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

Whooping cough bacteria antigen test by fluorescent staining

CPT 87265the billing code this page is about

Laboratory test that uses fluorescent-labeled antibody staining to detect Bordetella pertussis antigen directly in a specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $64 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 851 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $65. Most fall between $21 and $133 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
851
States
47
Filings dated
Nov 2023 – 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 851 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
$13$28$64$121$180

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $180).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $16: 74 hospitals$12$16 – $22: 62 hospitals$22 – $30: 53 hospitals$22$30 – $40: 82 hospitals$40 – $55: 78 hospitals$40$55 – $74: 79 hospitals$74 – $101: 136 hospitals$74$101 – $137: 88 hospitals$137 – $186: 77 hospitals$137$186 – $252: 40 hospitals$186median $64price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (769 of 851 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$1674
$16$2262
$22$3053
$30$4082
$40$5578
$55$7479
$74$101136
$101$13788
$137$18677
$186$25240

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $64.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $63 across 17 hospitalsWA$63Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $107 across 38 hospitalsIL$107Wisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $17 across 18 hospitalsMI$17New York: median $16 across 33 hospitalsNY$16Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: median $82 across 11 hospitalsNV$82Wyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $39 across 16 hospitalsIA$39Indiana: median $65 across 47 hospitalsIN$65Ohio: median $67 across 29 hospitalsOH$67Pennsylvania: median $27 across 38 hospitalsPA$27New Jersey: median $13 across 38 hospitalsNJ$13Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $75 across 56 hospitalsCA$75Utah: median $142 across 29 hospitalsUT$142Colorado: median $208 across 13 hospitalsCO$208Nebraska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $116 across 29 hospitalsKY$116West Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $65 across 22 hospitalsVA$65Maryland: median $54 across 18 hospitalsMD$54Delaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: median $90 across 21 hospitalsAZ$90New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $135 across 11 hospitalsKS$135Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $32 across 20 hospitalsTN$32North Carolina: median $121 across 24 hospitalsNC$121South Carolina: median $47 across 12 hospitalsSC$47Oklahoma: median $45 across 25 hospitalsOK$45Louisiana: median $31 across 21 hospitalsLA$31Mississippi: median $47 across 20 hospitalsMS$47Alabama: median $35 across 12 hospitalsAL$35Georgia: median $34 across 37 hospitalsGA$34Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $79 across 78 hospitalsTX$79Florida: median $25 across 40 hospitalsFL$25
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $64. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO13$208+225%$66 – $217
Utah UT29$142+122%$142 – $167
Kansas KS11$135+111%$86 – $193
North Carolina NC24$121+88%$110 – $125
Kentucky KY29$116+82%$46 – $145
Illinois IL38$107+68%$39 – $214
Arizona AZ21$90+41%$17 – $131
Nevada NV11$82+28%$19 – $131
Texas TX78$79+24%$32 – $158
California CA56$75+17%$17 – $94
Ohio OH29$67+4%$43 – $128
Indiana IN47$65+2%$26 – $158
Virginia VA22$65+2%$29 – $126
Washington WA17$63−2%$58 – $88
Maryland MD18$54−16%$50 – $73
South Carolina SC12$47−26%$39 – $115
Mississippi MS20$47−27%$27 – $77
Oklahoma OK25$45−30%$21 – $82
Iowa IA16$39−40%$39 – $57
Alabama AL12$35−46%$23 – $133
Georgia GA37$34−47%$31 – $82
Tennessee TN20$32−49%$11 – $78
Louisiana LA21$31−52%$23 – $44
Pennsylvania PA38$27−58%$9 – $112
Florida FL40$25−61%$15 – $65
Michigan MI18$17−74%$11 – $36
New York NY33$16−75%$12 – $74
New Jersey NJ38$13−79%$12 – $29
Nebraska NE9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not 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 $64.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care697$60$19 – $126
Children’s14fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access138$82$31 – $145
Ownership
For-profit153$65$28 – $187
Government109$55$19 – $103
Non-profit587$65$21 – $131
System affiliation
Part of a system720$65$21 – $131
Independent131$57$25 – $134

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$123
Median cash price$64
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

557 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $75 and the average of the middle 60% is $73; most fall between $30 and $134.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 557 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
$19$33$75$117$172

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $172).

Of the 624 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 557 gave a usable cash price; 39 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 28 a list price only.

How complete is this

851 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (22%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 929 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted851
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here50
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded28
Hospitals that filed this code929

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 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 PERTUSSIS AG IF.

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, “Whooping cough bacteria antigen test by fluorescent staining (CPT 87265) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87265-whooping-cough-bacteria-antigen-test-by-fluorescent-staining