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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

COVID-19 test by DNA amplification

CPT 87635the billing code this page is about

A laboratory test that looks for the genetic material of the virus that causes COVID-19 in a respiratory specimen. Covers one test on one specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $97 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,206 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $99. Most fall between $55 and $158 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,206
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 3,206 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
$40$61$97$144$213

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($40 vs $213).

How the prices are spread

$29 – $36: 91 hospitals$29$36 – $45: 176 hospitals$45 – $57: 249 hospitals$45$57 – $71: 391 hospitals$71 – $89: 384 hospitals$71$89 – $112: 429 hospitals$112 – $140: 481 hospitals$112$140 – $175: 336 hospitals$175 – $220: 216 hospitals$175$220 – $275: 133 hospitals$220median $97price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,886 of 3,206 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$29$3691
$36$45176
$45$57249
$57$71391
$71$89384
$89$112429
$112$140481
$140$175336
$175$220216
$220$275133

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $97.

Alaska: median $106 across 17 hospitalsAK$106Maine: median $84 across 26 hospitalsME$84Vermont: median $102 across 13 hospitalsVT$102New Hampshire: median $94 across 24 hospitalsNH$94Washington: median $113 across 75 hospitalsWA$113Idaho: median $94 across 22 hospitalsID$94Montana: median $108 across 32 hospitalsMT$108North Dakota: median $125 across 29 hospitalsND$125Minnesota: median $93 across 103 hospitalsMN$93Illinois: median $116 across 131 hospitalsIL$116Wisconsin: median $119 across 109 hospitalsWI$119Michigan: median $104 across 94 hospitalsMI$104New York: median $125 across 115 hospitalsNY$125Massachusetts: median $113 across 52 hospitalsMA$113Oregon: median $121 across 48 hospitalsOR$121Nevada: median $82 across 20 hospitalsNV$82Wyoming: median $97 across 14 hospitalsWY$97South Dakota: median $150 across 41 hospitalsSD$150Iowa: median $107 across 90 hospitalsIA$107Indiana: median $95 across 93 hospitalsIN$95Ohio: median $128 across 134 hospitalsOH$128Pennsylvania: median $75 across 116 hospitalsPA$75New Jersey: median $56 across 55 hospitalsNJ$56Connecticut: median $123 across 23 hospitalsCT$123Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $96 across 159 hospitalsCA$96Utah: median $129 across 41 hospitalsUT$129Colorado: median $73 across 66 hospitalsCO$73Nebraska: median $130 across 79 hospitalsNE$130Missouri: median $77 across 69 hospitalsMO$77Kentucky: median $95 across 53 hospitalsKY$95West Virginia: median $108 across 33 hospitalsWV$108Virginia: median $79 across 72 hospitalsVA$79Maryland: median $125 across 41 hospitalsMD$125Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $94 across 41 hospitalsAZ$94New Mexico: median $141 across 24 hospitalsNM$141Kansas: median $116 across 77 hospitalsKS$116Arkansas: median $113 across 32 hospitalsAR$113Tennessee: median $56 across 78 hospitalsTN$56North Carolina: median $78 across 86 hospitalsNC$78South Carolina: median $92 across 52 hospitalsSC$92Oklahoma: median $66 across 67 hospitalsOK$66Louisiana: median $59 across 47 hospitalsLA$59Mississippi: median $42 across 53 hospitalsMS$42Alabama: median $73 across 42 hospitalsAL$73Georgia: median $100 across 98 hospitalsGA$100Hawaii: median $75 across 21 hospitalsHI$75Texas: median $95 across 230 hospitalsTX$95Florida: median $100 across 154 hospitalsFL$100
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $97. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD41$150+54%$125 – $170
New Mexico NM24$141+45%$67 – $217
Nebraska NE79$130+34%$77 – $194
Utah UT41$129+33%$85 – $152
Ohio OH134$128+31%$73 – $168
New York NY115$125+28%$52 – $197
Maryland MD41$125+28%$57 – $345
North Dakota ND29$125+28%$32 – $175
Connecticut CT23$123+26%$111 – $160
Oregon OR48$121+24%$75 – $158
Wisconsin WI109$119+23%$74 – $173
Kansas KS77$116+19%$56 – $159
Illinois IL131$116+19%$65 – $180
Arkansas AR32$113+16%$65 – $158
Massachusetts MA52$113+16%$84 – $229
Washington WA75$113+16%$67 – $185
Montana MT32$108+11%$92 – $158
West Virginia WV33$108+10%$65 – $136
Iowa IA90$107+10%$67 – $187
Alaska AK17$106+9%$67 – $201
Michigan MI94$104+7%$44 – $209
Vermont VT13$102+5%$43 – $125
Georgia GA98$100+3%$76 – $179
Florida FL154$100+3%$61 – $186
Wyoming WY14$970%$70 – $151
California CA159$96−2%$51 – $211
Indiana IN93$95−2%$49 – $127
Kentucky KY53$95−2%$48 – $152
Texas TX230$95−2%$54 – $130
New Hampshire NH24$94−3%$61 – $182
Arizona AZ41$94−3%$55 – $136
Idaho ID22$94−4%$81 – $138
Minnesota MN103$93−5%$60 – $129
South Carolina SC52$92−5%$64 – $156
Maine ME26$84−14%$34 – $88
Nevada NV20$82−16%$27 – $112
Virginia VA72$79−19%$26 – $118
North Carolina NC86$78−20%$54 – $104
Missouri MO69$77−20%$51 – $130
Hawaii HI21$75−23%$59 – $217
Pennsylvania PA116$75−23%$59 – $125
Alabama AL42$73−25%$42 – $169
Colorado CO66$73−25%$49 – $139
Oklahoma OK67$66−32%$49 – $142
Louisiana LA47$59−39%$28 – $100
New Jersey NJ55$56−42%$51 – $153
Tennessee TN78$56−42%$36 – $75
Mississippi MS53$42−57%$33 – $83
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 $97.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,207$87$52 – $150
Children’s65$106$59 – $206
Critical access925$116$68 – $170
Ownership
For-profit437$76$51 – $144
Government600$102$60 – $160
Non-profit2,160$100$56 – $158
System affiliation
Part of a system2,615$96$54 – $155
Independent591$105$60 – $168

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$158
Median cash price$97
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

2,179 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $100 and the average of the middle 60% is $101; most fall between $55 and $163.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,179 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
$39$62$100$150$223

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($39 vs $223).

Of the 2,408 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,179 gave a usable cash price; 125 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 103 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,206 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,492 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,206
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) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded125
Hospitals that filed this code3,492

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Iadna Sars-Cov-2 Covid-19 Amplified Probe Tq.

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, “COVID-19 test by DNA amplification (CPT 87635) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87635-covid-19-test-by-dna-amplification