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

Candida DNA test using amplification

CPT 87481the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that detects the genetic material of Candida yeast in a specimen using an amplification method, reported as present or not present.

Hospitals typically charge $82 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,939 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $87. Most fall between $40 and $165 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,939
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 1,939 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
$28$46$82$142$250

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($28 vs $250).

How the prices are spread

$20 – $27: 84 hospitals$20$27 – $37: 147 hospitals$37 – $50: 216 hospitals$37$50 – $68: 284 hospitals$68 – $91: 260 hospitals$68$91 – $123: 269 hospitals$123 – $167: 203 hospitals$123$167 – $226: 161 hospitals$226 – $305: 68 hospitals$226$305 – $412: 59 hospitals$305median $82price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,751 of 1,939 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$20$2784
$27$37147
$37$50216
$50$68284
$68$91260
$91$123269
$123$167203
$167$226161
$226$30568
$305$41259

By state

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

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $127 across 12 hospitalsME$127Vermont: median $33 across 12 hospitalsVT$33New Hampshire: median $109 across 13 hospitalsNH$109Washington: median $91 across 55 hospitalsWA$91Idaho: median $131 across 16 hospitalsID$131Montana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $61 across 12 hospitalsND$61Minnesota: median $45 across 53 hospitalsMN$45Illinois: median $102 across 74 hospitalsIL$102Wisconsin: median $131 across 74 hospitalsWI$131Michigan: median $54 across 46 hospitalsMI$54New York: median $86 across 82 hospitalsNY$86Massachusetts: median $119 across 42 hospitalsMA$119Oregon: median $54 across 34 hospitalsOR$54Nevada: median $106 across 10 hospitalsNV$106Wyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $67 across 30 hospitalsIA$67Indiana: median $77 across 69 hospitalsIN$77Ohio: median $83 across 88 hospitalsOH$83Pennsylvania: median $120 across 110 hospitalsPA$120New Jersey: median $40 across 50 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $73 across 18 hospitalsCT$73Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $83 across 108 hospitalsCA$83Utah: median $1,353 across 30 hospitalsUT$1,353Colorado: median $58 across 36 hospitalsCO$58Nebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $73 across 42 hospitalsMO$73Kentucky: median $68 across 33 hospitalsKY$68West Virginia: median $70 across 30 hospitalsWV$70Virginia: median $164 across 48 hospitalsVA$164Maryland: median $291 across 34 hospitalsMD$291Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $112 across 33 hospitalsAZ$112New Mexico: median $96 across 22 hospitalsNM$96Kansas: median $79 across 27 hospitalsKS$79Arkansas: median $53 across 24 hospitalsAR$53Tennessee: median $62 across 38 hospitalsTN$62North Carolina: median $93 across 54 hospitalsNC$93South Carolina: median $78 across 30 hospitalsSC$78Oklahoma: median $50 across 45 hospitalsOK$50Louisiana: median $50 across 28 hospitalsLA$50Mississippi: median $47 across 27 hospitalsMS$47Alabama: median $56 across 23 hospitalsAL$56Georgia: median $82 across 62 hospitalsGA$82Hawaii: median $176 across 15 hospitalsHI$176Texas: median $62 across 128 hospitalsTX$62Florida: median $77 across 82 hospitalsFL$77
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
Utah UT30$1,353+1560%$88 – $1,592
Maryland MD34$291+257%$103 – $376
Hawaii HI15$176+116%$97 – $244
Virginia VA48$164+102%$6 – $214
Wisconsin WI74$131+61%$105 – $171
Idaho ID16$131+61%$109 – $243
Maine ME12$127+56%$65 – $274
Pennsylvania PA110$120+47%$40 – $316
Massachusetts MA42$119+46%$90 – $182
Arizona AZ33$112+38%$35 – $462
New Hampshire NH13$109+34%$28 – $263
Nevada NV10$106+30%$43 – $160
Illinois IL74$102+25%$47 – $169
New Mexico NM22$96+18%$54 – $180
North Carolina NC54$93+14%$50 – $235
Washington WA55$91+12%$51 – $135
New York NY82$86+6%$35 – $124
Ohio OH88$83+1%$38 – $157
California CA108$83+1%$24 – $119
Georgia GA62$820%$40 – $116
Kansas KS27$79−3%$58 – $144
South Carolina SC30$78−4%$66 – $151
Florida FL82$77−6%$24 – $174
Indiana IN69$77−6%$42 – $107
Connecticut CT18$73−11%$61 – $109
Missouri MO42$73−11%$50 – $113
West Virginia WV30$70−15%$36 – $182
Kentucky KY33$68−17%$39 – $150
Iowa IA30$67−18%$60 – $85
Texas TX128$62−24%$35 – $350
Tennessee TN38$62−25%$46 – $83
North Dakota ND12$61−25%$44 – $129
Colorado CO36$58−28%$43 – $94
Alabama AL23$56−32%$39 – $118
Michigan MI46$54−33%$20 – $153
Oregon OR34$54−34%$42 – $114
Arkansas AR24$53−36%$23 – $103
Oklahoma OK45$50−39%$18 – $97
Louisiana LA28$50−39%$24 – $102
Mississippi MS27$47−42%$26 – $92
Minnesota MN53$45−45%$33 – $75
New Jersey NJ50$40−50%$35 – $100
Vermont VT12$33−60%$21 – $146
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 care1,479$80$38 – $161
Children’s39$81$54 – $193
Critical access414$90$48 – $171
Ownership
For-profit206$82$42 – $217
Government269$75$39 – $146
Non-profit1,457$82$40 – $159
System affiliation
Part of a system1,654$82$40 – $171
Independent285$80$41 – $139

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$140
Median cash price$82
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

1,418 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $86 and the average of the middle 60% is $93; most fall between $40 and $172.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,418 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
$28$48$86$155$266

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($28 vs $266).

Of the 1,551 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,418 gave a usable cash price; 85 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 48 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,939 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (49%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,103 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,939
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here104
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 — excluded59
Hospitals that filed this code2,103

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 Candida Vaginalis Rna, Qualitative Swab.

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, “Candida DNA test using amplification (CPT 87481) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87481-candida-dna-test-using-amplification