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

Screening culture for one type of disease-causing bacteria

CPT 87081the billing code this page is about

A culture done only to check whether a single suspected organism, such as strep, is present, without full identification of other growth.

Hospitals typically charge $46 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,331 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $47. Most fall between $18 and $88 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,331
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 3,331 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
$12$21$46$77$122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $122).

How the prices are spread

$8 – $11: 141 hospitals$8$11 – $14: 198 hospitals$14 – $20: 284 hospitals$14$20 – $28: 301 hospitals$28 – $38: 368 hospitals$28$38 – $52: 447 hospitals$52 – $72: 502 hospitals$52$72 – $99: 417 hospitals$99 – $137: 259 hospitals$99$137 – $189: 100 hospitals$137median $46price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,017 of 3,331 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$8$11141
$11$14198
$14$20284
$20$28301
$28$38368
$38$52447
$52$72502
$72$99417
$99$137259
$137$189100

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $46.

Alaska: median $76 across 19 hospitalsAK$76Maine: median $36 across 27 hospitalsME$36Vermont: median $39 across 14 hospitalsVT$39New Hampshire: median $31 across 25 hospitalsNH$31Washington: median $62 across 78 hospitalsWA$62Idaho: median $28 across 24 hospitalsID$28Montana: median $38 across 31 hospitalsMT$38North Dakota: median $46 across 33 hospitalsND$46Minnesota: median $45 across 100 hospitalsMN$45Illinois: median $59 across 140 hospitalsIL$59Wisconsin: median $50 across 107 hospitalsWI$50Michigan: median $21 across 100 hospitalsMI$21New York: median $25 across 106 hospitalsNY$25Massachusetts: median $55 across 54 hospitalsMA$55Oregon: median $49 across 51 hospitalsOR$49Nevada: median $46 across 20 hospitalsNV$46Wyoming: median $47 across 16 hospitalsWY$47South Dakota: median $80 across 38 hospitalsSD$80Iowa: median $42 across 88 hospitalsIA$42Indiana: median $36 across 95 hospitalsIN$36Ohio: median $48 across 142 hospitalsOH$48Pennsylvania: median $36 across 118 hospitalsPA$36New Jersey: median $8 across 57 hospitalsNJ$8Connecticut: median $38 across 22 hospitalsCT$38Rhode Island: median $15 across 10 hospitalsRI$15California: median $52 across 166 hospitalsCA$52Utah: median $64 across 41 hospitalsUT$64Colorado: median $51 across 69 hospitalsCO$51Nebraska: median $64 across 81 hospitalsNE$64Missouri: median $42 across 77 hospitalsMO$42Kentucky: median $29 across 63 hospitalsKY$29West Virginia: median $42 across 40 hospitalsWV$42Virginia: median $42 across 72 hospitalsVA$42Maryland: median $54 across 41 hospitalsMD$54Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $20 across 42 hospitalsAZ$20New Mexico: median $54 across 30 hospitalsNM$54Kansas: median $45 across 90 hospitalsKS$45Arkansas: median $17 across 32 hospitalsAR$17Tennessee: median $27 across 81 hospitalsTN$27North Carolina: median $39 across 88 hospitalsNC$39South Carolina: median $72 across 53 hospitalsSC$72Oklahoma: median $44 across 72 hospitalsOK$44Louisiana: median $30 across 49 hospitalsLA$30Mississippi: median $16 across 54 hospitalsMS$16Alabama: median $48 across 42 hospitalsAL$48Georgia: median $39 across 108 hospitalsGA$39Hawaii: median $43 across 21 hospitalsHI$43Texas: median $70 across 245 hospitalsTX$70Florida: median $32 across 152 hospitalsFL$32
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $46. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD38$80+76%$51 – $148
Alaska AK19$76+67%$30 – $126
South Carolina SC53$72+58%$22 – $124
Texas TX245$70+54%$32 – $156
Nebraska NE81$64+41%$35 – $94
Utah UT41$64+40%$58 – $75
Washington WA78$62+37%$29 – $96
Illinois IL140$59+29%$29 – $104
Massachusetts MA54$55+20%$15 – $101
Maryland MD41$54+19%$42 – $65
New Mexico NM30$54+18%$32 – $114
California CA166$52+14%$14 – $119
Colorado CO69$51+11%$37 – $73
Wisconsin WI107$50+9%$29 – $80
Oregon OR51$49+7%$28 – $71
Alabama AL42$48+5%$13 – $116
Ohio OH142$48+5%$30 – $88
Wyoming WY16$47+3%$14 – $96
Nevada NV20$46+2%$15 – $92
North Dakota ND33$46+1%$13 – $55
Kansas KS90$45−1%$27 – $69
Minnesota MN100$45−1%$16 – $74
Oklahoma OK72$44−4%$22 – $83
Hawaii HI21$43−6%$26 – $66
Virginia VA72$42−8%$14 – $80
Missouri MO77$42−8%$26 – $79
Iowa IA88$42−9%$28 – $61
West Virginia WV40$42−9%$21 – $60
North Carolina NC88$39−14%$16 – $81
Vermont VT14$39−14%$17 – $103
Georgia GA108$39−15%$17 – $71
Connecticut CT22$38−16%$19 – $55
Montana MT31$38−17%$29 – $66
Indiana IN95$36−21%$15 – $94
Maine ME27$36−21%$17 – $69
Pennsylvania PA118$36−21%$11 – $78
Florida FL152$32−31%$14 – $135
New Hampshire NH25$31−33%$25 – $72
Louisiana LA49$30−34%$12 – $62
Kentucky KY63$29−36%$14 – $68
Idaho ID24$28−39%$18 – $80
Tennessee TN81$27−42%$16 – $60
New York NY106$25−46%$8 – $105
Michigan MI100$21−54%$8 – $51
Arizona AZ42$20−56%$9 – $95
Arkansas AR32$17−63%$16 – $26
Mississippi MS54$16−65%$10 – $46
Rhode Island RI10$15−66%$15 – $68
New Jersey NJ57$8−83%$7 – $54
Delaware DE7not 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 $46.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,301$43$16 – $93
Children’s68$53$27 – $106
Critical access952$47$23 – $79
Ownership
For-profit466$51$19 – $148
Government631$46$20 – $82
Non-profit2,224$45$17 – $83
System affiliation
Part of a system2,691$46$17 – $89
Independent640$42$20 – $81

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$71
Median cash price$46
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

2,256 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $48 and the average of the middle 60% is $49; most fall between $19 and $89.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,256 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
$12$22$48$77$121

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $121).

Of the 2,496 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,256 gave a usable cash price; 126 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 114 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,331 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (84%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,627 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,331
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here164
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded131
Hospitals that filed this code3,627

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 Legionella Species, Culture.

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, “Screening culture for one type of disease-causing bacteria (CPT 87081) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87081-screening-culture-for-one-type-of-disease-causing-bacteria