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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

C. difficile toxin gene test using amplification

CPT 87493the billing code this page is about

A stool laboratory test that detects the toxin-producing genes of the bacterium Clostridioides difficile using an amplification method.

Hospitals typically charge $138 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,217 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $142. Most fall between $67 and $237 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,217
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 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 3,217 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
$47$81$138$214$342

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $342).

How the prices are spread

$37 – $48: 185 hospitals$37$48 – $61: 210 hospitals$61 – $78: 236 hospitals$61$78 – $100: 310 hospitals$100 – $127: 409 hospitals$100$127 – $163: 397 hospitals$163 – $208: 464 hospitals$163$208 – $266: 327 hospitals$266 – $340: 208 hospitals$266$340 – $434: 170 hospitals$340median $138price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,916 of 3,217 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$37$48185
$48$61210
$61$78236
$78$100310
$100$127409
$127$163397
$163$208464
$208$266327
$266$340208
$340$434170

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $138.

Alaska: median $209 across 15 hospitalsAK$209Maine: median $102 across 27 hospitalsME$102Vermont: median $203 across 14 hospitalsVT$203New Hampshire: median $156 across 24 hospitalsNH$156Washington: median $165 across 74 hospitalsWA$165Idaho: median $166 across 24 hospitalsID$166Montana: median $170 across 25 hospitalsMT$170North Dakota: median $207 across 33 hospitalsND$207Minnesota: median $132 across 104 hospitalsMN$132Illinois: median $184 across 135 hospitalsIL$184Wisconsin: median $159 across 105 hospitalsWI$159Michigan: median $115 across 95 hospitalsMI$115New York: median $103 across 102 hospitalsNY$103Massachusetts: median $170 across 53 hospitalsMA$170Oregon: median $150 across 51 hospitalsOR$150Nevada: median $112 across 20 hospitalsNV$112Wyoming: median $114 across 15 hospitalsWY$114South Dakota: median $224 across 41 hospitalsSD$224Iowa: median $105 across 84 hospitalsIA$105Indiana: median $131 across 94 hospitalsIN$131Ohio: median $130 across 141 hospitalsOH$130Pennsylvania: median $147 across 121 hospitalsPA$147New Jersey: median $43 across 49 hospitalsNJ$43Connecticut: median $171 across 23 hospitalsCT$171Rhode Island: median $130 across 10 hospitalsRI$130California: median $213 across 149 hospitalsCA$213Utah: median $459 across 42 hospitalsUT$459Colorado: median $178 across 66 hospitalsCO$178Nebraska: median $184 across 76 hospitalsNE$184Missouri: median $113 across 70 hospitalsMO$113Kentucky: median $100 across 67 hospitalsKY$100West Virginia: median $118 across 38 hospitalsWV$118Virginia: median $130 across 73 hospitalsVA$130Maryland: median $300 across 37 hospitalsMD$300Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $98 across 42 hospitalsAZ$98New Mexico: median $132 across 28 hospitalsNM$132Kansas: median $102 across 83 hospitalsKS$102Arkansas: median $48 across 35 hospitalsAR$48Tennessee: median $85 across 81 hospitalsTN$85North Carolina: median $129 across 84 hospitalsNC$129South Carolina: median $198 across 48 hospitalsSC$198Oklahoma: median $84 across 67 hospitalsOK$84Louisiana: median $81 across 46 hospitalsLA$81Mississippi: median $57 across 53 hospitalsMS$57Alabama: median $96 across 40 hospitalsAL$96Georgia: median $88 across 102 hospitalsGA$88Hawaii: median $188 across 20 hospitalsHI$188Texas: median $174 across 234 hospitalsTX$174Florida: median $120 across 150 hospitalsFL$120
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $138. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT42$459+233%$161 – $540
Maryland MD37$300+117%$240 – $374
South Dakota SD41$224+62%$168 – $311
California CA149$213+55%$95 – $389
Alaska AK15$209+51%$127 – $304
North Dakota ND33$207+50%$67 – $266
Vermont VT14$203+47%$93 – $342
South Carolina SC48$198+44%$111 – $211
Hawaii HI20$188+36%$77 – $287
Illinois IL135$184+33%$94 – $252
Nebraska NE76$184+33%$108 – $256
Colorado CO66$178+29%$119 – $275
Texas TX234$174+26%$89 – $293
Connecticut CT23$171+24%$97 – $292
Montana MT25$170+23%$128 – $196
Massachusetts MA53$170+23%$105 – $264
Idaho ID24$166+20%$114 – $200
Washington WA74$165+19%$116 – $254
Wisconsin WI105$159+15%$115 – $218
New Hampshire NH24$156+13%$120 – $353
Oregon OR51$150+9%$110 – $185
Pennsylvania PA121$147+7%$54 – $350
Minnesota MN104$132−4%$74 – $165
New Mexico NM28$132−4%$97 – $168
Indiana IN94$131−5%$57 – $206
Ohio OH141$130−6%$91 – $172
Rhode Island RI10$130−6%$82 – $220
Virginia VA73$130−6%$62 – $214
North Carolina NC84$129−7%$67 – $309
Florida FL150$120−13%$61 – $273
West Virginia WV38$118−15%$65 – $187
Michigan MI95$115−17%$51 – $199
Wyoming WY15$114−17%$70 – $239
Missouri MO70$113−18%$73 – $177
Nevada NV20$112−19%$45 – $193
Iowa IA84$105−24%$67 – $176
New York NY102$103−26%$37 – $229
Maine ME27$102−26%$58 – $178
Kansas KS83$102−26%$81 – $149
Kentucky KY67$100−28%$55 – $182
Arizona AZ42$98−29%$49 – $142
Alabama AL40$96−30%$55 – $247
Georgia GA102$88−36%$57 – $156
Tennessee TN81$85−38%$62 – $147
Oklahoma OK67$84−39%$59 – $146
Louisiana LA46$81−41%$54 – $131
Mississippi MS53$57−59%$38 – $93
Arkansas AR35$48−65%$36 – $146
New Jersey NJ49$43−69%$37 – $159
Delaware DE7not 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 $138.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,241$130$63 – $248
Children’s64$188$115 – $338
Critical access902$146$82 – $217
Ownership
For-profit449$141$65 – $319
Government579$131$72 – $208
Non-profit2,179$141$67 – $233
System affiliation
Part of a system2,640$142$67 – $248
Independent577$126$73 – $204

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$224
Median cash price$138
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

2,181 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $149 and the average of the middle 60% is $149; most fall between $73 and $241.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,181 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
$53$85$149$217$336

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($53 vs $336).

Of the 2,401 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,181 gave a usable cash price; 112 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,217 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,503 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,217
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here158
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded126
Hospitals that filed this code3,503

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC C Difficile 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, “C. difficile toxin gene test using amplification (CPT 87493) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87493-c-difficile-toxin-gene-test-using-amplification