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

Slide smear with Gram or similar stain, with interpretation

CPT 87205the billing code this page is about

A specimen is smeared on a slide, stained, and examined under the microscope for bacteria, fungi, and cell types, with a written interpretation.

Hospitals typically charge $37 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,396 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $40. Most fall between $15 and $74 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,396
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 3,396 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$37$66$101

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($9 vs $101).

How the prices are spread

$5 – $8: 97 hospitals$5$8 – $11: 150 hospitals$11 – $15: 232 hospitals$11$15 – $20: 299 hospitals$20 – $28: 377 hospitals$20$28 – $40: 483 hospitals$40 – $55: 505 hospitals$40$55 – $77: 481 hospitals$77 – $107: 303 hospitals$77$107 – $149: 132 hospitals$107median $37price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,059 of 3,396 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$5$897
$8$11150
$11$15232
$15$20299
$20$28377
$28$40483
$40$55505
$55$77481
$77$107303
$107$149132

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $37.

Alaska: median $72 across 19 hospitalsAK$72Maine: median $31 across 28 hospitalsME$31Vermont: median $61 across 14 hospitalsVT$61New Hampshire: median $37 across 25 hospitalsNH$37Washington: median $50 across 77 hospitalsWA$50Idaho: median $32 across 25 hospitalsID$32Montana: median $52 across 34 hospitalsMT$52North Dakota: median $33 across 33 hospitalsND$33Minnesota: median $37 across 106 hospitalsMN$37Illinois: median $50 across 143 hospitalsIL$50Wisconsin: median $40 across 107 hospitalsWI$40Michigan: median $26 across 101 hospitalsMI$26New York: median $18 across 117 hospitalsNY$18Massachusetts: median $31 across 54 hospitalsMA$31Oregon: median $33 across 51 hospitalsOR$33Nevada: median $34 across 22 hospitalsNV$34Wyoming: median $38 across 16 hospitalsWY$38South Dakota: median $82 across 41 hospitalsSD$82Iowa: median $39 across 89 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $24 across 95 hospitalsIN$24Ohio: median $36 across 142 hospitalsOH$36Pennsylvania: median $25 across 122 hospitalsPA$25New Jersey: median $5 across 57 hospitalsNJ$5Connecticut: median $26 across 23 hospitalsCT$26Rhode Island: median $35 across 10 hospitalsRI$35California: median $67 across 166 hospitalsCA$67Utah: median $86 across 41 hospitalsUT$86Colorado: median $46 across 72 hospitalsCO$46Nebraska: median $52 across 83 hospitalsNE$52Missouri: median $34 across 77 hospitalsMO$34Kentucky: median $33 across 69 hospitalsKY$33West Virginia: median $25 across 44 hospitalsWV$25Virginia: median $33 across 72 hospitalsVA$33Maryland: median $54 across 41 hospitalsMD$54Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $24 across 42 hospitalsAZ$24New Mexico: median $42 across 30 hospitalsNM$42Kansas: median $28 across 95 hospitalsKS$28Arkansas: median $10 across 40 hospitalsAR$10Tennessee: median $20 across 83 hospitalsTN$20North Carolina: median $41 across 86 hospitalsNC$41South Carolina: median $48 across 53 hospitalsSC$48Oklahoma: median $30 across 73 hospitalsOK$30Louisiana: median $18 across 53 hospitalsLA$18Mississippi: median $17 across 53 hospitalsMS$17Alabama: median $30 across 45 hospitalsAL$30Georgia: median $38 across 107 hospitalsGA$38Hawaii: median $26 across 21 hospitalsHI$26Texas: median $74 across 245 hospitalsTX$74Florida: median $60 across 147 hospitalsFL$60
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $37. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT41$86+133%$59 – $101
South Dakota SD41$82+123%$45 – $112
Texas TX245$74+101%$29 – $136
Alaska AK19$72+95%$20 – $92
California CA166$67+81%$18 – $131
Vermont VT14$61+65%$40 – $78
Florida FL147$60+63%$13 – $137
Maryland MD41$54+47%$42 – $65
Nebraska NE83$52+40%$22 – $71
Montana MT34$52+40%$34 – $75
Washington WA77$50+35%$26 – $70
Illinois IL143$50+34%$26 – $80
South Carolina SC53$48+30%$16 – $75
Colorado CO72$46+25%$30 – $70
New Mexico NM30$42+14%$25 – $79
North Carolina NC86$41+10%$23 – $67
Wisconsin WI107$40+8%$22 – $53
Iowa IA89$39+4%$22 – $50
Wyoming WY16$38+4%$9 – $78
Georgia GA107$38+2%$15 – $74
New Hampshire NH25$37+1%$24 – $90
Minnesota MN106$370%$22 – $55
Ohio OH142$36−3%$19 – $66
Rhode Island RI10$35−5%$12 – $37
Nevada NV22$34−7%$22 – $77
Missouri MO77$34−8%$17 – $55
Kentucky KY69$33−10%$12 – $57
North Dakota ND33$33−11%$28 – $54
Oregon OR51$33−11%$18 – $51
Virginia VA72$33−11%$12 – $84
Idaho ID25$32−14%$19 – $63
Massachusetts MA54$31−16%$17 – $57
Maine ME28$31−17%$20 – $76
Alabama AL45$30−18%$13 – $77
Oklahoma OK73$30−20%$16 – $59
Kansas KS95$28−24%$18 – $47
Connecticut CT23$26−29%$16 – $48
Hawaii HI21$26−30%$22 – $47
Michigan MI101$26−30%$14 – $44
Pennsylvania PA122$25−32%$7 – $64
West Virginia WV44$25−33%$14 – $42
Indiana IN95$24−35%$11 – $52
Arizona AZ42$24−36%$7 – $73
Tennessee TN83$20−47%$9 – $49
Louisiana LA53$18−51%$9 – $40
New York NY117$18−53%$8 – $62
Mississippi MS53$17−55%$10 – $32
Arkansas AR40$10−72%$7 – $21
New Jersey NJ57$5−87%$5 – $24
Delaware DE7not 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 $37.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,329$37$13 – $77
Children’s67$42$26 – $79
Critical access990$37$19 – $65
Ownership
For-profit476$53$16 – $156
Government647$38$17 – $68
Non-profit2,263$35$15 – $68
System affiliation
Part of a system2,737$38$15 – $75
Independent659$33$16 – $63

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$61
Median cash price$37
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

2,285 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $39 and the average of the middle 60% is $42; most fall between $17 and $75.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,285 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$20$39$68$98

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $98).

Of the 2,532 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,285 gave a usable cash price; 135 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 112 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,396 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (86%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,707 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,396
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here178
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded132
Hospitals that filed this code3,707

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 July 20, 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 Smr Prim Src Gram/Giemsa Stain Bct Fungi/Cell.

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, “Slide smear with Gram or similar stain, with interpretation (CPT 87205) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87205-slide-smear-with-gram-or-similar-stain-with-interpretation