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

Stool infection panel, 3 to 5 germs

CPT 87505the billing code this page is about

A single laboratory test that checks one stool specimen for the genetic material of three to five different bacteria, viruses, or parasites that cause digestive infections.

Hospitals typically charge $300 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,162 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $304. Most fall between $148 and $519 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,162
States
48
Filings dated
Dec 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 1,162 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
$118$179$300$449$629

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($118 vs $629).

How the prices are spread

$87 – $109: 50 hospitals$87$109 – $136: 75 hospitals$136 – $170: 86 hospitals$136$170 – $212: 109 hospitals$212 – $264: 141 hospitals$212$264 – $329: 125 hospitals$329 – $411: 180 hospitals$329$411 – $512: 99 hospitals$512 – $639: 126 hospitals$512$639 – $797: 56 hospitals$639median $300price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,047 of 1,162 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$87$10950
$109$13675
$136$17086
$170$212109
$212$264141
$264$329125
$329$411180
$411$51299
$512$639126
$639$79756

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $300.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: median $408 across 10 hospitalsME$408Vermont: median $208 across 11 hospitalsVT$208New Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $284 across 38 hospitalsWA$284Idaho: median $527 across 17 hospitalsID$527Montana: median $282 across 13 hospitalsMT$282North Dakota: median $231 across 13 hospitalsND$231Minnesota: median $213 across 34 hospitalsMN$213Illinois: median $206 across 43 hospitalsIL$206Wisconsin: median $393 across 80 hospitalsWI$393Michigan: median $198 across 25 hospitalsMI$198New York: median $188 across 54 hospitalsNY$188Massachusetts: median $475 across 14 hospitalsMA$475Oregon: median $244 across 29 hospitalsOR$244Nevada: median $235 across 10 hospitalsNV$235Wyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $280 across 12 hospitalsSD$280Iowa: median $252 across 59 hospitalsIA$252Indiana: median $140 across 27 hospitalsIN$140Ohio: median $347 across 92 hospitalsOH$347Pennsylvania: median $213 across 37 hospitalsPA$213New Jersey: median $141 across 35 hospitalsNJ$141Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $364 across 47 hospitalsCA$364Utah: median $527 across 35 hospitalsUT$527Colorado: median $107 across 16 hospitalsCO$107Nebraska: median $322 across 16 hospitalsNE$322Missouri: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $358 across 22 hospitalsKY$358West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $224 across 26 hospitalsVA$224Maryland: median $227 across 22 hospitalsMD$227Delaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: median $300 across 19 hospitalsNM$300Kansas: median $396 across 14 hospitalsKS$396Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $167 across 25 hospitalsTN$167North Carolina: median $412 across 46 hospitalsNC$412South Carolina: median $298 across 11 hospitalsSC$298Oklahoma: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: median $103 across 12 hospitalsMS$103Alabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $231 across 20 hospitalsGA$231Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $375 across 78 hospitalsTX$375Florida: median $359 across 35 hospitalsFL$359
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $300. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Idaho ID17$527+76%$360 – $571
Utah UT35$527+76%$326 – $620
Massachusetts MA14$475+58%$158 – $1,136
North Carolina NC46$412+38%$214 – $776
Maine ME10$408+36%$303 – $580
Kansas KS14$396+32%$357 – $404
Wisconsin WI80$393+31%$253 – $606
Texas TX78$375+25%$281 – $390
California CA47$364+21%$364 – $752
Florida FL35$359+20%$103 – $514
Kentucky KY22$358+19%$154 – $1,784
Ohio OH92$347+16%$174 – $500
Nebraska NE16$322+8%$265 – $551
New Mexico NM19$3000%$105 – $402
South Carolina SC11$298−1%$222 – $298
Washington WA38$284−5%$118 – $527
Montana MT13$282−6%$182 – $407
South Dakota SD12$280−7%$275 – $390
Iowa IA59$252−16%$133 – $377
Oregon OR29$244−19%$224 – $416
Nevada NV10$235−22%$140 – $449
North Dakota ND13$231−23%$216 – $631
Georgia GA20$231−23%$157 – $377
Maryland MD22$227−24%$118 – $288
Virginia VA26$224−25%$202 – $673
Pennsylvania PA37$213−29%$88 – $1,891
Minnesota MN34$213−29%$173 – $313
Vermont VT11$208−31%$154 – $359
Illinois IL43$206−31%$180 – $456
Michigan MI25$198−34%$177 – $488
New York NY54$188−37%$128 – $447
Tennessee TN25$167−44%$33 – $224
New Jersey NJ35$141−53%$128 – $148
Indiana IN27$140−53%$53 – $349
Colorado CO16$107−64%$85 – $214
Mississippi MS12$103−66%$90 – $189
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO2not 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 $300.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care841$290$141 – $501
Children’s13fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access304$313$195 – $527
Ownership
For-profit94$300$128 – $527
Government153$273$148 – $434
Non-profit911$311$155 – $527
System affiliation
Part of a system1,024$299$148 – $520
Independent138$309$177 – $500

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$483
Median cash price$300
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

829 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $314 and the average of the middle 60% is $323; most fall between $167 and $527.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 829 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
$119$194$314$456$622

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($119 vs $622).

Of the 917 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 829 gave a usable cash price; 44 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 44 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,162 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (29%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,268 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,162
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here60
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded44
Hospitals that filed this code1,268

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 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 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 NFCT AGENT DETECTION GI.

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, “Stool infection panel, 3 to 5 germs (CPT 87505) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87505-stool-infection-panel-3-to-5-germs