HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

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

Hepatitis C viral load (amount of virus in blood)

CPT 87522the billing code this page is about

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

Hospitals typically charge $200 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,273 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $227. Most fall between $92 and $432 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,273
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 3,273 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
$61$110$200$378$592

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($61 vs $592).

How the prices are spread

$45 – $60: 158 hospitals$45$60 – $80: 203 hospitals$80 – $108: 283 hospitals$80$108 – $144: 351 hospitals$144 – $193: 398 hospitals$144$193 – $259: 387 hospitals$259 – $347: 396 hospitals$259$347 – $464: 367 hospitals$464 – $622: 264 hospitals$464$622 – $833: 142 hospitals$622median $200price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,949 of 3,273 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$45$60158
$60$80203
$80$108283
$108$144351
$144$193398
$193$259387
$259$347396
$347$464367
$464$622264
$622$833142

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $200.

Alaska: median $319 across 19 hospitalsAK$319Maine: median $172 across 28 hospitalsME$172Vermont: median $384 across 14 hospitalsVT$384New Hampshire: median $274 across 24 hospitalsNH$274Washington: median $286 across 76 hospitalsWA$286Idaho: median $206 across 23 hospitalsID$206Montana: median $252 across 30 hospitalsMT$252North Dakota: median $254 across 32 hospitalsND$254Minnesota: median $156 across 105 hospitalsMN$156Illinois: median $291 across 141 hospitalsIL$291Wisconsin: median $256 across 105 hospitalsWI$256Michigan: median $98 across 94 hospitalsMI$98New York: median $123 across 106 hospitalsNY$123Massachusetts: median $207 across 51 hospitalsMA$207Oregon: median $197 across 50 hospitalsOR$197Nevada: median $200 across 20 hospitalsNV$200Wyoming: median $164 across 16 hospitalsWY$164South Dakota: median $331 across 33 hospitalsSD$331Iowa: median $250 across 87 hospitalsIA$250Indiana: median $149 across 94 hospitalsIN$149Ohio: median $192 across 139 hospitalsOH$192Pennsylvania: median $219 across 120 hospitalsPA$219New Jersey: median $49 across 54 hospitalsNJ$49Connecticut: median $192 across 23 hospitalsCT$192Rhode Island: median $118 across 10 hospitalsRI$118California: median $88 across 141 hospitalsCA$88Utah: median $693 across 42 hospitalsUT$693Colorado: median $224 across 67 hospitalsCO$224Nebraska: median $341 across 78 hospitalsNE$341Missouri: median $221 across 74 hospitalsMO$221Kentucky: median $182 across 69 hospitalsKY$182West Virginia: median $211 across 44 hospitalsWV$211Virginia: median $204 across 73 hospitalsVA$204Maryland: median $423 across 41 hospitalsMD$423Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $299 across 42 hospitalsAZ$299New Mexico: median $195 across 27 hospitalsNM$195Kansas: median $218 across 87 hospitalsKS$218Arkansas: median $90 across 39 hospitalsAR$90Tennessee: median $156 across 80 hospitalsTN$156North Carolina: median $144 across 89 hospitalsNC$144South Carolina: median $401 across 51 hospitalsSC$401Oklahoma: median $220 across 73 hospitalsOK$220Louisiana: median $134 across 50 hospitalsLA$134Mississippi: median $129 across 53 hospitalsMS$129Alabama: median $177 across 44 hospitalsAL$177Georgia: median $276 across 108 hospitalsGA$276Hawaii: median $215 across 18 hospitalsHI$215Texas: median $210 across 237 hospitalsTX$210Florida: median $109 across 145 hospitalsFL$109
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $200. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT42$693+247%$264 – $815
Maryland MD41$423+112%$320 – $512
South Carolina SC51$401+101%$175 – $487
Vermont VT14$384+92%$148 – $703
Nebraska NE78$341+71%$138 – $560
South Dakota SD33$331+66%$119 – $588
Alaska AK19$319+60%$113 – $584
Arizona AZ42$299+50%$72 – $450
Illinois IL141$291+46%$178 – $560
Washington WA76$286+44%$186 – $446
Georgia GA108$276+38%$110 – $365
New Hampshire NH24$274+37%$133 – $596
Wisconsin WI105$256+28%$175 – $441
North Dakota ND32$254+27%$77 – $342
Montana MT30$252+26%$75 – $535
Iowa IA87$250+25%$107 – $392
Colorado CO67$224+12%$91 – $379
Missouri MO74$221+11%$162 – $371
Oklahoma OK73$220+10%$96 – $324
Pennsylvania PA120$219+10%$64 – $584
Kansas KS87$218+9%$141 – $423
Hawaii HI18$215+8%$112 – $352
West Virginia WV44$211+6%$107 – $354
Texas TX237$210+5%$120 – $597
Massachusetts MA51$207+4%$111 – $456
Idaho ID23$206+3%$88 – $487
Virginia VA73$204+2%$129 – $374
Nevada NV20$2000%$62 – $410
Oregon OR50$197−1%$171 – $359
New Mexico NM27$195−2%$145 – $445
Ohio OH139$192−4%$132 – $491
Connecticut CT23$192−4%$142 – $357
Kentucky KY69$182−9%$106 – $369
Alabama AL44$177−11%$90 – $720
Maine ME28$172−14%$104 – $365
Wyoming WY16$164−18%$91 – $319
Minnesota MN105$156−22%$83 – $367
Tennessee TN80$156−22%$75 – $315
Indiana IN94$149−25%$87 – $296
North Carolina NC89$144−28%$71 – $552
Louisiana LA50$134−33%$72 – $320
Mississippi MS53$129−35%$59 – $193
New York NY106$123−38%$57 – $232
Rhode Island RI10$118−41%$114 – $342
Florida FL145$109−45%$70 – $425
Michigan MI94$98−51%$45 – $301
Arkansas AR39$90−55%$56 – $222
California CA141$88−56%$51 – $230
New Jersey NJ54$49−75%$47 – $182
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 $200.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,267$192$84 – $432
Children’s51$239$90 – $521
Critical access945$242$120 – $432
Ownership
For-profit459$249$100 – $744
Government622$212$97 – $412
Non-profit2,182$195$88 – $410
System affiliation
Part of a system2,651$197$89 – $434
Independent622$207$99 – $380

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$348
Median cash price$200
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

2,219 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $200 and the average of the middle 60% is $222; most fall between $98 and $420.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,219 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$200$368$557

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($67 vs $557).

Of the 2,443 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,219 gave a usable cash price; 114 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 110 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,273 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,563 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,273
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here159
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 — excluded130
Hospitals that filed this code3,563

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 July 20, 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 Iadna Hepatitis C Quant & Reverse Transcription.

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 C viral load (amount of virus in blood) (CPT 87522) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87522-hepatitis-c-viral-load-amount-of-virus-in-blood