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

RSV antigen test

CPT 87420the billing code this page is about

A laboratory immunoassay that looks for respiratory syncytial virus antigen in a respiratory sample such as a nasal swab or wash.

Hospitals typically charge $82 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,755 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $91. Most fall between $32 and $188 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,755
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 1,755 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$40$82$159$318

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($19 vs $318).

How the prices are spread

$14 – $20: 115 hospitals$14$20 – $28: 131 hospitals$28 – $40: 120 hospitals$28$40 – $57: 191 hospitals$57 – $80: 241 hospitals$57$80 – $114: 212 hospitals$114 – $162: 257 hospitals$114$162 – $230: 163 hospitals$230 – $327: 86 hospitals$230$327 – $465: 86 hospitals$327median $82price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,602 of 1,755 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$14$20115
$20$28131
$28$40120
$40$57191
$57$80241
$80$114212
$114$162257
$162$230163
$230$32786
$327$46586

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $82.

Alaska: median $81 across 12 hospitalsAK$81Maine: median $97 across 12 hospitalsME$97Vermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $66 across 12 hospitalsNH$66Washington: median $74 across 43 hospitalsWA$74Idaho: median $98 across 12 hospitalsID$98Montana: median $114 across 25 hospitalsMT$114North Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $60 across 24 hospitalsMN$60Illinois: median $114 across 64 hospitalsIL$114Wisconsin: median $86 across 41 hospitalsWI$86Michigan: median $40 across 25 hospitalsMI$40New York: median $36 across 57 hospitalsNY$36Massachusetts: median $51 across 28 hospitalsMA$51Oregon: median $88 across 13 hospitalsOR$88Nevada: median $68 across 15 hospitalsNV$68Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $40 across 41 hospitalsIA$40Indiana: median $33 across 41 hospitalsIN$33Ohio: median $69 across 53 hospitalsOH$69Pennsylvania: median $42 across 59 hospitalsPA$42New Jersey: median $15 across 43 hospitalsNJ$15Connecticut: median $62 across 10 hospitalsCT$62Rhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $131 across 105 hospitalsCA$131Utah: median $61 across 35 hospitalsUT$61Colorado: median $86 across 38 hospitalsCO$86Nebraska: median $86 across 43 hospitalsNE$86Missouri: median $99 across 41 hospitalsMO$99Kentucky: median $122 across 29 hospitalsKY$122West Virginia: median $58 across 15 hospitalsWV$58Virginia: median $108 across 42 hospitalsVA$108Maryland: median $60 across 16 hospitalsMD$60Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $226 across 23 hospitalsAZ$226New Mexico: median $120 across 11 hospitalsNM$120Kansas: median $71 across 41 hospitalsKS$71Arkansas: median $61 across 25 hospitalsAR$61Tennessee: median $73 across 41 hospitalsTN$73North Carolina: median $83 across 55 hospitalsNC$83South Carolina: median $204 across 38 hospitalsSC$204Oklahoma: median $103 across 37 hospitalsOK$103Louisiana: median $31 across 36 hospitalsLA$31Mississippi: median $38 across 29 hospitalsMS$38Alabama: median $111 across 23 hospitalsAL$111Georgia: median $116 across 74 hospitalsGA$116Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $152 across 173 hospitalsTX$152Florida: median $93 across 112 hospitalsFL$93
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $82. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ23$226+175%$76 – $482
South Carolina SC38$204+148%$33 – $249
Texas TX173$152+85%$60 – $290
California CA105$131+59%$77 – $337
Kentucky KY29$122+48%$39 – $219
New Mexico NM11$120+45%$44 – $177
Georgia GA74$116+41%$24 – $200
Illinois IL64$114+39%$34 – $252
Montana MT25$114+38%$62 – $165
Alabama AL23$111+35%$28 – $342
Virginia VA42$108+31%$44 – $359
Oklahoma OK37$103+25%$42 – $156
Missouri MO41$99+20%$43 – $131
Idaho ID12$98+19%$51 – $107
Maine ME12$97+18%$66 – $443
Florida FL112$93+13%$35 – $495
Oregon OR13$88+7%$57 – $94
Nebraska NE43$86+4%$42 – $190
Colorado CO38$86+4%$75 – $213
Wisconsin WI41$86+4%$72 – $133
North Carolina NC55$83+1%$50 – $157
Alaska AK12$81−2%$41 – $207
Washington WA43$74−11%$40 – $156
Tennessee TN41$73−11%$20 – $237
Kansas KS41$71−14%$43 – $142
Ohio OH53$69−16%$38 – $105
Nevada NV15$68−17%$13 – $192
New Hampshire NH12$66−20%$18 – $150
Connecticut CT10$62−25%$42 – $64
Utah UT35$61−25%$52 – $202
Arkansas AR25$61−26%$10 – $133
Minnesota MN24$60−27%$36 – $128
Maryland MD16$60−27%$49 – $80
West Virginia WV15$58−30%$26 – $100
Massachusetts MA28$51−38%$42 – $139
Pennsylvania PA59$42−49%$13 – $134
Michigan MI25$40−51%$19 – $72
Iowa IA41$40−51%$38 – $94
Mississippi MS29$38−54%$15 – $73
New York NY57$36−56%$14 – $68
Indiana IN41$33−60%$18 – $122
Louisiana LA36$31−62%$20 – $92
New Jersey NJ43$15−81%$14 – $64
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $82.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,294$83$28 – $206
Children’s26$89$43 – $255
Critical access432$80$42 – $145
Ownership
For-profit304$140$42 – $453
Government295$70$31 – $151
Non-profit1,153$78$30 – $164
System affiliation
Part of a system1,477$83$32 – $194
Independent278$77$33 – $150

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$145
Median cash price$82
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

1,154 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $86 and the average of the middle 60% is $94; most fall between $38 and $179.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,154 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$43$86$157$262

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($23 vs $262).

Of the 1,275 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,154 gave a usable cash price; 51 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 70 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,755 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (44%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,914 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,755
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here82
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 — excluded76
Hospitals that filed this code1,914

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 Hc Resp Syncytial Ag, Eia.

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, “RSV antigen test (CPT 87420) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87420-rsv-antigen-test