103 hospitalsGA$140Hawaii: median $47 across 21 hospitalsHI$47Texas: median $94 across 231 hospitalsTX$94Florida: median $217 across 147 hospitalsFL$217
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $86. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT42$235+173%$145 – $276
Florida FL147$217+152%$35 – $1,461
South Carolina SC53$195+127%$57 – $263
Alaska AK18$176+105%$47 – $278
Vermont VT13$151+75%$94 – $242
California CA157$147+71%$18 – $269
Georgia GA103$140+63%$34 – $165
South Dakota SD39$128+49%$95 – $219
Colorado CO69$122+42%$67 – $169
Illinois IL143$120+39%$40 – $228
Nebraska NE81$120+39%$46 – $175
Kentucky KY67$111+29%$62 – $179
Maryland MD39$106+23%$80 – $130
New Mexico NM28$99+15%$36 – $164
Virginia VA73$95+11%$51 – $252
Wisconsin WI106$95+11%$63 – $117
Texas TX231$94+9%$43 – $311
Oklahoma OK72$92+7%$35 – $135
Wyoming WY16$91+6%$21 – $154
Alabama AL39$88+2%$16 – $180
Nevada NV21$860%$50 – $185
Arizona AZ39$85−2%$28 – $256
North Carolina NC86$84−2%$37 – $152
Washington WA75$84−2%$46 – $146
Massachusetts MA51$83−4%$33 – $116
Minnesota MN104$82−4%$29 – $125
Montana MT34$82−4%$68 – $122
New Hampshire NH25$81−5%$53 – $221
Oregon OR49$81−6%$46 – $115
North Dakota ND33$80−7%$57 – $122
Ohio OH138$78−9%$42 – $139
Rhode Island RI10$73−15%$24 – $82
Michigan MI96$72−16%$29 – $102
Mississippi MS56$72−16%$23 – $119
Missouri MO74$71−17%$37 – $162
West Virginia WV43$68−21%$41 – $115
Idaho ID23$68−21%$42 – $108
Iowa IA86$68−22%$39 – $118
Kansas KS91$64−26%$37 – $109
Tennessee TN80$64−26%$20 – $125
Maine ME25$63−27%$30 – $140
Connecticut CT20$57−34%$35 – $79
Pennsylvania PA121$53−39%$14 – $147
Indiana IN95$51−41%$20 – $139
Louisiana LA50$48−45%$22 – $113
Hawaii HI21$47−45%$47 – $132
New York NY114$36−58%$21 – $126
Arkansas AR38$23−74%$13 – $98
New Jersey NJ57$11−87%$10 – $41
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 $86.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,288$85$29 – $195
Children’s65$98$43 – $225
Critical access934$90$43 – $146
Ownership
For-profit466$137$35 – $689
Government610$89$40 – $152
Non-profit2,211$82$34 – $156
System affiliation
Part of a system2,675$88$34 – $181
Independent622$81$35 – $158

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$144
Median cash price$86
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

2,220 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $89 and the average of the middle 60% is $94; most fall between $37 and $176.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,220 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
$21$43$89$151$263

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($21 vs $263).

Of the 2,444 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,220 gave a usable cash price; 118 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,297 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,583 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,297
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here162
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 — excluded122
Hospitals that filed this code3,583

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 Culture-Anaerobic.

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, “Anaerobic bacterial culture with identification (CPT 87075) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87075-anaerobic-bacterial-culture-with-identification