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

Tuberculosis bacteria genetic test, amplified method

CPT 87556the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that detects tuberculosis bacterial genetic material by copying it many times so it can be found in the sample.

Hospitals typically charge $171 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,440 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $183. Most fall between $77 and $347 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,440
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,440 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
$50$90$171$304$510

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $510).

How the prices are spread

$42 – $55: 174 hospitals$42$55 – $74: 179 hospitals$74 – $99: 243 hospitals$74$99 – $131: 257 hospitals$131 – $175: 260 hospitals$131$175 – $234: 295 hospitals$234 – $312: 325 hospitals$234$312 – $415: 223 hospitals$415 – $554: 157 hospitals$415$554 – $739: 84 hospitals$554median $171price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,197 of 2,440 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$42$55174
$55$74179
$74$99243
$99$131257
$131$175260
$175$234295
$234$312325
$312$415223
$415$554157
$554$73984

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $171.

Alaska: median $283 across 16 hospitalsAK$283Maine: median $137 across 20 hospitalsME$137Vermont: median $339 across 10 hospitalsVT$339New Hampshire: median $214 across 17 hospitalsNH$214Washington: median $173 across 55 hospitalsWA$173Idaho: median $156 across 15 hospitalsID$156Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $208 across 13 hospitalsND$208Minnesota: median $274 across 75 hospitalsMN$274Illinois: median $223 across 105 hospitalsIL$223Wisconsin: median $250 across 91 hospitalsWI$250Michigan: median $125 across 55 hospitalsMI$125New York: median $125 across 71 hospitalsNY$125Massachusetts: median $128 across 44 hospitalsMA$128Oregon: median $164 across 40 hospitalsOR$164Nevada: median $126 across 12 hospitalsNV$126Wyoming: median $89 across 10 hospitalsWY$89South Dakota: median $170 across 11 hospitalsSD$170Iowa: median $106 across 44 hospitalsIA$106Indiana: median $122 across 82 hospitalsIN$122Ohio: median $192 across 116 hospitalsOH$192Pennsylvania: median $174 across 83 hospitalsPA$174New Jersey: median $46 across 48 hospitalsNJ$46Connecticut: median $149 across 20 hospitalsCT$149Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $127 across 131 hospitalsCA$127Utah: median $472 across 34 hospitalsUT$472Colorado: median $207 across 55 hospitalsCO$207Nebraska: median $158 across 34 hospitalsNE$158Missouri: median $180 across 56 hospitalsMO$180Kentucky: median $143 across 45 hospitalsKY$143West Virginia: median $106 across 23 hospitalsWV$106Virginia: median $144 across 65 hospitalsVA$144Maryland: median $326 across 39 hospitalsMD$326Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $145 across 34 hospitalsAZ$145New Mexico: median $142 across 13 hospitalsNM$142Kansas: median $261 across 34 hospitalsKS$261Arkansas: median $169 across 31 hospitalsAR$169Tennessee: median $98 across 70 hospitalsTN$98North Carolina: median $131 across 78 hospitalsNC$131South Carolina: median $330 across 49 hospitalsSC$330Oklahoma: median $89 across 45 hospitalsOK$89Louisiana: median $88 across 41 hospitalsLA$88Mississippi: median $115 across 33 hospitalsMS$115Alabama: median $154 across 28 hospitalsAL$154Georgia: median $237 across 79 hospitalsGA$237Hawaii: median $192 across 17 hospitalsHI$192Texas: median $239 across 198 hospitalsTX$239Florida: median $105 across 130 hospitalsFL$105
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $171. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT34$472+177%$290 – $556
Vermont VT10$339+99%$164 – $438
South Carolina SC49$330+94%$122 – $597
Maryland MD39$326+91%$240 – $390
Alaska AK16$283+66%$196 – $572
Minnesota MN75$274+60%$186 – $357
Kansas KS34$261+53%$42 – $553
Wisconsin WI91$250+47%$148 – $403
Texas TX198$239+40%$81 – $686
Georgia GA79$237+39%$90 – $365
Illinois IL105$223+31%$90 – $393
New Hampshire NH17$214+25%$107 – $387
North Dakota ND13$208+22%$73 – $318
Colorado CO55$207+21%$109 – $359
Hawaii HI17$192+13%$149 – $303
Ohio OH116$192+13%$116 – $350
Missouri MO56$180+6%$138 – $274
Pennsylvania PA83$174+2%$48 – $364
Washington WA55$173+1%$79 – $263
South Dakota SD11$1700%$158 – $781
Arkansas AR31$169−1%$55 – $246
Oregon OR40$164−4%$109 – $218
Nebraska NE34$158−7%$80 – $387
Idaho ID15$156−9%$118 – $181
Alabama AL28$154−9%$69 – $390
Connecticut CT20$149−13%$127 – $313
Arizona AZ34$145−15%$71 – $693
Virginia VA65$144−15%$62 – $270
Kentucky KY45$143−16%$55 – $442
New Mexico NM13$142−17%$115 – $160
Maine ME20$137−20%$38 – $431
North Carolina NC78$131−23%$94 – $265
Massachusetts MA44$128−25%$79 – $295
California CA131$127−25%$55 – $329
Nevada NV12$126−26%$41 – $281
Michigan MI55$125−27%$60 – $161
New York NY71$125−27%$50 – $237
Indiana IN82$122−28%$72 – $285
Mississippi MS33$115−33%$68 – $316
Iowa IA44$106−38%$67 – $279
West Virginia WV23$106−38%$87 – $209
Florida FL130$105−39%$48 – $252
Tennessee TN70$98−43%$62 – $290
Oklahoma OK45$89−48%$14 – $225
Wyoming WY10$89−48%$57 – $239
Louisiana LA41$88−48%$51 – $136
New Jersey NJ48$46−73%$42 – $130
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $171.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,915$163$71 – $336
Children’s43$242$116 – $389
Critical access473$206$95 – $373
Ownership
For-profit377$211$94 – $683
Government350$138$71 – $296
Non-profit1,704$170$74 – $335
System affiliation
Part of a system2,100$173$74 – $352
Independent340$167$88 – $327

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$290
Median cash price$171
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

1,738 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $175 and the average of the middle 60% is $183; most fall between $81 and $333.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,738 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
$55$92$175$297$457

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($55 vs $457).

Of the 1,921 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,738 gave a usable cash price; 103 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 79 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,440 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (62%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,659 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,440
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here135
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded82
Hospitals that filed this code2,659

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 M Tuberculosis Complex 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, “Tuberculosis bacteria genetic test, amplified method (CPT 87556) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87556-tuberculosis-bacteria-genetic-test-amplified-method