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

Slide smear with acid-fast or fluorescent stain

CPT 87206the billing code this page is about

A stained slide is examined under the microscope for acid-fast organisms such as tuberculosis bacteria, or for fungi and parasites, with interpretation.

Hospitals typically charge $41 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,205 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $43. Most fall between $17 and $81 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,205
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 3,205 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$21$41$71$122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $122).

How the prices are spread

$6 – $9: 120 hospitals$6$9 – $12: 150 hospitals$12 – $17: 198 hospitals$12$17 – $24: 280 hospitals$24 – $33: 423 hospitals$24$33 – $46: 441 hospitals$46 – $64: 494 hospitals$46$64 – $89: 389 hospitals$89 – $125: 246 hospitals$89$125 – $174: 151 hospitals$125median $41price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,892 of 3,205 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$6$9120
$9$12150
$12$17198
$17$24280
$24$33423
$33$46441
$46$64494
$64$89389
$89$125246
$125$174151

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $41.

Alaska: median $37 across 17 hospitalsAK$37Maine: median $37 across 27 hospitalsME$37Vermont: median $45 across 14 hospitalsVT$45New Hampshire: median $41 across 24 hospitalsNH$41Washington: median $45 across 74 hospitalsWA$45Idaho: median $40 across 21 hospitalsID$40Montana: median $36 across 22 hospitalsMT$36North Dakota: median $32 across 22 hospitalsND$32Minnesota: median $47 across 102 hospitalsMN$47Illinois: median $53 across 134 hospitalsIL$53Wisconsin: median $55 across 102 hospitalsWI$55Michigan: median $31 across 86 hospitalsMI$31New York: median $21 across 104 hospitalsNY$21Massachusetts: median $43 across 52 hospitalsMA$43Oregon: median $37 across 49 hospitalsOR$37Nevada: median $28 across 18 hospitalsNV$28Wyoming: median $40 across 14 hospitalsWY$40South Dakota: median $66 across 33 hospitalsSD$66Iowa: median $39 across 80 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $32 across 94 hospitalsIN$32Ohio: median $48 across 142 hospitalsOH$48Pennsylvania: median $31 across 121 hospitalsPA$31New Jersey: median $6 across 56 hospitalsNJ$6Connecticut: median $32 across 23 hospitalsCT$32Rhode Island: median $43 across 10 hospitalsRI$43California: median $50 across 147 hospitalsCA$50Utah: median $191 across 37 hospitalsUT$191Colorado: median $62 across 69 hospitalsCO$62Nebraska: median $70 across 77 hospitalsNE$70Missouri: median $44 across 74 hospitalsMO$44Kentucky: median $53 across 68 hospitalsKY$53West Virginia: median $34 across 39 hospitalsWV$34Virginia: median $34 across 73 hospitalsVA$34Maryland: median $55 across 41 hospitalsMD$55Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $53 across 39 hospitalsAZ$53New Mexico: median $60 across 28 hospitalsNM$60Kansas: median $41 across 83 hospitalsKS$41Arkansas: median $14 across 37 hospitalsAR$14Tennessee: median $22 across 81 hospitalsTN$22North Carolina: median $38 across 86 hospitalsNC$38South Carolina: median $75 across 52 hospitalsSC$75Oklahoma: median $26 across 71 hospitalsOK$26Louisiana: median $22 across 50 hospitalsLA$22Mississippi: median $26 across 57 hospitalsMS$26Alabama: median $45 across 43 hospitalsAL$45Georgia: median $47 across 103 hospitalsGA$47Hawaii: median $43 across 19 hospitalsHI$43Texas: median $64 across 236 hospitalsTX$64Florida: median $21 across 147 hospitalsFL$21
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $41. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT37$191+367%$118 – $225
South Carolina SC52$75+83%$42 – $114
Nebraska NE77$70+70%$35 – $100
South Dakota SD33$66+61%$40 – $106
Texas TX236$64+57%$29 – $133
Colorado CO69$62+52%$39 – $91
New Mexico NM28$60+45%$20 – $131
Maryland MD41$55+34%$42 – $65
Wisconsin WI102$55+34%$30 – $59
Arizona AZ39$53+30%$19 – $309
Illinois IL134$53+29%$23 – $102
Kentucky KY68$53+29%$18 – $80
California CA147$50+21%$6 – $109
Ohio OH142$48+17%$24 – $81
Georgia GA103$47+15%$15 – $63
Minnesota MN102$47+15%$29 – $60
Alabama AL43$45+11%$18 – $76
Washington WA74$45+10%$26 – $82
Vermont VT14$45+10%$15 – $112
Missouri MO74$44+7%$23 – $71
Massachusetts MA52$43+5%$20 – $70
Rhode Island RI10$43+5%$12 – $58
Hawaii HI19$43+4%$10 – $107
Kansas KS83$41+1%$27 – $68
New Hampshire NH24$41+1%$30 – $99
Wyoming WY14$40−1%$30 – $67
Idaho ID21$40−3%$30 – $71
Iowa IA80$39−6%$21 – $65
North Carolina NC86$38−8%$25 – $75
Oregon OR49$37−9%$19 – $54
Maine ME27$37−10%$18 – $64
Alaska AK17$37−10%$20 – $128
Montana MT22$36−13%$18 – $77
West Virginia WV39$34−17%$17 – $73
Virginia VA73$34−18%$9 – $87
Connecticut CT23$32−21%$16 – $45
Indiana IN94$32−22%$14 – $66
North Dakota ND22$32−22%$16 – $46
Michigan MI86$31−24%$21 – $41
Pennsylvania PA121$31−25%$10 – $74
Nevada NV18$28−32%$9 – $80
Mississippi MS57$26−37%$13 – $34
Oklahoma OK71$26−37%$19 – $54
Tennessee TN81$22−45%$9 – $48
Louisiana LA50$22−46%$11 – $41
New York NY104$21−48%$8 – $75
Florida FL147$21−49%$8 – $83
Arkansas AR37$14−65%$9 – $46
New Jersey NJ56$6−85%$6 – $18
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 $41.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,269$38$16 – $83
Children’s64$46$26 – $96
Critical access862$46$23 – $77
Ownership
For-profit467$46$16 – $133
Government582$43$18 – $77
Non-profit2,146$40$17 – $75
System affiliation
Part of a system2,609$42$17 – $83
Independent596$39$18 – $71

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$65
Median cash price$41
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

2,170 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $43 and the average of the middle 60% is $46; most fall between $21 and $84.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,170 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$24$43$74$127

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $127).

Of the 2,405 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,170 gave a usable cash price; 129 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 106 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,205 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,511 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,205
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here176
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 — excluded129
Hospitals that filed this code3,511

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 HC Acid Fast Smear.

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 acid-fast or fluorescent stain (CPT 87206) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87206-slide-smear-with-acid-fast-or-fluorescent-stain