HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Slide smear with complex stain for parasites and their eggs

CPT 87209the billing code this page is about

A specimen smear is prepared with a multi-step special stain, such as trichrome, and examined for parasites and parasite eggs, with interpretation.

Hospitals typically charge $56 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,943 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $60. Most fall between $25 and $112 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,943
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 2,943 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
$18$30$56$98$163

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $163).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $16: 103 hospitals$12$16 – $22: 224 hospitals$22 – $29: 225 hospitals$22$29 – $38: 325 hospitals$38 – $51: 323 hospitals$38$51 – $68: 363 hospitals$68 – $90: 361 hospitals$68$90 – $119: 338 hospitals$119 – $158: 223 hospitals$119$158 – $210: 167 hospitals$158median $56price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,652 of 2,943 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$16103
$16$22224
$22$29225
$29$38325
$38$51323
$51$68363
$68$90361
$90$119338
$119$158223
$158$210167

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $56.

Alaska: median $79 across 16 hospitalsAK$79Maine: median $52 across 24 hospitalsME$52Vermont: median $80 across 14 hospitalsVT$80New Hampshire: median $82 across 25 hospitalsNH$82Washington: median $77 across 73 hospitalsWA$77Idaho: median $52 across 21 hospitalsID$52Montana: median $50 across 30 hospitalsMT$50North Dakota: median $61 across 21 hospitalsND$61Minnesota: median $46 across 102 hospitalsMN$46Illinois: median $75 across 126 hospitalsIL$75Wisconsin: median $80 across 99 hospitalsWI$80Michigan: median $30 across 65 hospitalsMI$30New York: median $51 across 96 hospitalsNY$51Massachusetts: median $83 across 52 hospitalsMA$83Oregon: median $55 across 45 hospitalsOR$55Nevada: median $54 across 14 hospitalsNV$54Wyoming: median $50 across 16 hospitalsWY$50South Dakota: median $82 across 36 hospitalsSD$82Iowa: median $49 across 74 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $49 across 91 hospitalsIN$49Ohio: median $56 across 128 hospitalsOH$56Pennsylvania: median $75 across 118 hospitalsPA$75New Jersey: median $21 across 49 hospitalsNJ$21Connecticut: median $66 across 21 hospitalsCT$66Rhode Island: median $66 across 10 hospitalsRI$66California: median $30 across 131 hospitalsCA$30Utah: median $164 across 40 hospitalsUT$164Colorado: median $75 across 62 hospitalsCO$75Nebraska: median $98 across 68 hospitalsNE$98Missouri: median $50 across 74 hospitalsMO$50Kentucky: median $58 across 61 hospitalsKY$58West Virginia: median $23 across 38 hospitalsWV$23Virginia: median $62 across 70 hospitalsVA$62Maryland: median $27 across 39 hospitalsMD$27Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $51 across 34 hospitalsAZ$51New Mexico: median $41 across 16 hospitalsNM$41Kansas: median $50 across 78 hospitalsKS$50Arkansas: median $22 across 38 hospitalsAR$22Tennessee: median $32 across 61 hospitalsTN$32North Carolina: median $41 across 86 hospitalsNC$41South Carolina: median $94 across 46 hospitalsSC$94Oklahoma: median $46 across 62 hospitalsOK$46Louisiana: median $38 across 44 hospitalsLA$38Mississippi: median $29 across 51 hospitalsMS$29Alabama: median $45 across 29 hospitalsAL$45Georgia: median $67 across 88 hospitalsGA$67Hawaii: median $182 across 20 hospitalsHI$182Texas: median $61 across 203 hospitalsTX$61Florida: median $33 across 131 hospitalsFL$33
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $56. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Hawaii HI20$182+227%$91 – $203
Utah UT40$164+194%$74 – $193
Nebraska NE68$98+76%$65 – $133
South Carolina SC46$94+68%$64 – $102
Massachusetts MA52$83+49%$58 – $161
New Hampshire NH25$82+47%$55 – $139
South Dakota SD36$82+47%$66 – $131
Vermont VT14$80+43%$50 – $145
Wisconsin WI99$80+43%$55 – $112
Alaska AK16$79+42%$42 – $189
Washington WA73$77+37%$38 – $130
Pennsylvania PA118$75+35%$21 – $179
Colorado CO62$75+34%$47 – $155
Illinois IL126$75+34%$42 – $128
Georgia GA88$67+21%$36 – $169
Rhode Island RI10$66+19%$21 – $143
Connecticut CT21$66+18%$44 – $80
Virginia VA70$62+12%$31 – $141
Texas TX203$61+10%$30 – $123
North Dakota ND21$61+9%$31 – $125
Kentucky KY61$58+4%$29 – $92
Ohio OH128$56+1%$36 – $87
Oregon OR45$55−2%$35 – $75
Nevada NV14$54−3%$11 – $103
Idaho ID21$52−6%$19 – $80
Maine ME24$52−7%$29 – $118
Arizona AZ34$51−8%$21 – $190
New York NY96$51−9%$22 – $95
Kansas KS78$50−10%$38 – $97
Missouri MO74$50−10%$32 – $80
Montana MT30$50−10%$27 – $82
Wyoming WY16$50−11%$30 – $116
Indiana IN91$49−11%$26 – $86
Iowa IA74$49−13%$32 – $96
Oklahoma OK62$46−18%$26 – $95
Minnesota MN102$46−18%$25 – $92
Alabama AL29$45−19%$21 – $92
North Carolina NC86$41−26%$12 – $141
New Mexico NM16$41−27%$26 – $69
Louisiana LA44$38−33%$23 – $65
Florida FL131$33−42%$14 – $182
Tennessee TN61$32−44%$17 – $65
California CA131$30−46%$11 – $67
Michigan MI65$30−47%$20 – $101
Mississippi MS51$29−48%$19 – $55
Maryland MD39$27−51%$21 – $33
West Virginia WV38$23−59%$20 – $78
Arkansas AR38$22−61%$14 – $65
New Jersey NJ49$21−63%$18 – $38
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 $56.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,070$52$22 – $112
Children’s59$90$30 – $171
Critical access804$66$34 – $111
Ownership
For-profit386$67$26 – $178
Government504$55$27 – $105
Non-profit2,043$55$25 – $108
System affiliation
Part of a system2,435$57$25 – $114
Independent508$52$29 – $97

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$97
Median cash price$56
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

2,021 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $58 and the average of the middle 60% is $62; most fall between $28 and $112.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,021 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
$20$32$58$100$158

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $158).

Of the 2,245 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,021 gave a usable cash price; 131 carried a plausibility flag, 2 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 91 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,943 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 3,218 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,943
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here162
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded4
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded106
Hospitals that filed this code3,218

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Special Stains.

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 complex stain for parasites and their eggs (CPT 87209) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87209-slide-smear-with-complex-stain-for-parasites-and-their-eggs