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

Brain and spinal fluid infection panel, 12 to 25 germs

CPT 87483the billing code this page is about

A single laboratory test that checks one specimen for the genetic material of 12 to 25 different bacteria, viruses, and fungi that can cause meningitis or encephalitis.

Hospitals typically charge $721 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,350 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $767. Most fall between $417 and $1,365 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,350
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 2,350 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
$312$448$721$1,214$1,869

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($312 vs $1,869).

How the prices are spread

$252 – $318: 122 hospitals$252$318 – $401: 195 hospitals$401 – $506: 330 hospitals$401$506 – $638: 284 hospitals$638 – $804: 270 hospitals$638$804 – $1,014: 284 hospitals$1,014 – $1,279: 223 hospitals$1,014$1,279 – $1,612: 209 hospitals$1,612 – $2,033: 125 hospitals$1,612$2,033 – $2,563: 74 hospitals$2,033median $721price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,116 of 2,350 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$252$318122
$318$401195
$401$506330
$506$638284
$638$804270
$804$1,014284
$1,014$1,279223
$1,279$1,612209
$1,612$2,033125
$2,033$2,56374

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $721.

Alaska: median $1,017 across 13 hospitalsAK$1,017Maine: median $547 across 10 hospitalsME$547Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $1,067 across 19 hospitalsNH$1,067Washington: median $886 across 53 hospitalsWA$886Idaho: median $869 across 14 hospitalsID$869Montana: median $808 across 12 hospitalsMT$808North Dakota: median $1,200 across 12 hospitalsND$1,200Minnesota: median $605 across 80 hospitalsMN$605Illinois: median $871 across 86 hospitalsIL$871Wisconsin: median $860 across 86 hospitalsWI$860Michigan: median $644 across 74 hospitalsMI$644New York: median $695 across 78 hospitalsNY$695Massachusetts: median $1,250 across 42 hospitalsMA$1,250Oregon: median $792 across 35 hospitalsOR$792Nevada: median $664 across 12 hospitalsNV$664Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $999 across 14 hospitalsSD$999Iowa: median $638 across 58 hospitalsIA$638Indiana: median $739 across 69 hospitalsIN$739Ohio: median $861 across 115 hospitalsOH$861Pennsylvania: median $1,024 across 98 hospitalsPA$1,024New Jersey: median $458 across 38 hospitalsNJ$458Connecticut: median $954 across 18 hospitalsCT$954Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,126 across 120 hospitalsCA$1,126Utah: median $427 across 37 hospitalsUT$427Colorado: median $569 across 49 hospitalsCO$569Nebraska: median $780 across 46 hospitalsNE$780Missouri: median $697 across 55 hospitalsMO$697Kentucky: median $888 across 48 hospitalsKY$888West Virginia: median $520 across 27 hospitalsWV$520Virginia: median $891 across 69 hospitalsVA$891Maryland: median $489 across 30 hospitalsMD$489Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $701 across 30 hospitalsAZ$701New Mexico: median $548 across 13 hospitalsNM$548Kansas: median $880 across 37 hospitalsKS$880Arkansas: median $334 across 24 hospitalsAR$334Tennessee: median $457 across 62 hospitalsTN$457North Carolina: median $541 across 78 hospitalsNC$541South Carolina: median $1,269 across 42 hospitalsSC$1,269Oklahoma: median $480 across 46 hospitalsOK$480Louisiana: median $552 across 42 hospitalsLA$552Mississippi: median $440 across 39 hospitalsMS$440Alabama: median $635 across 19 hospitalsAL$635Georgia: median $514 across 73 hospitalsGA$514Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $488 across 168 hospitalsTX$488Florida: median $625 across 123 hospitalsFL$625
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $721. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Carolina SC42$1,269+76%$657 – $1,540
Massachusetts MA42$1,250+73%$597 – $2,078
North Dakota ND12$1,200+66%$573 – $2,362
California CA120$1,126+56%$574 – $1,424
New Hampshire NH19$1,067+48%$402 – $2,041
Pennsylvania PA98$1,024+42%$416 – $2,837
Alaska AK13$1,017+41%$761 – $1,442
South Dakota SD14$999+39%$450 – $1,310
Connecticut CT18$954+32%$688 – $1,389
Virginia VA69$891+24%$556 – $1,376
Kentucky KY48$888+23%$557 – $1,250
Washington WA53$886+23%$457 – $1,769
Kansas KS37$880+22%$406 – $1,708
Illinois IL86$871+21%$360 – $1,370
Idaho ID14$869+21%$533 – $1,855
Ohio OH115$861+19%$563 – $1,724
Wisconsin WI86$860+19%$572 – $1,836
Montana MT12$808+12%$610 – $1,162
Oregon OR35$792+10%$448 – $1,213
Nebraska NE46$780+8%$590 – $1,232
Indiana IN69$739+3%$382 – $999
Arizona AZ30$701−3%$447 – $4,787
Missouri MO55$697−3%$449 – $1,020
New York NY78$695−4%$436 – $1,508
Nevada NV12$664−8%$416 – $2,652
Michigan MI74$644−11%$432 – $1,563
Iowa IA58$638−11%$400 – $1,051
Alabama AL19$635−12%$416 – $1,455
Florida FL123$625−13%$420 – $1,459
Minnesota MN80$605−16%$302 – $890
Colorado CO49$569−21%$367 – $1,129
Louisiana LA42$552−23%$303 – $928
New Mexico NM13$548−24%$386 – $1,833
Maine ME10$547−24%$263 – $792
North Carolina NC78$541−25%$376 – $1,026
West Virginia WV27$520−28%$426 – $985
Georgia GA73$514−29%$299 – $1,072
Maryland MD30$489−32%$243 – $631
Texas TX168$488−32%$325 – $1,569
Oklahoma OK46$480−33%$262 – $764
New Jersey NJ38$458−36%$417 – $924
Tennessee TN62$457−37%$342 – $734
Mississippi MS39$440−39%$346 – $623
Utah UT37$427−41%$363 – $574
Arkansas AR24$334−54%$272 – $796
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not 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 $721.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,857$699$400 – $1,376
Children’s45$669$456 – $943
Critical access439$742$469 – $1,286
Ownership
For-profit300$780$384 – $1,794
Government324$619$376 – $1,127
Non-profit1,717$734$420 – $1,359
System affiliation
Part of a system2,038$723$416 – $1,376
Independent312$671$429 – $1,196

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,251
Median cash price$721
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

1,674 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $756 and the average of the middle 60% is $799; most fall between $427 and $1,409.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,674 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
$322$469$756$1,250$1,974

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($322 vs $1,974).

Of the 1,846 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,674 gave a usable cash price; 95 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 77 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,350 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (59%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,560 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,350
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here127
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 — excluded82
Hospitals that filed this code2,560

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 Meningitis Encephalitis Panel by Pcr.

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, “Brain and spinal fluid infection panel, 12 to 25 germs (CPT 87483) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87483-brain-and-spinal-fluid-infection-panel-12-to-25-germs