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

Visual exam to identify a parasite specimen

CPT 87169the billing code this page is about

Naked-eye laboratory examination of a worm or other parasite specimen to identify what it is.

Hospitals typically charge $33 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,219 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $34. Most fall between $13 and $62 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,219
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,219 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
$8$16$33$54$89

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($8 vs $89).

How the prices are spread

$5 – $7: 84 hospitals$5$7 – $10: 110 hospitals$10 – $14: 168 hospitals$10$14 – $19: 173 hospitals$19 – $27: 278 hospitals$19$27 – $37: 338 hospitals$37 – $52: 366 hospitals$37$52 – $72: 261 hospitals$72 – $100: 156 hospitals$72$100 – $139: 65 hospitals$100median $33price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,999 of 2,219 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$5$784
$7$10110
$10$14168
$14$19173
$19$27278
$27$37338
$37$52366
$52$72261
$72$100156
$100$13965

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $33.

Alaska: median $77 across 10 hospitalsAK$77Maine: median $30 across 25 hospitalsME$30Vermont: median $73 across 14 hospitalsVT$73New Hampshire: median $44 across 18 hospitalsNH$44Washington: median $50 across 57 hospitalsWA$50Idaho: median $26 across 19 hospitalsID$26Montana: median $34 across 18 hospitalsMT$34North Dakota: median $30 across 22 hospitalsND$30Minnesota: median $43 across 71 hospitalsMN$43Illinois: median $62 across 103 hospitalsIL$62Wisconsin: median $42 across 92 hospitalsWI$42Michigan: median $19 across 73 hospitalsMI$19New York: median $15 across 78 hospitalsNY$15Massachusetts: median $30 across 41 hospitalsMA$30Oregon: median $38 across 27 hospitalsOR$38Nevada: median $22 across 11 hospitalsNV$22Wyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $58 across 12 hospitalsSD$58Iowa: median $39 across 45 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $25 across 70 hospitalsIN$25Ohio: median $29 across 99 hospitalsOH$29Pennsylvania: median $24 across 108 hospitalsPA$24New Jersey: median $5 across 47 hospitalsNJ$5Connecticut: median $23 across 16 hospitalsCT$23Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $46 across 110 hospitalsCA$46Utah: median $31 across 34 hospitalsUT$31Colorado: median $53 across 49 hospitalsCO$53Nebraska: median $42 across 26 hospitalsNE$42Missouri: median $33 across 55 hospitalsMO$33Kentucky: median $29 across 49 hospitalsKY$29West Virginia: median $25 across 19 hospitalsWV$25Virginia: median $30 across 62 hospitalsVA$30Maryland: median $54 across 29 hospitalsMD$54Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $42 across 32 hospitalsAZ$42New Mexico: median $20 across 13 hospitalsNM$20Kansas: median $36 across 36 hospitalsKS$36Arkansas: median $35 across 17 hospitalsAR$35Tennessee: median $13 across 59 hospitalsTN$13North Carolina: median $32 across 58 hospitalsNC$32South Carolina: median $34 across 41 hospitalsSC$34Oklahoma: median $33 across 51 hospitalsOK$33Louisiana: median $12 across 22 hospitalsLA$12Mississippi: median $8 across 33 hospitalsMS$8Alabama: median $24 across 23 hospitalsAL$24Georgia: median $32 across 71 hospitalsGA$32Hawaii: median $27 across 16 hospitalsHI$27Texas: median $47 across 137 hospitalsTX$47Florida: median $35 across 84 hospitalsFL$35
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $33. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK10$77+134%$51 – $95
Vermont VT14$73+122%$18 – $85
Illinois IL103$62+88%$19 – $88
South Dakota SD12$58+75%$37 – $75
Maryland MD29$54+66%$40 – $64
Colorado CO49$53+60%$23 – $80
Washington WA57$50+52%$27 – $81
Texas TX137$47+42%$13 – $107
California CA110$46+39%$20 – $83
New Hampshire NH18$44+35%$24 – $110
Minnesota MN71$43+31%$28 – $62
Arizona AZ32$42+28%$17 – $64
Wisconsin WI92$42+27%$20 – $48
Nebraska NE26$42+27%$28 – $66
Iowa IA45$39+18%$19 – $46
Oregon OR27$38+15%$22 – $49
Kansas KS36$36+8%$24 – $56
Arkansas AR17$35+7%$23 – $40
Florida FL84$35+6%$13 – $70
South Carolina SC41$34+4%$19 – $40
Montana MT18$34+4%$23 – $91
Oklahoma OK51$33+1%$12 – $58
Missouri MO55$330%$19 – $43
Georgia GA71$32−4%$20 – $41
North Carolina NC58$32−4%$14 – $38
Utah UT34$31−6%$26 – $58
Massachusetts MA41$30−7%$15 – $63
North Dakota ND22$30−9%$8 – $48
Maine ME25$30−10%$12 – $73
Virginia VA62$30−10%$14 – $41
Ohio OH99$29−10%$20 – $74
Kentucky KY49$29−12%$13 – $77
Hawaii HI16$27−18%$26 – $57
Idaho ID19$26−21%$13 – $48
Indiana IN70$25−24%$10 – $53
West Virginia WV19$25−25%$11 – $65
Pennsylvania PA108$24−27%$6 – $50
Alabama AL23$24−28%$10 – $59
Connecticut CT16$23−30%$15 – $33
Nevada NV11$22−32%$15 – $29
New Mexico NM13$20−38%$12 – $43
Michigan MI73$19−42%$7 – $36
New York NY78$15−53%$5 – $46
Tennessee TN59$13−59%$7 – $29
Louisiana LA22$12−64%$8 – $27
Mississippi MS33$8−76%$4 – $21
New Jersey NJ47$5−86%$4 – $56
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not 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 $33.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,655$31$12 – $59
Children’s43$36$25 – $60
Critical access515$38$19 – $64
Ownership
For-profit297$33$13 – $97
Government318$32$14 – $63
Non-profit1,598$33$13 – $57
System affiliation
Part of a system1,882$33$13 – $61
Independent337$32$15 – $64

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$54
Median cash price$33
Cash as a share of list, median hospital61%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 39%. 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

1,557 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $33 and the average of the middle 60% is $34; most fall between $14 and $59.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,557 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
$9$19$33$53$82

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($9 vs $82).

Of the 1,711 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,557 gave a usable cash price; 84 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 70 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,219 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (56%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,401 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,219
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here110
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded69
Hospitals that filed this code2,401

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 MACROSCOPIC EXAM PARASITE.

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, “Visual exam to identify a parasite specimen (CPT 87169) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87169-visual-exam-to-identify-a-parasite-specimen