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

C. difficile toxin antigen test (enzyme immunoassay)

CPT 87324the billing code this page is about

Laboratory test that detects toxin produced by Clostridioides difficile bacteria in a stool sample using an enzyme immunoassay.

Hospitals typically charge $70 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,075 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $74. Most fall between $32 and $137 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,075
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 3,075 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$38$70$123$197

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $197).

How the prices are spread

$13 – $18: 153 hospitals$13$18 – $25: 166 hospitals$25 – $35: 202 hospitals$25$35 – $48: 371 hospitals$48 – $66: 414 hospitals$48$66 – $91: 492 hospitals$91 – $126: 405 hospitals$91$126 – $173: 317 hospitals$173 – $239: 188 hospitals$173$239 – $330: 71 hospitals$239median $70price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,779 of 3,075 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$13$18153
$18$25166
$25$35202
$35$48371
$48$66414
$66$91492
$91$126405
$126$173317
$173$239188
$239$33071

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $70.

Alaska: median $77 across 18 hospitalsAK$77Maine: median $43 across 27 hospitalsME$43Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $67 across 22 hospitalsNH$67Washington: median $71 across 70 hospitalsWA$71Idaho: median $55 across 24 hospitalsID$55Montana: median $68 across 29 hospitalsMT$68North Dakota: median $77 across 26 hospitalsND$77Minnesota: median $84 across 87 hospitalsMN$84Illinois: median $80 across 125 hospitalsIL$80Wisconsin: median $77 across 97 hospitalsWI$77Michigan: median $56 across 90 hospitalsMI$56New York: median $41 across 90 hospitalsNY$41Massachusetts: median $67 across 49 hospitalsMA$67Oregon: median $54 across 45 hospitalsOR$54Nevada: median $77 across 21 hospitalsNV$77Wyoming: median $74 across 14 hospitalsWY$74South Dakota: median $138 across 31 hospitalsSD$138Iowa: median $68 across 79 hospitalsIA$68Indiana: median $43 across 93 hospitalsIN$43Ohio: median $81 across 135 hospitalsOH$81Pennsylvania: median $50 across 108 hospitalsPA$50New Jersey: median $14 across 56 hospitalsNJ$14Connecticut: median $43 across 22 hospitalsCT$43Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $83 across 148 hospitalsCA$83Utah: median $123 across 42 hospitalsUT$123Colorado: median $92 across 63 hospitalsCO$92Nebraska: median $130 across 72 hospitalsNE$130Missouri: median $87 across 72 hospitalsMO$87Kentucky: median $83 across 54 hospitalsKY$83West Virginia: median $78 across 37 hospitalsWV$78Virginia: median $95 across 66 hospitalsVA$95Maryland: median $69 across 41 hospitalsMD$69Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $66 across 41 hospitalsAZ$66New Mexico: median $104 across 28 hospitalsNM$104Kansas: median $77 across 80 hospitalsKS$77Arkansas: median $27 across 38 hospitalsAR$27Tennessee: median $35 across 82 hospitalsTN$35North Carolina: median $58 across 82 hospitalsNC$58South Carolina: median $127 across 53 hospitalsSC$127Oklahoma: median $43 across 70 hospitalsOK$43Louisiana: median $35 across 44 hospitalsLA$35Mississippi: median $44 across 49 hospitalsMS$44Alabama: median $55 across 38 hospitalsAL$55Georgia: median $70 across 104 hospitalsGA$70Hawaii: median $112 across 19 hospitalsHI$112Texas: median $104 across 229 hospitalsTX$104Florida: median $101 across 144 hospitalsFL$101
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $70. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD31$138+96%$92 – $179
Nebraska NE72$130+85%$42 – $192
South Carolina SC53$127+81%$48 – $152
Utah UT42$123+75%$82 – $145
Hawaii HI19$112+59%$77 – $145
Texas TX229$104+48%$39 – $326
New Mexico NM28$104+48%$61 – $147
Florida FL144$101+44%$27 – $429
Virginia VA66$95+35%$20 – $168
Colorado CO63$92+30%$37 – $151
Missouri MO72$87+23%$45 – $121
Minnesota MN87$84+20%$35 – $110
Kentucky KY54$83+19%$22 – $145
California CA148$83+18%$37 – $158
Ohio OH135$81+16%$48 – $146
Illinois IL125$80+14%$38 – $149
West Virginia WV37$78+10%$58 – $102
Wisconsin WI97$77+10%$49 – $96
Nevada NV21$77+10%$32 – $189
Alaska AK18$77+10%$47 – $150
North Dakota ND26$77+10%$55 – $86
Kansas KS80$77+10%$46 – $124
Wyoming WY14$74+5%$25 – $186
Washington WA70$71+1%$48 – $113
Georgia GA104$700%$22 – $172
Maryland MD41$69−2%$52 – $81
Iowa IA79$68−3%$39 – $105
Montana MT29$68−3%$41 – $96
Massachusetts MA49$67−5%$39 – $144
New Hampshire NH22$67−5%$41 – $151
Arizona AZ41$66−6%$34 – $396
North Carolina NC82$58−18%$36 – $90
Michigan MI90$56−20%$26 – $76
Idaho ID24$55−21%$53 – $88
Alabama AL38$55−22%$18 – $142
Oregon OR45$54−23%$29 – $74
Pennsylvania PA108$50−29%$15 – $126
Mississippi MS49$44−37%$19 – $66
Indiana IN93$43−38%$20 – $87
Oklahoma OK70$43−38%$28 – $103
Connecticut CT22$43−39%$37 – $100
Maine ME27$43−39%$20 – $92
New York NY90$41−42%$14 – $78
Louisiana LA44$35−50%$22 – $65
Tennessee TN82$35−50%$23 – $116
Arkansas AR38$27−62%$10 – $85
New Jersey NJ56$14−80%$12 – $37
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not 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 $70.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,176$65$28 – $145
Children’s54$99$49 – $154
Critical access835$78$41 – $124
Ownership
For-profit440$102$36 – $347
Government550$69$33 – $124
Non-profit2,075$67$31 – $127
System affiliation
Part of a system2,532$71$32 – $138
Independent543$68$31 – $126

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$116
Median cash price$70
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

2,107 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $70 and the average of the middle 60% is $74; most fall between $35 and $135.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,107 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$39$70$120$193

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($20 vs $193).

Of the 2,315 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,107 gave a usable cash price; 110 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 98 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,075 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (78%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,346 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,075
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here156
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 — excluded114
Hospitals that filed this code3,346

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC C Diff Eia Toxin Ag.

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, “C. difficile toxin antigen test (enzyme immunoassay) (CPT 87324) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87324-c-difficile-toxin-antigen-test-enzyme-immunoassay