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

Slide smear with special stain for parasites such as malaria

CPT 87207the billing code this page is about

A specimen smear is treated with a special stain and examined for parasites inside blood cells or for inclusion bodies, with interpretation.

Hospitals typically charge $47 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,924 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $52. Most fall between $19 and $109 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,924
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,924 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$24$47$91$164

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $164).

How the prices are spread

$7 – $10: 130 hospitals$7$10 – $14: 168 hospitals$14 – $20: 202 hospitals$14$20 – $29: 300 hospitals$29 – $42: 400 hospitals$29$42 – $60: 408 hospitals$60 – $86: 418 hospitals$60$86 – $124: 320 hospitals$124 – $178: 193 hospitals$124$178 – $255: 113 hospitals$178median $47price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,652 of 2,924 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$7$10130
$10$14168
$14$20202
$20$29300
$29$42400
$42$60408
$60$86418
$86$124320
$124$178193
$178$255113

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $47.

Alaska: median $76 across 15 hospitalsAK$76Maine: median $30 across 26 hospitalsME$30Vermont: median $61 across 14 hospitalsVT$61New Hampshire: median $65 across 22 hospitalsNH$65Washington: median $49 across 64 hospitalsWA$49Idaho: median $44 across 19 hospitalsID$44Montana: median $55 across 24 hospitalsMT$55North Dakota: median $39 across 23 hospitalsND$39Minnesota: median $77 across 93 hospitalsMN$77Illinois: median $67 across 124 hospitalsIL$67Wisconsin: median $65 across 101 hospitalsWI$65Michigan: median $28 across 89 hospitalsMI$28New York: median $26 across 106 hospitalsNY$26Massachusetts: median $58 across 52 hospitalsMA$58Oregon: median $41 across 43 hospitalsOR$41Nevada: median $31 across 20 hospitalsNV$31Wyoming: median $38 across 13 hospitalsWY$38South Dakota: median $78 across 18 hospitalsSD$78Iowa: median $44 across 59 hospitalsIA$44Indiana: median $40 across 86 hospitalsIN$40Ohio: median $50 across 127 hospitalsOH$50Pennsylvania: median $38 across 120 hospitalsPA$38New Jersey: median $7 across 56 hospitalsNJ$7Connecticut: median $26 across 23 hospitalsCT$26Rhode Island: median $34 across 10 hospitalsRI$34California: median $61 across 152 hospitalsCA$61Utah: median $316 across 38 hospitalsUT$316Colorado: median $68 across 64 hospitalsCO$68Nebraska: median $66 across 47 hospitalsNE$66Missouri: median $48 across 63 hospitalsMO$48Kentucky: median $53 across 56 hospitalsKY$53West Virginia: median $27 across 31 hospitalsWV$27Virginia: median $33 across 70 hospitalsVA$33Maryland: median $41 across 40 hospitalsMD$41Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $118 across 40 hospitalsAZ$118New Mexico: median $53 across 16 hospitalsNM$53Kansas: median $53 across 51 hospitalsKS$53Arkansas: median $34 across 31 hospitalsAR$34Tennessee: median $30 across 71 hospitalsTN$30North Carolina: median $39 across 84 hospitalsNC$39South Carolina: median $84 across 52 hospitalsSC$84Oklahoma: median $58 across 58 hospitalsOK$58Louisiana: median $21 across 46 hospitalsLA$21Mississippi: median $34 across 48 hospitalsMS$34Alabama: median $47 across 39 hospitalsAL$47Georgia: median $63 across 89 hospitalsGA$63Hawaii: median $31 across 18 hospitalsHI$31Texas: median $81 across 221 hospitalsTX$81Florida: median $24 across 145 hospitalsFL$24
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $47. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT38$316+572%$146 – $371
Arizona AZ40$118+151%$10 – $189
South Carolina SC52$84+78%$33 – $114
Texas TX221$81+73%$26 – $169
South Dakota SD18$78+67%$22 – $119
Minnesota MN93$77+63%$46 – $106
Alaska AK15$76+62%$38 – $112
Colorado CO64$68+45%$32 – $128
Illinois IL124$67+43%$29 – $115
Nebraska NE47$66+40%$32 – $130
New Hampshire NH22$65+39%$32 – $118
Wisconsin WI101$65+39%$27 – $79
Georgia GA89$63+34%$24 – $83
Vermont VT14$61+31%$33 – $106
California CA152$61+30%$11 – $149
Massachusetts MA52$58+24%$27 – $87
Oklahoma OK58$58+23%$24 – $80
Montana MT24$55+17%$30 – $92
Kentucky KY56$53+14%$21 – $121
New Mexico NM16$53+13%$21 – $109
Kansas KS51$53+13%$35 – $144
Ohio OH127$50+6%$27 – $92
Washington WA64$49+3%$28 – $78
Missouri MO63$48+2%$30 – $119
Alabama AL39$470%$9 – $145
Iowa IA59$44−6%$38 – $89
Idaho ID19$44−6%$27 – $325
Oregon OR43$41−13%$20 – $64
Maryland MD40$41−13%$31 – $48
Indiana IN86$40−14%$17 – $81
North Dakota ND23$39−17%$29 – $54
North Carolina NC84$39−18%$13 – $91
Wyoming WY13$38−19%$11 – $64
Pennsylvania PA120$38−20%$12 – $85
Arkansas AR31$34−27%$19 – $64
Rhode Island RI10$34−27%$15 – $47
Mississippi MS48$34−29%$22 – $53
Virginia VA70$33−30%$10 – $161
Hawaii HI18$31−34%$18 – $90
Nevada NV20$31−34%$17 – $99
Maine ME26$30−36%$22 – $93
Tennessee TN71$30−36%$15 – $56
Michigan MI89$28−40%$10 – $66
West Virginia WV31$27−42%$18 – $93
Connecticut CT23$26−44%$17 – $60
New York NY106$26−45%$7 – $87
Florida FL145$24−49%$10 – $92
Louisiana LA46$21−56%$11 – $52
New Jersey NJ56$7−85%$7 – $44
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 $47.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,180$44$17 – $109
Children’s61$51$34 – $113
Critical access673$54$26 – $107
Ownership
For-profit414$68$19 – $241
Government454$46$17 – $95
Non-profit2,046$45$20 – $97
System affiliation
Part of a system2,431$47$18 – $110
Independent493$48$22 – $103

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$79
Median cash price$47
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

2,017 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $48 and the average of the middle 60% is $53; most fall between $22 and $104.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,017 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$26$48$88$149

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $149).

Of the 2,222 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,017 gave a usable cash price; 117 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 88 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,924 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (74%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,185 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,924
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here150
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 — excluded110
Hospitals that filed this code3,185

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 Spec Stain Bodies/Parasits.

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 special stain for parasites such as malaria (CPT 87207) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87207-slide-smear-with-special-stain-for-parasites-such-as-malaria