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Procedure price report · Pathology

Cell exam of fluid or washings, smear method

CPT 88104the billing code this page is about

A laboratory exam of cells from body fluid, a washing, or a brushing (other than cervical or vaginal), prepared as smears and interpreted by a pathologist.

Hospitals typically charge $100 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,600 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $106. Most fall between $51 and $185 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,600
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 2,600 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$58$100$164$282

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($39 vs $282).

How the prices are spread

$29 – $38: 115 hospitals$29$38 – $50: 255 hospitals$50 – $66: 269 hospitals$50$66 – $86: 312 hospitals$86 – $113: 376 hospitals$86$113 – $149: 366 hospitals$149 – $197: 315 hospitals$149$197 – $259: 175 hospitals$259 – $340: 98 hospitals$259$340 – $448: 60 hospitals$340median $100price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,341 of 2,600 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$29$38115
$38$50255
$50$66269
$66$86312
$86$113376
$113$149366
$149$197315
$197$259175
$259$34098
$340$44860

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$38
Median cash price$100
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.6×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $100.

Alaska: median $136 across 11 hospitalsAK$136Maine: median $43 across 19 hospitalsME$43Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $151 across 18 hospitalsNH$151Washington: median $88 across 55 hospitalsWA$88Idaho: median $110 across 16 hospitalsID$110Montana: median $99 across 11 hospitalsMT$99North Dakota: median $95 across 24 hospitalsND$95Minnesota: median $116 across 65 hospitalsMN$116Illinois: median $133 across 116 hospitalsIL$133Wisconsin: median $116 across 76 hospitalsWI$116Michigan: median $73 across 79 hospitalsMI$73New York: median $88 across 100 hospitalsNY$88Massachusetts: median $121 across 38 hospitalsMA$121Oregon: median $107 across 39 hospitalsOR$107Nevada: median $91 across 15 hospitalsNV$91Wyoming: median $58 across 10 hospitalsWY$58South Dakota: median $141 across 14 hospitalsSD$141Iowa: median $83 across 57 hospitalsIA$83Indiana: median $79 across 83 hospitalsIN$79Ohio: median $131 across 121 hospitalsOH$131Pennsylvania: median $81 across 101 hospitalsPA$81New Jersey: median $52 across 55 hospitalsNJ$52Connecticut: median $91 across 16 hospitalsCT$91Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $120 across 148 hospitalsCA$120Utah: median $159 across 38 hospitalsUT$159Colorado: median $160 across 56 hospitalsCO$160Nebraska: median $107 across 47 hospitalsNE$107Missouri: median $87 across 57 hospitalsMO$87Kentucky: median $89 across 49 hospitalsKY$89West Virginia: median $69 across 29 hospitalsWV$69Virginia: median $83 across 54 hospitalsVA$83Maryland: median $82 across 40 hospitalsMD$82Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $121 across 28 hospitalsAZ$121New Mexico: median $65 across 14 hospitalsNM$65Kansas: median $98 across 49 hospitalsKS$98Arkansas: median $90 across 17 hospitalsAR$90Tennessee: median $47 across 72 hospitalsTN$47North Carolina: median $123 across 75 hospitalsNC$123South Carolina: median $95 across 49 hospitalsSC$95Oklahoma: median $60 across 50 hospitalsOK$60Louisiana: median $46 across 47 hospitalsLA$46Mississippi: median $40 across 43 hospitalsMS$40Alabama: median $61 across 37 hospitalsAL$61Georgia: median $106 across 90 hospitalsGA$106Hawaii: median $125 across 18 hospitalsHI$125Texas: median $148 across 208 hospitalsTX$148Florida: median $143 across 128 hospitalsFL$143
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $100. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO56$160+60%$80 – $329
Utah UT38$159+59%$153 – $187
New Hampshire NH18$151+51%$45 – $344
Texas TX208$148+48%$64 – $311
Florida FL128$143+43%$57 – $458
South Dakota SD14$141+41%$132 – $172
Alaska AK11$136+36%$68 – $187
Illinois IL116$133+32%$70 – $232
Ohio OH121$131+31%$75 – $191
Hawaii HI18$125+25%$86 – $186
North Carolina NC75$123+23%$66 – $170
Massachusetts MA38$121+21%$62 – $193
Arizona AZ28$121+21%$49 – $448
California CA148$120+20%$57 – $157
Minnesota MN65$116+16%$67 – $178
Wisconsin WI76$116+16%$90 – $240
Idaho ID16$110+10%$68 – $175
Oregon OR39$107+7%$71 – $158
Nebraska NE47$107+7%$65 – $159
Georgia GA90$106+6%$70 – $240
Montana MT11$99−1%$70 – $174
Kansas KS49$98−3%$59 – $181
North Dakota ND24$95−5%$66 – $154
South Carolina SC49$95−5%$57 – $162
Connecticut CT16$91−9%$76 – $151
Nevada NV15$91−9%$19 – $165
Arkansas AR17$90−10%$67 – $96
Kentucky KY49$89−11%$44 – $167
New York NY100$88−12%$46 – $179
Washington WA55$88−12%$46 – $144
Missouri MO57$87−13%$63 – $166
Virginia VA54$83−17%$63 – $258
Iowa IA57$83−17%$69 – $120
Maryland MD40$82−18%$63 – $98
Pennsylvania PA101$81−19%$44 – $184
Indiana IN83$79−21%$46 – $155
Michigan MI79$73−27%$43 – $111
West Virginia WV29$69−31%$30 – $134
New Mexico NM14$65−35%$60 – $179
Alabama AL37$61−39%$33 – $182
Oklahoma OK50$60−40%$38 – $128
Wyoming WY10$58−42%$34 – $95
New Jersey NJ55$52−48%$46 – $77
Tennessee TN72$47−53%$29 – $84
Louisiana LA47$46−54%$19 – $89
Maine ME19$43−57%$30 – $128
Mississippi MS43$40−60%$20 – $61
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not 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 $100.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,988$100$51 – $188
Children’s49$114$76 – $200
Critical access553$99$50 – $177
Ownership
For-profit375$135$51 – $459
Government413$86$45 – $162
Non-profit1,802$98$52 – $179
System affiliation
Part of a system2,173$103$51 – $187
Independent427$89$48 – $166

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$174
Median cash price$100
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

1,810 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $106 and the average of the middle 60% is $109; most fall between $54 and $181.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,810 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$62$106$162$254

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($41 vs $254).

Of the 1,987 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,810 gave a usable cash price; 97 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 80 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,600 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (66%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,818 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,600
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here128
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 — excluded90
Hospitals that filed this code2,818

Sections not shown for this setting

  • 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 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 Pathology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Cytp Flu Washgs/Brushings Xcpt C/V Smrs Interpj|PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT.

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, “Cell exam of fluid or washings, smear method (CPT 88104) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88104-cell-exam-of-fluid-or-washings-smear-method