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

Unlisted microbiology laboratory test

CPT 87999the billing code this page is about

Covers a microbiology laboratory procedure that has no specific billing code of its own, such as testing how two drugs work in combination against an organism.

Hospitals typically charge $273 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,125 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $313. Most fall between $72 and $912 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,125
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 1,125 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$91$273$654$1,787

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 46× what the cheapest tenth charges ($39 vs $1,787).

How the prices are spread

$22 – $36: 43 hospitals$22$36 – $58: 84 hospitals$58 – $94: 102 hospitals$58$94 – $152: 121 hospitals$152 – $246: 118 hospitals$152$246 – $398: 190 hospitals$398 – $645: 118 hospitals$398$645 – $1,046: 90 hospitals$1,046 – $1,695: 82 hospitals$1,046$1,695 – $2,746: 65 hospitals$1,695median $273price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,013 of 1,125 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$22$3643
$36$5884
$58$94102
$94$152121
$152$246118
$246$398190
$398$645118
$645$1,04690
$1,046$1,69582
$1,695$2,74665

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $273.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $299 across 10 hospitalsNH$299Washington: median $85 across 24 hospitalsWA$85Idaho: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $372 across 34 hospitalsMN$372Illinois: median $198 across 54 hospitalsIL$198Wisconsin: median $150 across 54 hospitalsWI$150Michigan: median $326 across 26 hospitalsMI$326New York: median $978 across 35 hospitalsNY$978Massachusetts: median $72 across 15 hospitalsMA$72Oregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $314 across 30 hospitalsIA$314Indiana: median $427 across 42 hospitalsIN$427Ohio: median $278 across 73 hospitalsOH$278Pennsylvania: median $289 across 43 hospitalsPA$289New Jersey: median $26 across 24 hospitalsNJ$26Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $65 across 53 hospitalsCA$65Utah: median $264 across 24 hospitalsUT$264Colorado: median $112 across 18 hospitalsCO$112Nebraska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $764 across 28 hospitalsMO$764Kentucky: median $438 across 29 hospitalsKY$438West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $142 across 36 hospitalsVA$142Maryland: median $1,067 across 17 hospitalsMD$1,067Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $249 across 15 hospitalsAZ$249New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $225 across 12 hospitalsKS$225Arkansas: median $84 across 12 hospitalsAR$84Tennessee: median $68 across 32 hospitalsTN$68North Carolina: median $650 across 50 hospitalsNC$650South Carolina: median $1,690 across 19 hospitalsSC$1,690Oklahoma: median $122 across 26 hospitalsOK$122Louisiana: median $39 across 16 hospitalsLA$39Mississippi: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $377 across 27 hospitalsGA$377Hawaii: median $2,471 across 11 hospitalsHI$2,471Texas: median $180 across 100 hospitalsTX$180Florida: median $384 across 50 hospitalsFL$384
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $273. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Hawaii HI11$2,471+805%$137 – $2,471
South Carolina SC19$1,690+519%$486 – $1,690
Maryland MD17$1,067+291%$402 – $2,233
New York NY35$978+258%$132 – $2,920
Missouri MO28$764+180%$95 – $2,830
North Carolina NC50$650+138%$66 – $1,870
Kentucky KY29$438+61%$190 – $628
Indiana IN42$427+57%$129 – $1,127
Florida FL50$384+41%$80 – $1,191
Georgia GA27$377+38%$263 – $651
Minnesota MN34$372+36%$351 – $2,912
Michigan MI26$326+20%$200 – $1,673
Iowa IA30$314+15%$39 – $2,389
New Hampshire NH10$299+10%$78 – $310
Pennsylvania PA43$289+6%$112 – $526
Ohio OH73$278+2%$189 – $488
Utah UT24$264−3%$264 – $311
Arizona AZ15$249−9%$185 – $249
Kansas KS12$225−18%$85 – $321
Illinois IL54$198−27%$50 – $717
Texas TX100$180−34%$99 – $443
Wisconsin WI54$150−45%$150 – $378
Virginia VA36$142−48%$72 – $524
Oklahoma OK26$122−55%$42 – $235
Colorado CO18$112−59%$76 – $2,181
Washington WA24$85−69%$18 – $689
Arkansas AR12$84−69%$73 – $130
Massachusetts MA15$72−74%$41 – $117
Tennessee TN32$68−75%$52 – $203
California CA53$65−76%$16 – $545
Louisiana LA16$39−86%$20 – $79
New Jersey NJ24$26−90%$22 – $2,301
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $273.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care892$278$72 – $891
Children’s34$240$44 – $1,091
Critical access195$263$72 – $912
Ownership
For-profit108$278$99 – $1,109
Government150$360$65 – $950
Non-profit863$264$73 – $849
System affiliation
Part of a system992$278$76 – $912
Independent133$225$58 – $980

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$390
Median cash price$273
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

883 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $278 and the average of the middle 60% is $320; most fall between $73 and $849.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 883 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
$41$99$278$650$1,787

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 43× what the cheapest tenth charges ($41 vs $1,787).

Of the 1,000 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 883 gave a usable cash price; 78 carried a plausibility flag, 4 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 35 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,125 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (28%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,306 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,125
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here110
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded4
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded67
Hospitals that filed this code1,306

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 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 UNLISTED MICROBIOLOGY PX.

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, “Unlisted microbiology laboratory test (CPT 87999) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-87999-unlisted-microbiology-laboratory-test