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

Blood infection panel testing 6 or more germs at once

CPT 87154the billing code this page is about

A single multi-target genetic test on a positive blood culture that identifies six or more possible bacteria or yeasts and any resistance markers included in the panel.

Hospitals typically charge $393 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,610 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $433. Most fall between $218 and $785 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,610
States
48
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 1,610 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
$136$240$393$680$1,272

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($136 vs $1,272).

How the prices are spread

$73 – $101: 45 hospitals$73$101 – $139: 52 hospitals$139 – $192: 105 hospitals$139$192 – $266: 205 hospitals$266 – $368: 235 hospitals$266$368 – $508: 269 hospitals$508 – $702: 236 hospitals$508$702 – $971: 151 hospitals$971 – $1,341: 91 hospitals$971$1,341 – $1,854: 69 hospitals$1,341median $393price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,458 of 1,610 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$73$10145
$101$13952
$139$192105
$192$266205
$266$368235
$368$508269
$508$702236
$702$971151
$971$1,34191
$1,341$1,85469

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $393.

Alaska: median $654 across 11 hospitalsAK$654Maine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $413 across 34 hospitalsWA$413Idaho: median $620 across 11 hospitalsID$620Montana: median $643 across 16 hospitalsMT$643North Dakota: median $774 across 16 hospitalsND$774Minnesota: median $398 across 51 hospitalsMN$398Illinois: median $529 across 77 hospitalsIL$529Wisconsin: median $393 across 67 hospitalsWI$393Michigan: median $480 across 64 hospitalsMI$480New York: median $350 across 55 hospitalsNY$350Massachusetts: median $382 across 27 hospitalsMA$382Oregon: median $377 across 21 hospitalsOR$377Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $779 across 19 hospitalsSD$779Iowa: median $325 across 56 hospitalsIA$325Indiana: median $367 across 69 hospitalsIN$367Ohio: median $436 across 104 hospitalsOH$436Pennsylvania: median $459 across 48 hospitalsPA$459New Jersey: median $240 across 43 hospitalsNJ$240Connecticut: median $327 across 14 hospitalsCT$327Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $566 across 74 hospitalsCA$566Utah: median $620 across 27 hospitalsUT$620Colorado: median $220 across 21 hospitalsCO$220Nebraska: median $342 across 44 hospitalsNE$342Missouri: median $547 across 36 hospitalsMO$547Kentucky: median $262 across 32 hospitalsKY$262West Virginia: median $352 across 20 hospitalsWV$352Virginia: median $379 across 39 hospitalsVA$379Maryland: median $100 across 20 hospitalsMD$100Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 9 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 $496 across 30 hospitalsKS$496Arkansas: median $225 across 29 hospitalsAR$225Tennessee: median $294 across 29 hospitalsTN$294North Carolina: median $385 across 61 hospitalsNC$385South Carolina: median $486 across 36 hospitalsSC$486Oklahoma: median $487 across 30 hospitalsOK$487Louisiana: median $256 across 34 hospitalsLA$256Mississippi: median $228 across 19 hospitalsMS$228Alabama: median $262 across 12 hospitalsAL$262Georgia: median $1,055 across 41 hospitalsGA$1,055Hawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $96 across 66 hospitalsTX$96Florida: median $367 across 68 hospitalsFL$367
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $393. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA41$1,055+169%$306 – $1,110
South Dakota SD19$779+98%$494 – $3,363
North Dakota ND16$774+97%$576 – $1,512
Alaska AK11$654+67%$448 – $848
Montana MT16$643+64%$459 – $870
Idaho ID11$620+58%$227 – $1,679
Utah UT27$620+58%$620 – $730
California CA74$566+44%$394 – $835
Missouri MO36$547+39%$328 – $727
Illinois IL77$529+35%$258 – $797
Kansas KS30$496+26%$275 – $703
Oklahoma OK30$487+24%$242 – $755
South Carolina SC36$486+24%$341 – $596
Michigan MI64$480+22%$268 – $698
Pennsylvania PA48$459+17%$262 – $2,158
Ohio OH104$436+11%$278 – $978
Washington WA34$413+5%$299 – $953
Minnesota MN51$398+1%$221 – $1,505
Wisconsin WI67$3930%$389 – $1,319
North Carolina NC61$385−2%$146 – $549
Massachusetts MA27$382−3%$248 – $835
Virginia VA39$379−4%$110 – $833
Oregon OR21$377−4%$234 – $1,008
Indiana IN69$367−6%$226 – $396
Florida FL68$367−7%$165 – $886
West Virginia WV20$352−10%$49 – $563
New York NY55$350−11%$218 – $632
Nebraska NE44$342−13%$194 – $658
Connecticut CT14$327−17%$327 – $680
Iowa IA56$325−17%$209 – $550
Tennessee TN29$294−25%$176 – $458
Kentucky KY32$262−33%$26 – $2,654
Alabama AL12$262−33%$196 – $456
Louisiana LA34$256−35%$140 – $333
New Jersey NJ43$240−39%$218 – $251
Mississippi MS19$228−42%$176 – $378
Arkansas AR29$225−43%$142 – $709
Colorado CO21$220−44%$184 – $589
Maryland MD20$100−74%$60 – $155
Texas TX66$96−76%$66 – $583
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $393.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,168$382$207 – $772
Children’s32$474$258 – $886
Critical access403$456$270 – $794
Ownership
For-profit121$353$146 – $1,010
Government229$387$214 – $654
Non-profit1,253$398$218 – $785
System affiliation
Part of a system1,413$392$218 – $785
Independent197$443$225 – $767

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$688
Median cash price$393
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

1,162 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $426 and the average of the middle 60% is $462; most fall between $220 and $835.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,162 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
$136$255$426$731$1,358

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($136 vs $1,358).

Of the 1,252 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,162 gave a usable cash price; 53 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 37 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,610 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (41%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,716 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,610
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here60
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 — excluded45
Hospitals that filed this code1,716

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 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 Blood Culture Molecular Detection.

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, “Blood infection panel testing 6 or more germs at once (CPT 87154) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87154-blood-infection-panel-testing-6-or-more-germs-at-once