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

Virus culture in cells with presumptive identification

CPT 87252the billing code this page is about

A specimen is placed on cells grown in the laboratory, watched for the cell damage a virus causes, and the virus is presumptively identified from that pattern.

Hospitals typically charge $106 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,860 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $113. Most fall between $43 and $219 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,860
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 2,860 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
$30$51$106$192$303

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($30 vs $303).

How the prices are spread

$20 – $27: 109 hospitals$20$27 – $37: 173 hospitals$37 – $50: 284 hospitals$37$50 – $68: 256 hospitals$68 – $92: 312 hospitals$68$92 – $125: 372 hospitals$125 – $169: 352 hospitals$125$169 – $230: 337 hospitals$230 – $312: 250 hospitals$230$312 – $423: 135 hospitals$312median $106price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,580 of 2,860 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$20$27109
$27$37173
$37$50284
$50$68256
$68$92312
$92$125372
$125$169352
$169$230337
$230$312250
$312$423135

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $106.

Alaska: median $134 across 16 hospitalsAK$134Maine: median $88 across 24 hospitalsME$88Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $183 across 19 hospitalsNH$183Washington: median $150 across 73 hospitalsWA$150Idaho: median $72 across 21 hospitalsID$72Montana: median $106 across 16 hospitalsMT$106North Dakota: median $142 across 25 hospitalsND$142Minnesota: median $101 across 69 hospitalsMN$101Illinois: median $162 across 122 hospitalsIL$162Wisconsin: median $144 across 75 hospitalsWI$144Michigan: median $72 across 68 hospitalsMI$72New York: median $82 across 97 hospitalsNY$82Massachusetts: median $100 across 42 hospitalsMA$100Oregon: median $72 across 44 hospitalsOR$72Nevada: median $118 across 19 hospitalsNV$118Wyoming: median $129 across 15 hospitalsWY$129South Dakota: median $178 across 26 hospitalsSD$178Iowa: median $107 across 59 hospitalsIA$107Indiana: median $79 across 85 hospitalsIN$79Ohio: median $104 across 133 hospitalsOH$104Pennsylvania: median $108 across 114 hospitalsPA$108New Jersey: median $30 across 53 hospitalsNJ$30Connecticut: median $84 across 14 hospitalsCT$84Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $45 across 128 hospitalsCA$45Utah: median $301 across 40 hospitalsUT$301Colorado: median $130 across 59 hospitalsCO$130Nebraska: median $145 across 61 hospitalsNE$145Missouri: median $114 across 68 hospitalsMO$114Kentucky: median $117 across 65 hospitalsKY$117West Virginia: median $59 across 37 hospitalsWV$59Virginia: median $131 across 72 hospitalsVA$131Maryland: median $272 across 41 hospitalsMD$272Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $89 across 41 hospitalsAZ$89New Mexico: median $122 across 15 hospitalsNM$122Kansas: median $141 across 67 hospitalsKS$141Arkansas: median $72 across 25 hospitalsAR$72Tennessee: median $72 across 77 hospitalsTN$72North Carolina: median $116 across 79 hospitalsNC$116South Carolina: median $159 across 47 hospitalsSC$159Oklahoma: median $105 across 68 hospitalsOK$105Louisiana: median $75 across 50 hospitalsLA$75Mississippi: median $53 across 53 hospitalsMS$53Alabama: median $106 across 41 hospitalsAL$106Georgia: median $116 across 97 hospitalsGA$116Hawaii: median $131 across 20 hospitalsHI$131Texas: median $109 across 227 hospitalsTX$109Florida: median $36 across 136 hospitalsFL$36
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $106. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT40$301+185%$173 – $354
Maryland MD41$272+157%$209 – $325
New Hampshire NH19$183+73%$65 – $356
South Dakota SD26$178+68%$139 – $291
Illinois IL122$162+53%$64 – $260
South Carolina SC47$159+50%$92 – $179
Washington WA73$150+42%$61 – $230
Nebraska NE61$145+37%$77 – $228
Wisconsin WI75$144+36%$95 – $203
North Dakota ND25$142+34%$45 – $203
Kansas KS67$141+33%$98 – $280
Alaska AK16$134+27%$59 – $244
Hawaii HI20$131+24%$61 – $251
Virginia VA72$131+24%$46 – $209
Colorado CO59$130+23%$44 – $271
Wyoming WY15$129+22%$50 – $177
New Mexico NM15$122+15%$73 – $268
Nevada NV19$118+12%$42 – $350
Kentucky KY65$117+11%$67 – $277
Georgia GA97$116+10%$49 – $243
North Carolina NC79$116+10%$39 – $253
Missouri MO68$114+8%$68 – $221
Texas TX227$109+3%$73 – $273
Pennsylvania PA114$108+2%$37 – $293
Iowa IA59$107+1%$39 – $165
Alabama AL41$106+1%$39 – $288
Montana MT16$1060%$71 – $174
Oklahoma OK68$105−1%$56 – $185
Ohio OH133$104−1%$52 – $177
Minnesota MN69$101−4%$58 – $221
Massachusetts MA42$100−5%$65 – $205
Arizona AZ41$89−15%$40 – $254
Maine ME24$88−17%$58 – $223
Connecticut CT14$84−21%$65 – $139
New York NY97$82−22%$27 – $183
Indiana IN85$79−26%$42 – $171
Louisiana LA50$75−29%$46 – $113
Tennessee TN77$72−32%$44 – $212
Arkansas AR25$72−32%$30 – $123
Idaho ID21$72−32%$44 – $120
Michigan MI68$72−32%$32 – $161
Oregon OR44$72−32%$43 – $173
West Virginia WV37$59−44%$37 – $144
Mississippi MS53$53−50%$31 – $97
California CA128$45−57%$16 – $112
Florida FL136$36−66%$17 – $199
New Jersey NJ53$30−72%$26 – $88
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not 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 $106.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,062$94$39 – $214
Children’s59$127$48 – $230
Critical access729$132$61 – $227
Ownership
For-profit431$116$42 – $331
Government515$116$47 – $211
Non-profit1,904$101$43 – $209
System affiliation
Part of a system2,324$105$41 – $225
Independent536$109$51 – $200

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$177
Median cash price$106
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

1,923 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $107 and the average of the middle 60% is $114; most fall between $48 and $212.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,923 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
$33$58$107$183$298

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($33 vs $298).

Of the 2,136 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,923 gave a usable cash price; 119 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 94 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,860 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (72%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,127 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,860
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here155
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 — excluded111
Hospitals that filed this code3,127

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 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 INOCULATION TISSUE.

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 culture in cells with presumptive identification (CPT 87252) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87252-virus-culture-in-cells-with-presumptive-identification