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

HIV-2 viral load (amount of virus in blood)

CPT 87539the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that measures the quantity of HIV-2 genetic material in the sample and reports a number, including reverse transcription when performed.

Hospitals typically charge $126 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 272 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $161. Most fall between $61 and $342 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
272
States
37
Filings dated
Sep 2025 – 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 272 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
$58$65$126$292$431

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($58 vs $431).

How the prices are spread

$51 – $64: 42 hospitals$51$64 – $81: 31 hospitals$81 – $102: 16 hospitals$81$102 – $129: 40 hospitals$129 – $163: 4 hospitals$129$163 – $205: 28 hospitals$205 – $258: 14 hospitals$205$258 – $326: 25 hospitals$326 – $411: 9 hospitals$326$411 – $517: 38 hospitals$411median $126price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (247 of 272 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$51$6442
$64$8131
$81$10216
$102$12940
$129$1634
$163$20528
$205$25814
$258$32625
$326$4119
$411$51738

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $126.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $127 across 19 hospitalsWA$127Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $262 across 24 hospitalsMN$262Illinois: median $103 across 11 hospitalsIL$103Wisconsin: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $59 across 19 hospitalsNY$59Massachusetts: median $182 across 12 hospitalsMA$182Oregon: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $125 across 11 hospitalsIA$125Indiana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $58 across 21 hospitalsPA$58New Jersey: median $64 across 23 hospitalsNJ$64Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $431 across 22 hospitalsCA$431Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMOKentucky: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $486 across 13 hospitalsNC$486South Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $103 across 17 hospitalsOK$103Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $126. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
North Carolina NC13$486+287%$348 – $486
California CA22$431+243%$431 – $431
Minnesota MN24$262+109%$185 – $306
Massachusetts MA12$182+45%$72 – $286
Washington WA19$127+1%$89 – $230
Iowa IA11$125−1%$125 – $125
Illinois IL11$103−18%$57 – $125
Oklahoma OK17$103−18%$103 – $470
New Jersey NJ23$64−49%$59 – $64
New York NY19$59−53%$59 – $88
Pennsylvania PA21$58−54%$40 – $126
Wisconsin WI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $126.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care241$125$59 – $364
Children’s3fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access28$190$127 – $304
Ownership
For-profit19fewer than 20 hospitals
Government31$123$59 – $287
Non-profit222$147$64 – $425
System affiliation
Part of a system242$127$64 – $423
Independent30$94$58 – $239

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$335
Median cash price$126
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

162 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $200 and the average of the middle 60% is $247; most fall between $103 and $431.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 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
$75$114$200$342$431

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($75 vs $431).

Of the 179 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 162 gave a usable cash price; 12 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 5 a list price only.

How complete is this

272 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (7%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 294 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted272
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here17
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded4
Hospitals that filed this code294

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 5, 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 HIV-2 QUANT&REVRSE TRNSCRIPJ.

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, “HIV-2 viral load (amount of virus in blood) (CPT 87539) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87539-hiv-2-viral-load-amount-of-virus-in-blood