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

Walking pneumonia bacteria test, amplified method

CPT 87581the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that detects Mycoplasma pneumoniae genetic material by copying it many times so it can be identified in the sample.

Hospitals typically charge $121 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,561 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $128. Most fall between $52 and $257 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,561
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – 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 2,561 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$121$214$412

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($35 vs $412).

How the prices are spread

$28 – $38: 163 hospitals$28$38 – $51: 218 hospitals$51 – $69: 250 hospitals$51$69 – $92: 264 hospitals$92 – $124: 289 hospitals$92$124 – $167: 398 hospitals$167 – $224: 233 hospitals$167$224 – $300: 184 hospitals$300 – $403: 172 hospitals$300$403 – $542: 138 hospitals$403median $121price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,309 of 2,561 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$28$38163
$38$51218
$51$69250
$69$92264
$92$124289
$124$167398
$167$224233
$224$300184
$300$403172
$403$542138

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $121.

Alaska: median $125 across 10 hospitalsAK$125Maine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $112 across 18 hospitalsNH$112Washington: median $160 across 53 hospitalsWA$160Idaho: median $128 across 18 hospitalsID$128Montana: median $105 across 20 hospitalsMT$105North Dakota: median $208 across 23 hospitalsND$208Minnesota: median $142 across 71 hospitalsMN$142Illinois: median $132 across 116 hospitalsIL$132Wisconsin: median $155 across 92 hospitalsWI$155Michigan: median $90 across 75 hospitalsMI$90New York: median $86 across 98 hospitalsNY$86Massachusetts: median $159 across 41 hospitalsMA$159Oregon: median $122 across 40 hospitalsOR$122Nevada: median $143 across 15 hospitalsNV$143Wyoming: median $75 across 14 hospitalsWY$75South Dakota: median $142 across 22 hospitalsSD$142Iowa: median $99 across 62 hospitalsIA$99Indiana: median $82 across 67 hospitalsIN$82Ohio: median $96 across 124 hospitalsOH$96Pennsylvania: median $143 across 105 hospitalsPA$143New Jersey: median $40 across 52 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $149 across 14 hospitalsCT$149Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $82 across 128 hospitalsCA$82Utah: median $420 across 38 hospitalsUT$420Colorado: median $120 across 53 hospitalsCO$120Nebraska: median $116 across 57 hospitalsNE$116Missouri: median $116 across 64 hospitalsMO$116Kentucky: median $121 across 47 hospitalsKY$121West Virginia: median $88 across 29 hospitalsWV$88Virginia: median $161 across 57 hospitalsVA$161Maryland: median $326 across 38 hospitalsMD$326Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $178 across 34 hospitalsAZ$178New Mexico: median $142 across 19 hospitalsNM$142Kansas: median $160 across 43 hospitalsKS$160Arkansas: median $28 across 31 hospitalsAR$28Tennessee: median $56 across 70 hospitalsTN$56North Carolina: median $150 across 74 hospitalsNC$150South Carolina: median $202 across 40 hospitalsSC$202Oklahoma: median $123 across 59 hospitalsOK$123Louisiana: median $62 across 43 hospitalsLA$62Mississippi: median $95 across 35 hospitalsMS$95Alabama: median $64 across 37 hospitalsAL$64Georgia: median $137 across 82 hospitalsGA$137Hawaii: median $104 across 14 hospitalsHI$104Texas: median $131 across 191 hospitalsTX$131Florida: median $114 across 105 hospitalsFL$114
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $121. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT38$420+247%$172 – $494
Maryland MD38$326+169%$251 – $390
North Dakota ND23$208+72%$150 – $251
South Carolina SC40$202+67%$107 – $240
Arizona AZ34$178+47%$50 – $496
Virginia VA57$161+33%$96 – $556
Kansas KS43$160+32%$65 – $333
Washington WA53$160+32%$76 – $249
Massachusetts MA41$159+32%$100 – $284
Wisconsin WI92$155+28%$98 – $199
North Carolina NC74$150+24%$66 – $281
Connecticut CT14$149+23%$107 – $188
Pennsylvania PA105$143+18%$40 – $412
Nevada NV15$143+18%$37 – $255
South Dakota SD22$142+17%$48 – $268
New Mexico NM19$142+17%$68 – $258
Minnesota MN71$142+17%$61 – $199
Georgia GA82$137+13%$63 – $161
Illinois IL116$132+9%$62 – $264
Texas TX191$131+8%$60 – $360
Idaho ID18$128+6%$117 – $196
Alaska AK10$125+3%$90 – $229
Oklahoma OK59$123+1%$68 – $189
Oregon OR40$1220%$73 – $174
Kentucky KY47$1210%$58 – $384
Colorado CO53$120−1%$41 – $211
Nebraska NE57$116−4%$68 – $198
Missouri MO64$116−4%$53 – $191
Florida FL105$114−6%$44 – $270
New Hampshire NH18$112−7%$19 – $197
Montana MT20$105−13%$77 – $179
Hawaii HI14$104−14%$47 – $280
Iowa IA62$99−18%$67 – $241
Ohio OH124$96−21%$50 – $238
Mississippi MS35$95−21%$33 – $161
Michigan MI75$90−26%$48 – $141
West Virginia WV29$88−27%$87 – $123
New York NY98$86−29%$35 – $158
Indiana IN67$82−32%$61 – $215
California CA128$82−32%$41 – $187
Wyoming WY14$75−38%$61 – $270
Alabama AL37$64−47%$35 – $208
Louisiana LA43$62−49%$24 – $111
Tennessee TN70$56−53%$32 – $147
New Jersey NJ52$40−67%$39 – $121
Arkansas AR31$28−77%$23 – $135
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not 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 $121.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,923$119$48 – $273
Children’s49$124$53 – $236
Critical access580$132$64 – $243
Ownership
For-profit356$143$61 – $472
Government413$114$52 – $224
Non-profit1,783$119$50 – $247
System affiliation
Part of a system2,171$125$51 – $262
Independent390$103$54 – $232

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$201
Median cash price$121
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

1,779 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $127 and the average of the middle 60% is $131; most fall between $56 and $253.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,779 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
$38$66$127$216$383

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($38 vs $383).

Of the 1,956 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,779 gave a usable cash price; 98 carried a plausibility flag, 0 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

2,561 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (65%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,776 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,561
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here129
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 — excluded85
Hospitals that filed this code2,776

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 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 M.PNEUMON DNA AMP PROBE.

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, “Walking pneumonia bacteria test, amplified method (CPT 87581) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87581-walking-pneumonia-bacteria-test-amplified-method