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

Identifying a cultured organism by liquid chromatography

CPT 87143the billing code this page is about

Typing of an organism already grown in culture by gas or high-pressure liquid chromatography analysis of its chemical components.

Hospitals typically charge $55 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 495 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $55. Most fall between $16 and $109 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
495
States
45
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – 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 495 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$20$55$92$152

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $152).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $16: 71 hospitals$12$16 – $21: 37 hospitals$21 – $29: 25 hospitals$21$29 – $38: 26 hospitals$38 – $51: 53 hospitals$38$51 – $68: 77 hospitals$68 – $91: 56 hospitals$68$91 – $122: 38 hospitals$122 – $163: 53 hospitals$122$163 – $218: 12 hospitals$163median $55price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (448 of 495 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$1671
$16$2137
$21$2925
$29$3826
$38$5153
$51$6877
$68$9156
$91$12238
$122$16353
$163$21812

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $55.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $54 across 20 hospitalsWA$54Idaho: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $42 across 23 hospitalsIL$42Wisconsin: median $143 across 19 hospitalsWI$143Michigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $13 across 24 hospitalsNY$13Massachusetts: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $39 across 12 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $14 across 41 hospitalsPA$14New Jersey: median $14 across 35 hospitalsNJ$14Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $71 across 44 hospitalsCA$71Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $106 across 17 hospitalsCO$106Nebraska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $72 across 17 hospitalsMO$72Kentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $52 across 13 hospitalsKS$52Arkansas: median $61 across 11 hospitalsAR$61Tennessee: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $76 across 16 hospitalsNC$76South Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $38 across 25 hospitalsOK$38Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $52 across 11 hospitalsGA$52Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $83 across 36 hospitalsTX$83Florida: median $60 across 12 hospitalsFL$60
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $55. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI19$143+158%$98 – $249
Colorado CO17$106+92%$76 – $1,229
Texas TX36$83+50%$79 – $679
North Carolina NC16$76+38%$67 – $76
Missouri MO17$72+31%$63 – $114
California CA44$71+29%$66 – $152
Arkansas AR11$61+11%$10 – $61
Florida FL12$60+9%$16 – $170
Washington WA20$54−3%$35 – $78
Kansas KS13$52−6%$28 – $99
Georgia GA11$52−7%$24 – $96
Illinois IL23$42−24%$18 – $65
Iowa IA12$39−30%$39 – $39
Oklahoma OK25$38−32%$22 – $66
Pennsylvania PA41$14−74%$10 – $46
New Jersey NJ35$14−75%$13 – $62
New York NY24$13−77%$13 – $56
Massachusetts MA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $55.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care404$50$14 – $106
Children’s5fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access85$62$32 – $109
Ownership
For-profit63$71$22 – $220
Government60$35$14 – $83
Non-profit371$55$16 – $106
System affiliation
Part of a system421$58$16 – $111
Independent74$41$16 – $91

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$100
Median cash price$55
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. 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

284 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $66 and the average of the middle 60% is $66; most fall between $23 and $140.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 284 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
$16$32$66$106$152

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($16 vs $152).

Of the 331 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 284 gave a usable cash price; 25 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

495 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (13%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 553 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted495
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here30
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded27
Hospitals that filed this code553

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 CULTURE TYPING GLC/HPLC.

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, “Identifying a cultured organism by liquid chromatography (CPT 87143) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87143-identifying-a-cultured-organism-by-liquid-chromatography