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

Identification of each bacterium grown from a urine culture

CPT 87088the billing code this page is about

Laboratory work to isolate and name the bacteria found in a urine culture; the charge applies to each organism identified.

Hospitals typically charge $50 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,414 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $53. Most fall between $22 and $97 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,414
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,414 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
$14$26$50$85$144

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $144).

How the prices are spread

$9 – $12: 101 hospitals$9$12 – $17: 123 hospitals$17 – $24: 166 hospitals$17$24 – $33: 273 hospitals$33 – $46: 346 hospitals$33$46 – $64: 354 hospitals$64 – $89: 379 hospitals$64$89 – $124: 244 hospitals$124 – $173: 121 hospitals$124$173 – $240: 68 hospitals$173median $50price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,175 of 2,414 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$9$12101
$12$17123
$17$24166
$24$33273
$33$46346
$46$64354
$64$89379
$89$124244
$124$173121
$173$24068

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $50.

Alaska: median $114 across 11 hospitalsAK$114Maine: median $53 across 12 hospitalsME$53Vermont: median $37 across 11 hospitalsVT$37New Hampshire: median $29 across 11 hospitalsNH$29Washington: median $62 across 54 hospitalsWA$62Idaho: median $62 across 20 hospitalsID$62Montana: median $45 across 13 hospitalsMT$45North Dakota: median $57 across 25 hospitalsND$57Minnesota: median $41 across 53 hospitalsMN$41Illinois: median $69 across 120 hospitalsIL$69Wisconsin: median $67 across 89 hospitalsWI$67Michigan: median $36 across 58 hospitalsMI$36New York: median $29 across 97 hospitalsNY$29Massachusetts: median $47 across 44 hospitalsMA$47Oregon: median $34 across 33 hospitalsOR$34Nevada: median $79 across 14 hospitalsNV$79Wyoming: median $36 across 11 hospitalsWY$36South Dakota: median $65 across 14 hospitalsSD$65Iowa: median $43 across 59 hospitalsIA$43Indiana: median $39 across 70 hospitalsIN$39Ohio: median $48 across 103 hospitalsOH$48Pennsylvania: median $33 across 85 hospitalsPA$33New Jersey: median $9 across 42 hospitalsNJ$9Connecticut: median $43 across 19 hospitalsCT$43Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $97 across 117 hospitalsCA$97Utah: median $91 across 37 hospitalsUT$91Colorado: median $56 across 58 hospitalsCO$56Nebraska: median $69 across 55 hospitalsNE$69Missouri: median $43 across 61 hospitalsMO$43Kentucky: median $52 across 38 hospitalsKY$52West Virginia: median $49 across 24 hospitalsWV$49Virginia: median $69 across 58 hospitalsVA$69Maryland: median $27 across 37 hospitalsMD$27Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $24 across 37 hospitalsAZ$24New Mexico: median $46 across 16 hospitalsNM$46Kansas: median $50 across 57 hospitalsKS$50Arkansas: median $19 across 36 hospitalsAR$19Tennessee: median $32 across 55 hospitalsTN$32North Carolina: median $49 across 69 hospitalsNC$49South Carolina: median $66 across 29 hospitalsSC$66Oklahoma: median $26 across 66 hospitalsOK$26Louisiana: median $26 across 45 hospitalsLA$26Mississippi: median $24 across 36 hospitalsMS$24Alabama: median $50 across 33 hospitalsAL$50Georgia: median $23 across 86 hospitalsGA$23Hawaii: median $52 across 21 hospitalsHI$52Texas: median $80 across 145 hospitalsTX$80Florida: median $102 across 119 hospitalsFL$102
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $50. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK11$114+126%$65 – $128
Florida FL119$102+102%$29 – $514
California CA117$97+92%$72 – $160
Utah UT37$91+81%$75 – $107
Texas TX145$80+60%$43 – $182
Nevada NV14$79+57%$25 – $198
Nebraska NE55$69+37%$26 – $107
Illinois IL120$69+36%$31 – $142
Virginia VA58$69+36%$35 – $95
Wisconsin WI89$67+32%$35 – $78
South Carolina SC29$66+31%$30 – $105
South Dakota SD14$65+29%$50 – $83
Idaho ID20$62+23%$41 – $89
Washington WA54$62+23%$26 – $96
North Dakota ND25$57+12%$45 – $62
Colorado CO58$56+11%$45 – $130
Maine ME12$53+4%$34 – $78
Kentucky KY38$52+4%$24 – $100
Hawaii HI21$52+3%$41 – $76
Kansas KS57$500%$32 – $71
Alabama AL33$50−1%$15 – $136
North Carolina NC69$49−3%$30 – $69
West Virginia WV24$49−4%$27 – $70
Ohio OH103$48−6%$36 – $72
Massachusetts MA44$47−7%$25 – $77
New Mexico NM16$46−10%$34 – $84
Montana MT13$45−11%$23 – $68
Connecticut CT19$43−14%$26 – $67
Missouri MO61$43−15%$29 – $68
Iowa IA59$43−15%$35 – $61
Minnesota MN53$41−20%$10 – $74
Indiana IN70$39−23%$21 – $82
Vermont VT11$37−27%$33 – $75
Wyoming WY11$36−28%$16 – $77
Michigan MI58$36−29%$25 – $60
Oregon OR33$34−33%$16 – $61
Pennsylvania PA85$33−35%$9 – $70
Tennessee TN55$32−36%$14 – $77
New York NY97$29−42%$13 – $59
New Hampshire NH11$29−43%$12 – $45
Maryland MD37$27−46%$21 – $33
Louisiana LA45$26−48%$14 – $53
Oklahoma OK66$26−49%$15 – $81
Mississippi MS36$24−52%$16 – $64
Arizona AZ37$24−52%$11 – $77
Georgia GA86$23−54%$5 – $97
Arkansas AR36$19−62%$8 – $53
New Jersey NJ42$9−82%$8 – $37
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not 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 $50.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,751$47$21 – $100
Children’s49$67$38 – $90
Critical access605$56$30 – $84
Ownership
For-profit347$71$24 – $338
Government421$51$23 – $93
Non-profit1,637$47$21 – $87
System affiliation
Part of a system1,968$51$22 – $97
Independent446$48$24 – $89

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$85
Median cash price$50
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

1,571 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $51 and the average of the middle 60% is $55; most fall between $24 and $95.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,571 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
$14$28$51$86$131

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $131).

Of the 1,738 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,571 gave a usable cash price; 87 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 80 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,414 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 2,633 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,414
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here130
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded89
Hospitals that filed this code2,633

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

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as URINE BACTERIA 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, “Identification of each bacterium grown from a urine culture (CPT 87088) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87088-identification-of-each-bacterium-grown-from-a-urine-culture