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

Antibiotic sensitivity test by broth dilution, each drug

CPT 87188the billing code this page is about

A bacterial isolate is grown in liquid broth containing one antimicrobial drug to see whether the drug stops it; billed once for each drug tested.

Hospitals typically charge $54 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,505 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $56. Most fall between $19 and $115 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,505
States
49
Filings dated
Feb 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 1,505 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
$10$25$54$100$210

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 21× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $210).

How the prices are spread

$7 – $11: 85 hospitals$7$11 – $16: 99 hospitals$16 – $23: 99 hospitals$16$23 – $34: 167 hospitals$34 – $50: 200 hospitals$34$50 – $73: 237 hospitals$73 – $107: 215 hospitals$73$107 – $158: 122 hospitals$158 – $232: 76 hospitals$158$232 – $342: 56 hospitals$232median $54price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,356 of 1,505 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$7$1185
$11$1699
$16$2399
$23$34167
$34$50200
$50$73237
$73$107215
$107$158122
$158$23276
$232$34256

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $54.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $75 across 15 hospitalsNH$75Washington: median $35 across 44 hospitalsWA$35Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $12 across 12 hospitalsND$12Minnesota: median $76 across 38 hospitalsMN$76Illinois: median $75 across 64 hospitalsIL$75Wisconsin: median $100 across 56 hospitalsWI$100Michigan: median $25 across 17 hospitalsMI$25New York: median $20 across 57 hospitalsNY$20Massachusetts: median $29 across 30 hospitalsMA$29Oregon: median $54 across 16 hospitalsOR$54Nevada: median $35 across 11 hospitalsNV$35Wyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $39 across 18 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $21 across 37 hospitalsIN$21Ohio: median $101 across 71 hospitalsOH$101Pennsylvania: median $18 across 64 hospitalsPA$18New Jersey: median $7 across 38 hospitalsNJ$7Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $68 across 88 hospitalsCA$68Utah: median $13 across 33 hospitalsUT$13Colorado: median $51 across 36 hospitalsCO$51Nebraska: median $53 across 31 hospitalsNE$53Missouri: median $38 across 17 hospitalsMO$38Kentucky: median $75 across 23 hospitalsKY$75West Virginia: median $29 across 17 hospitalsWV$29Virginia: median $52 across 56 hospitalsVA$52Maryland: median $24 across 22 hospitalsMD$24Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $66 across 24 hospitalsAZ$66New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $64 across 16 hospitalsKS$64Arkansas: median $20 across 10 hospitalsAR$20Tennessee: median $30 across 50 hospitalsTN$30North Carolina: median $35 across 55 hospitalsNC$35South Carolina: median $89 across 44 hospitalsSC$89Oklahoma: median $123 across 23 hospitalsOK$123Louisiana: median $27 across 26 hospitalsLA$27Mississippi: median $11 across 20 hospitalsMS$11Alabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $46 across 56 hospitalsGA$46Hawaii: median $61 across 15 hospitalsHI$61Texas: median $69 across 131 hospitalsTX$69Florida: median $57 across 69 hospitalsFL$57
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $54. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Oklahoma OK23$123+129%$14 – $148
Ohio OH71$101+89%$30 – $323
Wisconsin WI56$100+87%$59 – $129
South Carolina SC44$89+66%$43 – $126
Minnesota MN38$76+43%$64 – $95
New Hampshire NH15$75+41%$41 – $190
Kentucky KY23$75+40%$23 – $113
Illinois IL64$75+40%$34 – $99
Texas TX131$69+29%$40 – $222
California CA88$68+27%$47 – $75
Arizona AZ24$66+23%$10 – $101
Kansas KS16$64+19%$20 – $102
Hawaii HI15$61+14%$41 – $88
Florida FL69$57+7%$31 – $134
Oregon OR16$540%$20 – $93
Nebraska NE31$53−1%$28 – $113
Virginia VA56$52−4%$20 – $189
Colorado CO36$51−5%$37 – $95
Georgia GA56$46−13%$28 – $60
Iowa IA18$39−28%$39 – $160
Missouri MO17$38−28%$31 – $64
Washington WA44$35−35%$21 – $72
Nevada NV11$35−35%$30 – $61
North Carolina NC55$35−35%$15 – $118
Tennessee TN50$30−44%$7 – $97
Massachusetts MA30$29−45%$17 – $85
West Virginia WV17$29−46%$29 – $68
Louisiana LA26$27−49%$9 – $116
Michigan MI17$25−53%$9 – $30
Maryland MD22$24−56%$21 – $29
Indiana IN37$21−60%$11 – $80
Arkansas AR10$20−63%$4 – $99
New York NY57$20−63%$7 – $126
Pennsylvania PA64$18−67%$8 – $116
Utah UT33$13−75%$11 – $65
North Dakota ND12$12−78%$11 – $114
Mississippi MS20$11−80%$5 – $35
New Jersey NJ38$7−86%$7 – $25
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not 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 $54.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,262$54$19 – $115
Children’s25$52$31 – $70
Critical access212$54$19 – $114
Ownership
For-profit239$70$23 – $283
Government189$40$18 – $103
Non-profit1,071$51$17 – $102
System affiliation
Part of a system1,330$54$19 – $116
Independent175$53$20 – $107

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$98
Median cash price$54
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

1,057 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $59 and the average of the middle 60% is $57; most fall between $21 and $101.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,057 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
$12$28$59$89$148

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $148).

Of the 1,200 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,057 gave a usable cash price; 89 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 54 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,505 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (38%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,661 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,505
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here103
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded51
Hospitals that filed this code1,661

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 Afb Mycobact Susceptibility.

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, “Antibiotic sensitivity test by broth dilution, each drug (CPT 87188) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87188-antibiotic-sensitivity-test-by-broth-dilution-each-drug