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

Enterovirus RNA test using amplification

CPT 87498the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that detects the genetic material of enterovirus in a specimen using reverse transcription and an amplification method.

Hospitals typically charge $157 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,543 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $166. Most fall between $72 and $321 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,543
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,543 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
$50$84$157$267$467

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $467).

How the prices are spread

$36 – $48: 102 hospitals$36$48 – $64: 184 hospitals$64 – $85: 233 hospitals$64$85 – $114: 275 hospitals$114 – $152: 322 hospitals$114$152 – $203: 370 hospitals$203 – $272: 310 hospitals$203$272 – $363: 191 hospitals$363 – $485: 183 hospitals$363$485 – $649: 119 hospitals$485median $157price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,289 of 2,543 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$36$48102
$48$64184
$64$85233
$85$114275
$114$152322
$152$203370
$203$272310
$272$363191
$363$485183
$485$649119

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $157.

Alaska: median $224 across 10 hospitalsAK$224Maine: median $131 across 23 hospitalsME$131Vermont: median $169 across 12 hospitalsVT$169New Hampshire: median $227 across 21 hospitalsNH$227Washington: median $222 across 61 hospitalsWA$222Idaho: median $177 across 18 hospitalsID$177Montana: median $158 across 22 hospitalsMT$158North Dakota: median $87 across 17 hospitalsND$87Minnesota: median $200 across 59 hospitalsMN$200Illinois: median $195 across 112 hospitalsIL$195Wisconsin: median $214 across 95 hospitalsWI$214Michigan: median $56 across 81 hospitalsMI$56New York: median $108 across 70 hospitalsNY$108Massachusetts: median $219 across 47 hospitalsMA$219Oregon: median $160 across 38 hospitalsOR$160Nevada: median $106 across 14 hospitalsNV$106Wyoming: median $110 across 12 hospitalsWY$110South Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $138 across 54 hospitalsIA$138Indiana: median $95 across 68 hospitalsIN$95Ohio: median $143 across 123 hospitalsOH$143Pennsylvania: median $172 across 104 hospitalsPA$172New Jersey: median $40 across 48 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $130 across 13 hospitalsCT$130Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $179 across 132 hospitalsCA$179Utah: median $452 across 38 hospitalsUT$452Colorado: median $201 across 57 hospitalsCO$201Nebraska: median $190 across 39 hospitalsNE$190Missouri: median $150 across 63 hospitalsMO$150Kentucky: median $117 across 50 hospitalsKY$117West Virginia: median $139 across 21 hospitalsWV$139Virginia: median $231 across 65 hospitalsVA$231Maryland: median $317 across 36 hospitalsMD$317Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $141 across 33 hospitalsAZ$141New Mexico: median $131 across 19 hospitalsNM$131Kansas: median $205 across 41 hospitalsKS$205Arkansas: median $158 across 25 hospitalsAR$158Tennessee: median $91 across 60 hospitalsTN$91North Carolina: median $222 across 73 hospitalsNC$222South Carolina: median $371 across 43 hospitalsSC$371Oklahoma: median $163 across 53 hospitalsOK$163Louisiana: median $84 across 39 hospitalsLA$84Mississippi: median $99 across 38 hospitalsMS$99Alabama: median $98 across 38 hospitalsAL$98Georgia: median $142 across 84 hospitalsGA$142Hawaii: median $164 across 17 hospitalsHI$164Texas: median $150 across 195 hospitalsTX$150Florida: median $110 across 140 hospitalsFL$110
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $157. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT38$452+187%$246 – $532
South Carolina SC43$371+136%$187 – $521
Maryland MD36$317+102%$240 – $384
Virginia VA65$231+47%$111 – $345
New Hampshire NH21$227+44%$136 – $429
Alaska AK10$224+42%$111 – $424
North Carolina NC73$222+41%$79 – $404
Washington WA61$222+41%$115 – $337
Massachusetts MA47$219+39%$122 – $340
Wisconsin WI95$214+36%$152 – $254
Kansas KS41$205+30%$102 – $541
Colorado CO57$201+28%$104 – $271
Minnesota MN59$200+27%$76 – $252
Illinois IL112$195+24%$70 – $355
Nebraska NE39$190+21%$54 – $336
California CA132$179+13%$73 – $224
Idaho ID18$177+12%$107 – $256
Pennsylvania PA104$172+9%$40 – $525
Vermont VT12$169+7%$98 – $361
Hawaii HI17$164+5%$47 – $271
Oklahoma OK53$163+4%$79 – $219
Oregon OR38$160+2%$122 – $300
Arkansas AR25$158+1%$31 – $171
Montana MT22$1580%$68 – $250
Texas TX195$150−5%$100 – $430
Missouri MO63$150−5%$87 – $212
Ohio OH123$143−9%$79 – $311
Georgia GA84$142−10%$75 – $242
Arizona AZ33$141−10%$62 – $1,008
West Virginia WV21$139−12%$113 – $206
Iowa IA54$138−12%$67 – $271
Maine ME23$131−17%$61 – $275
New Mexico NM19$131−17%$103 – $236
Connecticut CT13$130−17%$88 – $213
Kentucky KY50$117−26%$53 – $442
Florida FL140$110−30%$72 – $203
Wyoming WY12$110−30%$87 – $316
New York NY70$108−31%$35 – $187
Nevada NV14$106−33%$34 – $297
Mississippi MS38$99−37%$54 – $185
Alabama AL38$98−38%$56 – $286
Indiana IN68$95−40%$57 – $200
Tennessee TN60$91−42%$62 – $198
North Dakota ND17$87−45%$61 – $238
Louisiana LA39$84−46%$42 – $171
Michigan MI81$56−65%$47 – $162
New Jersey NJ48$40−74%$35 – $119
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $157.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,954$150$70 – $330
Children’s60$177$98 – $281
Critical access519$170$81 – $315
Ownership
For-profit365$159$76 – $580
Government371$145$76 – $333
Non-profit1,797$159$69 – $293
System affiliation
Part of a system2,159$157$71 – $323
Independent384$155$80 – $316

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$262
Median cash price$157
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

1,774 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $162 and the average of the middle 60% is $169; most fall between $77 and $300.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,774 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
$56$93$162$252$441

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($56 vs $441).

Of the 1,964 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,774 gave a usable cash price; 102 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 88 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,543 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (64%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,778 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,543
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here133
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded102
Hospitals that filed this code2,778

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 Enterovirus 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, “Enterovirus RNA test using amplification (CPT 87498) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87498-enterovirus-rna-test-using-amplification