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

Hepatitis B virus test by amplified DNA probe

CPT 87516the billing code this page is about

A genetic test that detects hepatitis B virus in a blood or tissue sample by copying and amplifying the virus's genetic material; it reports presence, not amount.

Hospitals typically charge $127 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 893 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $145. Most fall between $54 and $341 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
893
States
49
Filings dated
Sep 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 893 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
$37$62$127$257$540

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $540).

How the prices are spread

$29 – $42: 77 hospitals$29$42 – $59: 70 hospitals$59 – $83: 123 hospitals$59$83 – $117: 104 hospitals$117 – $166: 117 hospitals$117$166 – $234: 101 hospitals$234 – $331: 74 hospitals$234$331 – $467: 72 hospitals$467 – $660: 46 hospitals$467$660 – $933: 21 hospitals$660median $127price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (805 of 893 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$29$4277
$42$5970
$59$83123
$83$117104
$117$166117
$166$234101
$234$33174
$331$46772
$467$66046
$660$93321

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $127.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $110 across 12 hospitalsWA$110Idaho: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $78 across 23 hospitalsMN$78Illinois: median $183 across 52 hospitalsIL$183Wisconsin: median $180 across 23 hospitalsWI$180Michigan: median $48 across 30 hospitalsMI$48New York: median $53 across 39 hospitalsNY$53Massachusetts: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $110 across 11 hospitalsSD$110Iowa: median $89 across 22 hospitalsIA$89Indiana: median $277 across 22 hospitalsIN$277Ohio: median $157 across 32 hospitalsOH$157Pennsylvania: median $71 across 41 hospitalsPA$71New Jersey: median $39 across 39 hospitalsNJ$39Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $62 across 39 hospitalsCA$62Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $139 across 33 hospitalsCO$139Nebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $214 across 18 hospitalsMO$214Kentucky: median $120 across 14 hospitalsKY$120West Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $121 across 23 hospitalsVA$121Maryland: median $317 across 19 hospitalsMD$317Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $401 across 17 hospitalsAZ$401New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $206 across 16 hospitalsKS$206Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $72 across 19 hospitalsTN$72North Carolina: median $183 across 25 hospitalsNC$183South Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $129 across 19 hospitalsOK$129Louisiana: median $71 across 20 hospitalsLA$71Mississippi: median $79 across 17 hospitalsMS$79Alabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $142 across 39 hospitalsGA$142Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $175 across 85 hospitalsTX$175Florida: median $65 across 40 hospitalsFL$65
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $127. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ17$401+217%$76 – $462
Maryland MD19$317+151%$86 – $376
Indiana IN22$277+119%$68 – $447
Missouri MO18$214+69%$149 – $1,113
Kansas KS16$206+63%$47 – $449
North Carolina NC25$183+44%$29 – $524
Illinois IL52$183+44%$113 – $423
Wisconsin WI23$180+42%$29 – $180
Texas TX85$175+39%$108 – $933
Ohio OH32$157+24%$155 – $171
Georgia GA39$142+12%$63 – $416
Colorado CO33$139+10%$72 – $569
Oklahoma OK19$129+2%$39 – $395
Virginia VA23$121−5%$121 – $415
Kentucky KY14$120−5%$66 – $175
Washington WA12$110−13%$62 – $525
South Dakota SD11$110−13%$80 – $130
Iowa IA22$89−30%$89 – $130
Mississippi MS17$79−38%$50 – $250
Minnesota MN23$78−38%$64 – $84
Tennessee TN19$72−43%$46 – $253
Pennsylvania PA41$71−44%$29 – $127
Louisiana LA20$71−44%$54 – $100
Florida FL40$65−49%$14 – $163
California CA39$62−51%$62 – $185
New York NY39$53−58%$35 – $242
Michigan MI30$48−62%$45 – $128
New Jersey NJ39$39−70%$35 – $693
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not 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 $127.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care734$123$48 – $336
Children’s25$102$52 – $245
Critical access130$160$72 – $363
Ownership
For-profit129$212$71 – $1,023
Government125$102$45 – $221
Non-profit635$121$53 – $304
System affiliation
Part of a system767$127$54 – $345
Independent126$134$53 – $332

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$241
Median cash price$127
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

602 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $138 and the average of the middle 60% is $143; most fall between $62 and $287.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 602 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
$45$68$138$246$462

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($45 vs $462).

Of the 678 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 602 gave a usable cash price; 45 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 31 a list price only.

How complete is this

893 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (23%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 967 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted893
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here42
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 — excluded32
Hospitals that filed this code967

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 Hep B Virus Nat.

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, “Hepatitis B virus test by amplified DNA probe (CPT 87516) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87516-hepatitis-b-virus-test-by-amplified-dna-probe