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

Herpes simplex virus test by amplified probe

CPT 87529the billing code this page is about

A genetic test that detects herpes simplex virus by copying and amplifying its genetic material; it reports whether the virus is present.

Hospitals typically charge $127 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,169 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $133. Most fall between $51 and $254 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,169
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 3,169 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
$35$62$127$217$383

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($35 vs $383).

How the prices are spread

$25 – $34: 151 hospitals$25$34 – $47: 244 hospitals$47 – $64: 292 hospitals$47$64 – $87: 322 hospitals$87 – $119: 314 hospitals$87$119 – $162: 469 hospitals$162 – $222: 453 hospitals$162$222 – $302: 295 hospitals$302 – $413: 204 hospitals$302$413 – $563: 110 hospitals$413median $127price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,854 of 3,169 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$25$34151
$34$47244
$47$64292
$64$87322
$87$119314
$119$162469
$162$222453
$222$302295
$302$413204
$413$563110

By state

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

Alaska: median $121 across 17 hospitalsAK$121Maine: median $109 across 27 hospitalsME$109Vermont: median $98 across 14 hospitalsVT$98New Hampshire: median $152 across 24 hospitalsNH$152Washington: median $148 across 73 hospitalsWA$148Idaho: median $97 across 23 hospitalsID$97Montana: median $111 across 30 hospitalsMT$111North Dakota: median $145 across 29 hospitalsND$145Minnesota: median $129 across 104 hospitalsMN$129Illinois: median $188 across 134 hospitalsIL$188Wisconsin: median $158 across 104 hospitalsWI$158Michigan: median $48 across 88 hospitalsMI$48New York: median $102 across 105 hospitalsNY$102Massachusetts: median $161 across 52 hospitalsMA$161Oregon: median $142 across 48 hospitalsOR$142Nevada: median $160 across 17 hospitalsNV$160Wyoming: median $148 across 16 hospitalsWY$148South Dakota: median $243 across 32 hospitalsSD$243Iowa: median $126 across 85 hospitalsIA$126Indiana: median $125 across 95 hospitalsIN$125Ohio: median $84 across 138 hospitalsOH$84Pennsylvania: median $160 across 121 hospitalsPA$160New Jersey: median $40 across 54 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $130 across 23 hospitalsCT$130Rhode Island: median $117 across 10 hospitalsRI$117California: median $64 across 143 hospitalsCA$64Utah: median $481 across 41 hospitalsUT$481Colorado: median $165 across 69 hospitalsCO$165Nebraska: median $195 across 74 hospitalsNE$195Missouri: median $95 across 70 hospitalsMO$95Kentucky: median $139 across 64 hospitalsKY$139West Virginia: median $104 across 39 hospitalsWV$104Virginia: median $157 across 72 hospitalsVA$157Maryland: median $317 across 40 hospitalsMD$317Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $112 across 40 hospitalsAZ$112New Mexico: median $154 across 28 hospitalsNM$154Kansas: median $138 across 74 hospitalsKS$138Arkansas: median $53 across 38 hospitalsAR$53Tennessee: median $80 across 80 hospitalsTN$80North Carolina: median $131 across 85 hospitalsNC$131South Carolina: median $215 across 51 hospitalsSC$215Oklahoma: median $77 across 65 hospitalsOK$77Louisiana: median $72 across 46 hospitalsLA$72Mississippi: median $66 across 53 hospitalsMS$66Alabama: median $113 across 41 hospitalsAL$113Georgia: median $133 across 102 hospitalsGA$133Hawaii: median $176 across 18 hospitalsHI$176Texas: median $124 across 223 hospitalsTX$124Florida: median $68 across 143 hospitalsFL$68
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
Utah UT41$481+279%$200 – $566
Maryland MD40$317+150%$214 – $384
South Dakota SD32$243+91%$96 – $840
South Carolina SC51$215+69%$87 – $261
Nebraska NE74$195+54%$77 – $298
Illinois IL134$188+48%$67 – $356
Hawaii HI18$176+39%$47 – $309
Colorado CO69$165+30%$63 – $320
Massachusetts MA52$161+27%$82 – $283
Pennsylvania PA121$160+26%$50 – $412
Nevada NV17$160+26%$35 – $238
Wisconsin WI104$158+25%$115 – $248
Virginia VA72$157+24%$62 – $265
New Mexico NM28$154+21%$127 – $231
New Hampshire NH24$152+20%$28 – $272
Wyoming WY16$148+17%$74 – $239
Washington WA73$148+17%$85 – $218
North Dakota ND29$145+14%$61 – $275
Oregon OR48$142+12%$66 – $185
Kentucky KY64$139+10%$57 – $349
Kansas KS74$138+9%$78 – $308
Georgia GA102$133+5%$63 – $264
North Carolina NC85$131+3%$58 – $241
Connecticut CT23$130+2%$107 – $188
Minnesota MN104$129+1%$49 – $217
Iowa IA85$126−1%$67 – $197
Indiana IN95$125−1%$57 – $194
Texas TX223$124−2%$53 – $417
Alaska AK17$121−5%$82 – $273
Rhode Island RI10$117−8%$82 – $220
Alabama AL41$113−11%$54 – $212
Arizona AZ40$112−11%$50 – $521
Montana MT30$111−13%$71 – $170
Maine ME27$109−15%$72 – $211
West Virginia WV39$104−18%$33 – $198
New York NY105$102−20%$36 – $240
Vermont VT14$98−23%$62 – $222
Idaho ID23$97−24%$77 – $235
Missouri MO70$95−25%$73 – $221
Ohio OH138$84−34%$65 – $157
Tennessee TN80$80−37%$49 – $186
Oklahoma OK65$77−39%$22 – $141
Louisiana LA46$72−43%$43 – $133
Florida FL143$68−46%$25 – $174
Mississippi MS53$66−48%$33 – $131
California CA143$64−49%$24 – $205
Arkansas AR38$53−59%$51 – $101
Michigan MI88$48−62%$20 – $162
New Jersey NJ54$40−68%$35 – $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 $127.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,236$123$46 – $249
Children’s50$115$58 – $266
Critical access873$145$73 – $258
Ownership
For-profit440$133$48 – $442
Government565$128$54 – $230
Non-profit2,154$125$50 – $248
System affiliation
Part of a system2,593$128$50 – $258
Independent576$124$58 – $235

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$206
Median cash price$127
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

2,162 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $129 and the average of the middle 60% is $133; most fall between $53 and $243.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,162 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
$37$63$129$215$358

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $358).

Of the 2,385 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,162 gave a usable cash price; 116 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 107 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,169 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (80%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,453 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,169
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here160
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 — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,453

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 HC Hsv 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, “Herpes simplex virus test by amplified probe (CPT 87529) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87529-herpes-simplex-virus-test-by-amplified-probe