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

Dark field microscope exam with sample collection

CPT 87164the billing code this page is about

Examination of a specimen under a dark field microscope to look for organisms such as spirochetes, including collection of the sample.

Hospitals typically charge $32 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 235 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $45. Most fall between $12 and $109 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
235
States
30
Filings dated
Dec 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 235 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
$11$12$32$109$206

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $206).

How the prices are spread

$11 – $15: 61 hospitals$11$15 – $21: 14 hospitals$21 – $30: 15 hospitals$21$30 – $43: 33 hospitals$43 – $60: 18 hospitals$43$60 – $86: 14 hospitals$86 – $122: 29 hospitals$86$122 – $173: 14 hospitals$173 – $245: 13 hospitals$173$245 – $348: 4 hospitals$245median $32price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (215 of 235 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$11$1561
$15$2114
$21$3015
$30$4333
$43$6018
$60$8614
$86$12229
$122$17314
$173$24513
$245$3484

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $32.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $74 across 21 hospitalsIL$74Wisconsin: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $11 across 16 hospitalsNY$11Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 1 hospital 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 $31 across 16 hospitalsIA$31Indiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $13 across 20 hospitalsPA$13New Jersey: median $12 across 22 hospitalsNJ$12Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $109 across 22 hospitalsCA$109Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCONebraska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMOKentucky: median $153 across 15 hospitalsKY$153West Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $11 across 11 hospitalsTN$11North Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $32 across 12 hospitalsOK$32Louisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $774 across 12 hospitalsTX$774Florida: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $32. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Texas TX12$774+2357%$200 – $1,128
Kentucky KY15$153+385%$56 – $206
California CA22$109+245%$109 – $109
Illinois IL21$74+134%$18 – $107
Oklahoma OK12$320%$32 – $32
Iowa IA16$31−1%$31 – $45
Pennsylvania PA20$13−60%$12 – $47
New Jersey NJ22$12−63%$11 – $12
New York NY16$11−66%$11 – $46
Tennessee TN11$11−67%$6 – $11
Nebraska NE9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not 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 $32.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care210$32$12 – $109
Children’s3fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access22$70$18 – $130
Ownership
For-profit32$39$18 – $774
Government26$11$11 – $44
Non-profit177$32$12 – $109
System affiliation
Part of a system212$32$12 – $109
Independent23$38$12 – $54

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$76
Median cash price$32
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

130 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $45 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $22 and $109.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 130 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
$11$31$45$109$143

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $143).

Of the 138 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 130 gave a usable cash price; 5 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 3 a list price only.

How complete is this

235 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (6%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 244 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted235
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here6
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 — excluded2
Hospitals that filed this code244

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 5, 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 DARK FIELD EXAM SPEC COLLJ.

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, “Dark field microscope exam with sample collection (CPT 87164) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87164-dark-field-microscope-exam-with-sample-collection