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

Cytomegalovirus DNA test using amplification

CPT 87496the billing code this page is about

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

Hospitals typically charge $140 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,733 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $154. Most fall between $64 and $299 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,733
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,733 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
$44$73$140$262$462

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($44 vs $462).

How the prices are spread

$35 – $47: 175 hospitals$35$47 – $63: 217 hospitals$63 – $85: 292 hospitals$63$85 – $114: 336 hospitals$114 – $154: 316 hospitals$114$154 – $206: 296 hospitals$206 – $277: 351 hospitals$206$277 – $373: 202 hospitals$373 – $501: 178 hospitals$373$501 – $673: 102 hospitals$501median $140price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,465 of 2,733 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$35$47175
$47$63217
$63$85292
$85$114336
$114$154316
$154$206296
$206$277351
$277$373202
$373$501178
$501$673102

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $140.

Alaska: median $239 across 15 hospitalsAK$239Maine: median $97 across 24 hospitalsME$97Vermont: median $201 across 13 hospitalsVT$201New Hampshire: median $153 across 22 hospitalsNH$153Washington: median $203 across 63 hospitalsWA$203Idaho: median $118 across 17 hospitalsID$118Montana: median $147 across 16 hospitalsMT$147North Dakota: median $109 across 24 hospitalsND$109Minnesota: median $133 across 81 hospitalsMN$133Illinois: median $178 across 112 hospitalsIL$178Wisconsin: median $143 across 95 hospitalsWI$143Michigan: median $73 across 61 hospitalsMI$73New York: median $98 across 95 hospitalsNY$98Massachusetts: median $165 across 47 hospitalsMA$165Oregon: median $144 across 40 hospitalsOR$144Nevada: median $160 across 18 hospitalsNV$160Wyoming: median $195 across 14 hospitalsWY$195South Dakota: median $86 across 20 hospitalsSD$86Iowa: median $113 across 55 hospitalsIA$113Indiana: median $124 across 91 hospitalsIN$124Ohio: median $153 across 127 hospitalsOH$153Pennsylvania: median $188 across 114 hospitalsPA$188New Jersey: median $39 across 53 hospitalsNJ$39Connecticut: median $158 across 20 hospitalsCT$158Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $113 across 113 hospitalsCA$113Utah: median $377 across 41 hospitalsUT$377Colorado: median $176 across 59 hospitalsCO$176Nebraska: median $135 across 42 hospitalsNE$135Missouri: median $109 across 67 hospitalsMO$109Kentucky: median $175 across 58 hospitalsKY$175West Virginia: median $80 across 32 hospitalsWV$80Virginia: median $189 across 71 hospitalsVA$189Maryland: median $317 across 39 hospitalsMD$317Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $224 across 39 hospitalsAZ$224New Mexico: median $186 across 21 hospitalsNM$186Kansas: median $220 across 48 hospitalsKS$220Arkansas: median $167 across 25 hospitalsAR$167Tennessee: median $63 across 74 hospitalsTN$63North Carolina: median $241 across 81 hospitalsNC$241South Carolina: median $293 across 48 hospitalsSC$293Oklahoma: median $130 across 47 hospitalsOK$130Louisiana: median $79 across 42 hospitalsLA$79Mississippi: median $134 across 43 hospitalsMS$134Alabama: median $179 across 37 hospitalsAL$179Georgia: median $128 across 89 hospitalsGA$128Hawaii: median $152 across 16 hospitalsHI$152Texas: median $184 across 207 hospitalsTX$184Florida: median $90 across 143 hospitalsFL$90
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $140. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT41$377+170%$220 – $444
Maryland MD39$317+127%$240 – $384
South Carolina SC48$293+109%$120 – $664
North Carolina NC81$241+72%$58 – $380
Alaska AK15$239+70%$124 – $319
Arizona AZ39$224+60%$56 – $462
Kansas KS48$220+57%$102 – $523
Washington WA63$203+45%$126 – $322
Vermont VT13$201+44%$159 – $432
Wyoming WY14$195+39%$74 – $361
Virginia VA71$189+35%$62 – $267
Pennsylvania PA114$188+35%$40 – $520
New Mexico NM21$186+32%$109 – $219
Texas TX207$184+31%$78 – $529
Alabama AL37$179+28%$73 – $500
Illinois IL112$178+27%$65 – $379
Colorado CO59$176+26%$116 – $254
Kentucky KY58$175+25%$66 – $402
Arkansas AR25$167+19%$40 – $263
Massachusetts MA47$165+18%$90 – $397
Nevada NV18$160+14%$54 – $551
Connecticut CT20$158+13%$94 – $292
New Hampshire NH22$153+9%$38 – $358
Ohio OH127$153+9%$85 – $277
Hawaii HI16$152+8%$64 – $280
Montana MT16$147+5%$79 – $284
Oregon OR40$144+3%$74 – $286
Wisconsin WI95$143+2%$97 – $244
Nebraska NE42$135−4%$62 – $325
Mississippi MS43$134−4%$60 – $241
Minnesota MN81$133−5%$86 – $217
Oklahoma OK47$130−7%$70 – $283
Georgia GA89$128−9%$63 – $263
Indiana IN91$124−12%$63 – $260
Idaho ID17$118−15%$91 – $242
Iowa IA55$113−19%$67 – $239
California CA113$113−19%$46 – $175
Missouri MO67$109−22%$71 – $196
North Dakota ND24$109−22%$61 – $306
New York NY95$98−30%$39 – $219
Maine ME24$97−30%$64 – $152
Florida FL143$90−36%$53 – $162
South Dakota SD20$86−38%$62 – $404
West Virginia WV32$80−43%$64 – $240
Louisiana LA42$79−44%$45 – $121
Michigan MI61$73−48%$42 – $107
Tennessee TN74$63−55%$53 – $235
New Jersey NJ53$39−72%$35 – $71
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not 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 $140.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,068$134$62 – $301
Children’s48$153$68 – $466
Critical access607$167$78 – $290
Ownership
For-profit399$191$76 – $513
Government432$148$68 – $314
Non-profit1,892$134$62 – $276
System affiliation
Part of a system2,294$139$63 – $301
Independent439$147$72 – $286

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$240
Median cash price$140
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

1,887 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $140 and the average of the middle 60% is $152; most fall between $67 and $286.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,887 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
$51$78$140$254$437

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($51 vs $437).

Of the 2,088 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,887 gave a usable cash price; 108 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 93 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,733 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (69%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,986 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,733
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here143
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 — excluded109
Hospitals that filed this code2,986

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 Cmv Dna Qual 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, “Cytomegalovirus DNA test using amplification (CPT 87496) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87496-cytomegalovirus-dna-test-using-amplification