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

Rapid virus culture with fluorescent stain, each virus

CPT 87254the billing code this page is about

Faster virus culture method using a spun-down cell layer plus fluorescent antibody staining to identify the virus; billed once for each virus tested for.

Hospitals typically charge $73 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,368 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $79. Most fall between $33 and $149 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,368
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,368 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
$22$38$73$133$240

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($22 vs $240).

How the prices are spread

$16 – $21: 108 hospitals$16$21 – $29: 170 hospitals$29 – $40: 263 hospitals$29$40 – $55: 248 hospitals$55 – $76: 305 hospitals$55$76 – $104: 311 hospitals$104 – $143: 331 hospitals$104$143 – $196: 212 hospitals$196 – $269: 107 hospitals$196$269 – $370: 77 hospitals$269median $73price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,132 of 2,368 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$16$21108
$21$29170
$29$40263
$40$55248
$55$76305
$76$104311
$104$143331
$143$196212
$196$269107
$269$37077

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $73.

Alaska: median $71 across 16 hospitalsAK$71Maine: median $82 across 21 hospitalsME$82Vermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $145 across 15 hospitalsNH$145Washington: median $83 across 60 hospitalsWA$83Idaho: median $72 across 17 hospitalsID$72Montana: median $83 across 13 hospitalsMT$83North Dakota: median $45 across 16 hospitalsND$45Minnesota: median $154 across 47 hospitalsMN$154Illinois: median $110 across 104 hospitalsIL$110Wisconsin: median $133 across 70 hospitalsWI$133Michigan: median $48 across 43 hospitalsMI$48New York: median $44 across 81 hospitalsNY$44Massachusetts: median $67 across 41 hospitalsMA$67Oregon: median $73 across 32 hospitalsOR$73Nevada: median $96 across 17 hospitalsNV$96Wyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $46 across 34 hospitalsIA$46Indiana: median $61 across 84 hospitalsIN$61Ohio: median $62 across 111 hospitalsOH$62Pennsylvania: median $74 across 102 hospitalsPA$74New Jersey: median $22 across 52 hospitalsNJ$22Connecticut: median $87 across 11 hospitalsCT$87Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $33 across 100 hospitalsCA$33Utah: median $395 across 37 hospitalsUT$395Colorado: median $101 across 52 hospitalsCO$101Nebraska: median $86 across 31 hospitalsNE$86Missouri: median $112 across 61 hospitalsMO$112Kentucky: median $67 across 48 hospitalsKY$67West Virginia: median $37 across 29 hospitalsWV$37Virginia: median $64 across 65 hospitalsVA$64Maryland: median $82 across 39 hospitalsMD$82Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $69 across 34 hospitalsAZ$69New Mexico: median $95 across 15 hospitalsNM$95Kansas: median $110 across 46 hospitalsKS$110Arkansas: median $53 across 29 hospitalsAR$53Tennessee: median $42 across 63 hospitalsTN$42North Carolina: median $98 across 63 hospitalsNC$98South Carolina: median $106 across 49 hospitalsSC$106Oklahoma: median $90 across 59 hospitalsOK$90Louisiana: median $44 across 41 hospitalsLA$44Mississippi: median $40 across 38 hospitalsMS$40Alabama: median $85 across 36 hospitalsAL$85Georgia: median $81 across 88 hospitalsGA$81Hawaii: median $72 across 16 hospitalsHI$72Texas: median $124 across 191 hospitalsTX$124Florida: median $44 across 119 hospitalsFL$44
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $73. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT37$395+443%$85 – $465
Minnesota MN47$154+112%$72 – $288
New Hampshire NH15$145+99%$94 – $379
Wisconsin WI70$133+83%$65 – $157
Texas TX191$124+70%$35 – $344
Missouri MO61$112+54%$68 – $170
Illinois IL104$110+51%$48 – $194
Kansas KS46$110+51%$68 – $201
South Carolina SC49$106+46%$51 – $135
Colorado CO52$101+39%$65 – $136
North Carolina NC63$98+35%$36 – $179
Nevada NV17$96+32%$24 – $126
New Mexico NM15$95+31%$63 – $111
Oklahoma OK59$90+24%$47 – $132
Connecticut CT11$87+20%$46 – $105
Nebraska NE31$86+18%$34 – $122
Alabama AL36$85+17%$33 – $204
Montana MT13$83+14%$70 – $130
Washington WA60$83+14%$59 – $124
Maine ME21$82+13%$31 – $176
Maryland MD39$82+12%$60 – $98
Georgia GA88$81+11%$29 – $131
Pennsylvania PA102$74+2%$22 – $142
Oregon OR32$73+1%$45 – $116
Hawaii HI16$72−1%$71 – $106
Idaho ID17$72−1%$44 – $161
Alaska AK16$71−3%$48 – $186
Arizona AZ34$69−5%$22 – $356
Kentucky KY48$67−8%$41 – $207
Massachusetts MA41$67−8%$48 – $131
Virginia VA65$64−11%$34 – $158
Ohio OH111$62−15%$39 – $88
Indiana IN84$61−17%$32 – $109
Arkansas AR29$53−28%$20 – $88
Michigan MI43$48−35%$32 – $111
Iowa IA34$46−36%$39 – $96
North Dakota ND16$45−39%$34 – $109
Florida FL119$44−40%$20 – $196
New York NY81$44−40%$23 – $115
Louisiana LA41$44−40%$22 – $81
Tennessee TN63$42−42%$32 – $88
Mississippi MS38$40−46%$15 – $65
West Virginia WV29$37−49%$37 – $79
California CA100$33−54%$11 – $60
New Jersey NJ52$22−69%$20 – $58
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not 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 $73.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,817$70$31 – $146
Children’s43$68$30 – $136
Critical access501$90$44 – $156
Ownership
For-profit368$81$32 – $270
Government382$74$35 – $149
Non-profit1,611$73$33 – $138
System affiliation
Part of a system1,971$73$33 – $152
Independent397$74$35 – $145

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$129
Median cash price$73
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

1,631 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $76 and the average of the middle 60% is $82; most fall between $34 and $147.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,631 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
$23$40$76$133$214

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($23 vs $214).

Of the 1,821 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,631 gave a usable cash price; 111 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 79 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,368 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (60%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,586 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,368
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here135
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded81
Hospitals that filed this code2,586

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 4, 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 Hsv Culture From Neonates.

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, “Rapid virus culture with fluorescent stain, each virus (CPT 87254) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87254-rapid-virus-culture-with-fluorescent-stain-each-virus