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

Virus isolation using eggs or animal inoculation

CPT 87250the billing code this page is about

A specimen is injected into fertilized eggs or a small laboratory animal, which is then observed for signs that a virus is growing.

Hospitals typically charge $74 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 322 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $98. Most fall between $22 and $206 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
322
States
37
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 322 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$27$74$166$239

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $239).

How the prices are spread

$19 – $24: 62 hospitals$19$24 – $32: 21 hospitals$32 – $42: 28 hospitals$32$42 – $55: 15 hospitals$55 – $71: 18 hospitals$55$71 – $93: 13 hospitals$93 – $122: 17 hospitals$93$122 – $159: 20 hospitals$159 – $208: 59 hospitals$159$208 – $271: 41 hospitals$208median $74price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (294 of 322 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$19$2462
$24$3221
$32$4228
$42$5515
$55$7118
$71$9313
$93$12217
$122$15920
$159$20859
$208$27141

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $74.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $42 across 18 hospitalsIL$42Wisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $20 across 19 hospitalsNY$20Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $39 across 16 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $19 across 22 hospitalsPA$19New Jersey: median $22 across 27 hospitalsNJ$22Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $165 across 41 hospitalsCA$165Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $19 across 10 hospitalsTN$19North Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $34 across 13 hospitalsOK$34Louisiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $166 across 20 hospitalsGA$166Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $164 across 50 hospitalsTX$164Florida: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $74. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA20$166+124%$70 – $166
California CA41$165+123%$150 – $239
Texas TX50$164+121%$51 – $206
Illinois IL18$42−43%$32 – $131
Iowa IA16$39−47%$39 – $100
Oklahoma OK13$34−54%$34 – $42
New Jersey NJ27$22−71%$20 – $22
New York NY19$20−74%$20 – $102
Pennsylvania PA22$19−74%$13 – $47
Tennessee TN10$19−75%$19 – $56
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $74.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care277$70$22 – $206
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access38$106$43 – $234
Ownership
For-profit44$134$42 – $233
Government44$67$20 – $170
Non-profit234$70$22 – $206
System affiliation
Part of a system265$70$22 – $206
Independent57$94$29 – $228

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$213
Median cash price$74
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

221 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $157 and the average of the middle 60% is $128; most fall between $39 and $228.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 221 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
$31$45$157$206$247

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($31 vs $247).

Of the 239 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 221 gave a usable cash price; 4 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 14 a list price only.

How complete is this

322 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 351 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted322
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here6
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded22
Hospitals that filed this code351

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 5, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 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 VIRUS INOCULATE EGGS/ANIMAL.

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, “Virus isolation using eggs or animal inoculation (CPT 87250) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87250-virus-isolation-using-eggs-or-animal-inoculation