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

Genetic test for an unlisted germ, amplified method

CPT 87798the billing code this page is about

A molecular test that copies and detects the genetic material of an organism not covered by a specific code; billed once for each organism tested.

Hospitals typically charge $78 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,325 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $90. Most fall between $36 and $188 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,325
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 3,325 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
$26$41$78$162$290

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($26 vs $290).

How the prices are spread

$19 – $25: 146 hospitals$19$25 – $34: 251 hospitals$34 – $46: 389 hospitals$34$46 – $63: 383 hospitals$63 – $85: 407 hospitals$63$85 – $115: 362 hospitals$115 – $156: 336 hospitals$115$156 – $211: 316 hospitals$211 – $287: 227 hospitals$211$287 – $389: 176 hospitals$287median $78price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,993 of 3,325 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$19$25146
$25$34251
$34$46389
$46$63383
$63$85407
$85$115362
$115$156336
$156$211316
$211$287227
$287$389176

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $78.

Alaska: median $60 across 18 hospitalsAK$60Maine: median $100 across 28 hospitalsME$100Vermont: median $88 across 14 hospitalsVT$88New Hampshire: median $119 across 24 hospitalsNH$119Washington: median $120 across 78 hospitalsWA$120Idaho: median $72 across 23 hospitalsID$72Montana: median $97 across 34 hospitalsMT$97North Dakota: median $105 across 34 hospitalsND$105Minnesota: median $74 across 107 hospitalsMN$74Illinois: median $102 across 141 hospitalsIL$102Wisconsin: median $68 across 108 hospitalsWI$68Michigan: median $44 across 89 hospitalsMI$44New York: median $81 across 118 hospitalsNY$81Massachusetts: median $152 across 54 hospitalsMA$152Oregon: median $107 across 51 hospitalsOR$107Nevada: median $126 across 20 hospitalsNV$126Wyoming: median $67 across 16 hospitalsWY$67South Dakota: median $133 across 38 hospitalsSD$133Iowa: median $81 across 86 hospitalsIA$81Indiana: median $67 across 97 hospitalsIN$67Ohio: median $85 across 141 hospitalsOH$85Pennsylvania: median $105 across 122 hospitalsPA$105New Jersey: median $40 across 56 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $107 across 23 hospitalsCT$107Rhode Island: median $82 across 10 hospitalsRI$82California: median $52 across 156 hospitalsCA$52Utah: median $89 across 42 hospitalsUT$89Colorado: median $77 across 72 hospitalsCO$77Nebraska: median $122 across 80 hospitalsNE$122Missouri: median $69 across 74 hospitalsMO$69Kentucky: median $71 across 68 hospitalsKY$71West Virginia: median $53 across 41 hospitalsWV$53Virginia: median $113 across 69 hospitalsVA$113Maryland: median $317 across 41 hospitalsMD$317Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $119 across 42 hospitalsAZ$119New Mexico: median $118 across 27 hospitalsNM$118Kansas: median $124 across 88 hospitalsKS$124Arkansas: median $38 across 39 hospitalsAR$38Tennessee: median $62 across 80 hospitalsTN$62North Carolina: median $64 across 87 hospitalsNC$64South Carolina: median $220 across 53 hospitalsSC$220Oklahoma: median $61 across 70 hospitalsOK$61Louisiana: median $47 across 49 hospitalsLA$47Mississippi: median $38 across 56 hospitalsMS$38Alabama: median $63 across 43 hospitalsAL$63Georgia: median $65 across 103 hospitalsGA$65Hawaii: median $160 across 19 hospitalsHI$160Texas: median $72 across 239 hospitalsTX$72Florida: median $58 across 150 hospitalsFL$58
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $78. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD41$317+307%$214 – $390
South Carolina SC53$220+182%$88 – $322
Hawaii HI19$160+106%$47 – $314
Massachusetts MA54$152+94%$82 – $254
South Dakota SD38$133+71%$86 – $190
Nevada NV20$126+61%$38 – $160
Kansas KS88$124+59%$53 – $206
Nebraska NE80$122+56%$49 – $308
Washington WA78$120+54%$65 – $216
Arizona AZ42$119+53%$53 – $390
New Hampshire NH24$119+53%$78 – $274
New Mexico NM27$118+51%$65 – $162
Virginia VA69$113+44%$30 – $210
Connecticut CT23$107+37%$67 – $117
Oregon OR51$107+37%$46 – $201
North Dakota ND34$105+35%$61 – $219
Pennsylvania PA122$105+34%$40 – $311
Illinois IL141$102+31%$47 – $226
Maine ME28$100+28%$32 – $152
Montana MT34$97+24%$60 – $166
Utah UT42$89+14%$75 – $176
Vermont VT14$88+13%$28 – $263
Ohio OH141$85+9%$42 – $157
Rhode Island RI10$82+5%$54 – $175
Iowa IA86$81+4%$47 – $158
New York NY118$81+3%$35 – $158
Colorado CO72$77−1%$43 – $194
Minnesota MN107$74−5%$26 – $165
Texas TX239$72−7%$32 – $224
Idaho ID23$72−7%$36 – $202
Kentucky KY68$71−9%$41 – $150
Missouri MO74$69−12%$39 – $156
Wisconsin WI108$68−13%$40 – $179
Indiana IN97$67−14%$34 – $150
Wyoming WY16$67−15%$54 – $100
Georgia GA103$65−17%$40 – $150
North Carolina NC87$64−18%$31 – $162
Alabama AL43$63−19%$30 – $267
Tennessee TN80$62−21%$34 – $134
Oklahoma OK70$61−22%$19 – $172
Alaska AK18$60−23%$48 – $162
Florida FL150$58−26%$27 – $105
West Virginia WV41$53−32%$35 – $104
California CA156$52−33%$24 – $142
Louisiana LA49$47−40%$17 – $100
Michigan MI89$44−44%$34 – $90
New Jersey NJ56$40−48%$35 – $119
Arkansas AR39$38−51%$31 – $86
Mississippi MS56$38−52%$22 – $144
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 $78.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,298$69$34 – $176
Children’s66$87$44 – $244
Critical access951$97$48 – $206
Ownership
For-profit459$97$42 – $239
Government618$79$37 – $191
Non-profit2,238$76$36 – $181
System affiliation
Part of a system2,700$76$35 – $188
Independent625$85$40 – $183

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$127
Median cash price$78
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

2,246 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $76 and the average of the middle 60% is $89; most fall between $36 and $189.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,246 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
$25$41$76$164$291

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($25 vs $291).

Of the 2,473 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,246 gave a usable cash price; 119 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,325 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (84%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,617 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,325
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here161
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 — excluded130
Hospitals that filed this code3,617

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC West Nile 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, “Genetic test for an unlisted germ, amplified method (CPT 87798) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87798-genetic-test-for-an-unlisted-germ-amplified-method