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

Dark field microscope exam without sample collection

CPT 87166the billing code this page is about

Examination of a specimen under a dark field microscope to look for organisms such as spirochetes, when the sample was collected separately.

Hospitals typically charge $29 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 223 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $49. Most fall between $12 and $116 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
223
States
32
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 223 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$13$29$95$144

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $144).

How the prices are spread

$9 – $12: 28 hospitals$9$12 – $17: 34 hospitals$17 – $23: 19 hospitals$17$23 – $31: 31 hospitals$31 – $43: 12 hospitals$31$43 – $58: 5 hospitals$58 – $80: 13 hospitals$58$80 – $110: 23 hospitals$110 – $150: 31 hospitals$110$150 – $206: 5 hospitals$150median $29price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (201 of 223 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$9$1228
$12$1734
$17$2319
$23$3131
$31$4312
$43$585
$58$8013
$80$11023
$110$15031
$150$2065

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $29.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $18 across 10 hospitalsIL$18Wisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $11 across 15 hospitalsNY$11Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $29 across 11 hospitalsIA$29Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $9 across 16 hospitalsPA$9New Jersey: median $12 across 23 hospitalsNJ$12Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $116 across 23 hospitalsCA$116Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $20 across 14 hospitalsOK$20Louisiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $95 across 28 hospitalsTX$95Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $29. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA23$116+303%$116 – $116
Texas TX28$95+231%$31 – $95
Iowa IA11$290%$29 – $29
Oklahoma OK14$20−30%$20 – $25
Illinois IL10$18−36%$15 – $35
New Jersey NJ23$12−57%$11 – $12
New York NY15$11−61%$11 – $23
Pennsylvania PA16$9−69%$7 – $17
Georgia GA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $29.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care204$29$12 – $116
Children’s3fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access16fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit32$36$15 – $366
Government24$15$11 – $71
Non-profit167$29$12 – $95
System affiliation
Part of a system193$29$12 – $116
Independent30$27$13 – $71

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$64
Median cash price$29
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

136 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $42 and the average of the middle 60% is $60; most fall between $20 and $116.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 136 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
$15$23$42$116$144

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $144).

Of the 148 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 136 gave a usable cash price; 4 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 8 a list price only.

How complete is this

223 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 252 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted223
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here21
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 — excluded7
Hospitals that filed this code252

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 DARK FIELD EXAM W/O 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 without sample collection (CPT 87166) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87166-dark-field-microscope-exam-without-sample-collection