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

Combined COVID-19 and influenza A and B test

CPT 87636the billing code this page is about

A single laboratory test on one respiratory specimen that looks for the genetic material of the COVID-19 virus and both influenza A and influenza B at the same time.

Hospitals typically charge $219 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,734 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $224. Most fall between $120 and $365 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,734
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 1,734 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
$82$137$219$331$521

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($82 vs $521).

How the prices are spread

$61 – $78: 89 hospitals$61$78 – $98: 86 hospitals$98 – $124: 127 hospitals$98$124 – $157: 175 hospitals$157 – $198: 233 hospitals$157$198 – $251: 249 hospitals$251 – $317: 238 hospitals$251$317 – $400: 156 hospitals$400 – $506: 131 hospitals$400$506 – $640: 95 hospitals$506median $219price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,579 of 1,734 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$61$7889
$78$9886
$98$124127
$124$157175
$157$198233
$198$251249
$251$317238
$317$400156
$400$506131
$506$64095

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $219.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $167 across 23 hospitalsME$167Vermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $215 across 10 hospitalsNH$215Washington: median $172 across 40 hospitalsWA$172Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: median $270 across 17 hospitalsMT$270North Dakota: median $223 across 16 hospitalsND$223Minnesota: median $256 across 66 hospitalsMN$256Illinois: median $229 across 68 hospitalsIL$229Wisconsin: median $268 across 76 hospitalsWI$268Michigan: median $266 across 62 hospitalsMI$266New York: median $263 across 81 hospitalsNY$263Massachusetts: median $290 across 32 hospitalsMA$290Oregon: median $263 across 29 hospitalsOR$263Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $422 across 31 hospitalsSD$422Iowa: median $200 across 44 hospitalsIA$200Indiana: median $164 across 61 hospitalsIN$164Ohio: median $260 across 86 hospitalsOH$260Pennsylvania: median $214 across 66 hospitalsPA$214New Jersey: median $157 across 44 hospitalsNJ$157Connecticut: median $435 across 11 hospitalsCT$435Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $249 across 98 hospitalsCA$249Utah: median $275 across 26 hospitalsUT$275Colorado: median $162 across 20 hospitalsCO$162Nebraska: median $268 across 25 hospitalsNE$268Missouri: median $213 across 45 hospitalsMO$213Kentucky: median $190 across 39 hospitalsKY$190West Virginia: median $72 across 20 hospitalsWV$72Virginia: median $153 across 42 hospitalsVA$153Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $164 across 25 hospitalsAZ$164New Mexico: median $250 across 16 hospitalsNM$250Kansas: median $160 across 23 hospitalsKS$160Arkansas: median $214 across 13 hospitalsAR$214Tennessee: median $67 across 36 hospitalsTN$67North Carolina: median $242 across 52 hospitalsNC$242South Carolina: median $313 across 29 hospitalsSC$313Oklahoma: median $177 across 43 hospitalsOK$177Louisiana: median $111 across 14 hospitalsLA$111Mississippi: median $129 across 27 hospitalsMS$129Alabama: median $236 across 23 hospitalsAL$236Georgia: median $184 across 38 hospitalsGA$184Hawaii: median $376 across 14 hospitalsHI$376Texas: median $102 across 88 hospitalsTX$102Florida: median $250 across 60 hospitalsFL$250
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $219. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Connecticut CT11$435+98%$238 – $445
South Dakota SD31$422+93%$350 – $473
Hawaii HI14$376+72%$251 – $508
South Carolina SC29$313+43%$158 – $313
Massachusetts MA32$290+32%$205 – $435
Utah UT26$275+25%$275 – $323
Montana MT17$270+23%$96 – $335
Wisconsin WI76$268+22%$147 – $410
Nebraska NE25$268+22%$130 – $371
Michigan MI62$266+21%$122 – $337
New York NY81$263+20%$143 – $639
Oregon OR29$263+20%$94 – $320
Ohio OH86$260+19%$194 – $365
Minnesota MN66$256+17%$145 – $334
Florida FL60$250+14%$210 – $638
New Mexico NM16$250+14%$119 – $325
California CA98$249+14%$189 – $502
North Carolina NC52$242+11%$147 – $308
Alabama AL23$236+8%$84 – $550
Illinois IL68$229+4%$140 – $346
North Dakota ND16$223+2%$121 – $350
New Hampshire NH10$215−2%$144 – $235
Arkansas AR13$214−2%$95 – $265
Pennsylvania PA66$214−2%$94 – $385
Missouri MO45$213−3%$98 – $245
Iowa IA44$200−9%$137 – $361
Kentucky KY39$190−13%$120 – $274
Georgia GA38$184−16%$172 – $500
Oklahoma OK43$177−19%$80 – $251
Washington WA40$172−22%$137 – $400
Maine ME23$167−24%$53 – $176
Arizona AZ25$164−25%$106 – $438
Indiana IN61$164−25%$91 – $243
Colorado CO20$162−26%$80 – $639
Kansas KS23$160−27%$100 – $252
New Jersey NJ44$157−28%$143 – $281
Virginia VA42$153−30%$125 – $218
Mississippi MS27$129−41%$105 – $205
Louisiana LA14$111−49%$63 – $274
Texas TX88$102−54%$61 – $254
West Virginia WV20$72−67%$72 – $72
Tennessee TN36$67−69%$47 – $125
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not 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 $219.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,284$214$117 – $363
Children’s35$427$221 – $727
Critical access409$236$122 – $360
Ownership
For-profit176$169$80 – $350
Government221$178$115 – $315
Non-profit1,331$228$125 – $387
System affiliation
Part of a system1,551$219$117 – $365
Independent183$222$137 – $366

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$386
Median cash price$219
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

1,282 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $236 and the average of the middle 60% is $238; most fall between $122 and $404.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,282 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
$85$141$236$350$532

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($85 vs $532).

Of the 1,380 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,282 gave a usable cash price; 52 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 46 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,734 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (44%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,841 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,734
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here55
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded52
Hospitals that filed this code1,841

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 SARSCOV2 & INF A&B AMP PRB.

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, “Combined COVID-19 and influenza A and B test (CPT 87636) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87636-combined-covid-19-and-influenza-a-and-b-test