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

Hepatitis B viral load (amount of virus in blood)

CPT 87517the billing code this page is about

A genetic test that measures how much hepatitis B virus genetic material is present in the sample, reported as a viral load number.

Hospitals typically charge $199 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,047 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $218. Most fall between $92 and $421 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,047
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 3,047 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
$63$108$199$362$589

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($63 vs $589).

How the prices are spread

$46 – $61: 137 hospitals$46$61 – $82: 239 hospitals$82 – $110: 241 hospitals$82$110 – $148: 315 hospitals$148 – $198: 426 hospitals$148$198 – $266: 389 hospitals$266 – $357: 365 hospitals$266$357 – $479: 295 hospitals$479 – $643: 230 hospitals$479$643 – $863: 107 hospitals$643median $199price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,744 of 3,047 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$46$61137
$61$82239
$82$110241
$110$148315
$148$198426
$198$266389
$266$357365
$357$479295
$479$643230
$643$863107

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $199.

Alaska: median $349 across 15 hospitalsAK$349Maine: median $233 across 28 hospitalsME$233Vermont: median $384 across 14 hospitalsVT$384New Hampshire: median $249 across 24 hospitalsNH$249Washington: median $271 across 72 hospitalsWA$271Idaho: median $191 across 20 hospitalsID$191Montana: median $276 across 13 hospitalsMT$276North Dakota: median $200 across 24 hospitalsND$200Minnesota: median $122 across 94 hospitalsMN$122Illinois: median $266 across 133 hospitalsIL$266Wisconsin: median $245 across 100 hospitalsWI$245Michigan: median $117 across 92 hospitalsMI$117New York: median $148 across 103 hospitalsNY$148Massachusetts: median $188 across 48 hospitalsMA$188Oregon: median $185 across 46 hospitalsOR$185Nevada: median $273 across 19 hospitalsNV$273Wyoming: median $148 across 14 hospitalsWY$148South Dakota: median $385 across 27 hospitalsSD$385Iowa: median $220 across 80 hospitalsIA$220Indiana: median $205 across 95 hospitalsIN$205Ohio: median $172 across 135 hospitalsOH$172Pennsylvania: median $200 across 115 hospitalsPA$200New Jersey: median $49 across 56 hospitalsNJ$49Connecticut: median $159 across 20 hospitalsCT$159Rhode Island: median $170 across 10 hospitalsRI$170California: median $175 across 140 hospitalsCA$175Utah: median $1,041 across 38 hospitalsUT$1,041Colorado: median $250 across 59 hospitalsCO$250Nebraska: median $385 across 61 hospitalsNE$385Missouri: median $189 across 73 hospitalsMO$189Kentucky: median $310 across 66 hospitalsKY$310West Virginia: median $240 across 37 hospitalsWV$240Virginia: median $234 across 66 hospitalsVA$234Maryland: median $400 across 40 hospitalsMD$400Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $249 across 39 hospitalsAZ$249New Mexico: median $192 across 21 hospitalsNM$192Kansas: median $301 across 57 hospitalsKS$301Arkansas: median $124 across 35 hospitalsAR$124Tennessee: median $154 across 79 hospitalsTN$154North Carolina: median $165 across 84 hospitalsNC$165South Carolina: median $285 across 50 hospitalsSC$285Oklahoma: median $204 across 65 hospitalsOK$204Louisiana: median $138 across 52 hospitalsLA$138Mississippi: median $137 across 53 hospitalsMS$137Alabama: median $235 across 39 hospitalsAL$235Georgia: median $186 across 105 hospitalsGA$186Hawaii: median $189 across 15 hospitalsHI$189Texas: median $197 across 226 hospitalsTX$197Florida: median $90 across 143 hospitalsFL$90
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $199. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT38$1,041+424%$334 – $1,225
Maryland MD40$400+101%$285 – $512
South Dakota SD27$385+94%$100 – $603
Nebraska NE61$385+94%$172 – $486
Vermont VT14$384+93%$182 – $507
Alaska AK15$349+75%$207 – $647
Kentucky KY66$310+56%$129 – $513
Kansas KS57$301+51%$115 – $563
South Carolina SC50$285+43%$113 – $564
Montana MT13$276+39%$105 – $368
Nevada NV19$273+37%$66 – $552
Washington WA72$271+36%$189 – $432
Illinois IL133$266+34%$145 – $594
Colorado CO59$250+26%$142 – $515
New Hampshire NH24$249+25%$149 – $798
Arizona AZ39$249+25%$73 – $586
Wisconsin WI100$245+23%$180 – $358
West Virginia WV37$240+21%$108 – $451
Alabama AL39$235+18%$84 – $668
Virginia VA66$234+18%$75 – $556
Maine ME28$233+17%$106 – $420
Iowa IA80$220+11%$90 – $317
Indiana IN95$205+3%$76 – $407
Oklahoma OK65$204+2%$119 – $424
Pennsylvania PA115$200+1%$57 – $503
North Dakota ND24$200+1%$75 – $341
Texas TX226$197−1%$131 – $673
New Mexico NM21$192−3%$116 – $300
Idaho ID20$191−4%$140 – $309
Hawaii HI15$189−5%$118 – $422
Missouri MO73$189−5%$121 – $342
Massachusetts MA48$188−5%$117 – $424
Georgia GA105$186−7%$116 – $345
Oregon OR46$185−7%$151 – $296
California CA140$175−12%$65 – $286
Ohio OH135$172−13%$122 – $279
Rhode Island RI10$170−15%$118 – $342
North Carolina NC84$165−17%$78 – $389
Connecticut CT20$159−20%$130 – $260
Tennessee TN79$154−22%$72 – $471
Wyoming WY14$148−26%$91 – $377
New York NY103$148−26%$51 – $403
Louisiana LA52$138−31%$75 – $241
Mississippi MS53$137−31%$78 – $274
Arkansas AR35$124−38%$65 – $203
Minnesota MN94$122−38%$70 – $342
Michigan MI92$117−41%$59 – $364
Florida FL143$90−55%$63 – $213
New Jersey NJ56$49−75%$47 – $145
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 $199.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,197$186$81 – $401
Children’s48$200$95 – $417
Critical access792$245$118 – $448
Ownership
For-profit429$234$96 – $741
Government526$222$97 – $388
Non-profit2,082$192$89 – $388
System affiliation
Part of a system2,515$197$89 – $426
Independent532$213$102 – $393

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$350
Median cash price$199
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

2,086 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $199 and the average of the middle 60% is $219; most fall between $99 and $388.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,086 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
$67$118$199$345$552

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($67 vs $552).

Of the 2,298 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,086 gave a usable cash price; 111 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,047 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (77%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,316 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,047
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here152
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 — excluded116
Hospitals that filed this code3,316

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 Hbv Quant.

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 viral load (amount of virus in blood) (CPT 87517) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87517-hepatitis-b-viral-load-amount-of-virus-in-blood