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Procedure price report · Pathology

Cell exam of fluid or washings, concentrated sample

CPT 88108the billing code this page is about

A laboratory exam in which cells from a fluid, washing, or brushing are concentrated, spread on slides, and interpreted by a pathologist.

Hospitals typically charge $112 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,707 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $115. Most fall between $54 and $198 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,707
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 2,707 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$65$112$175$299

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($40 vs $299).

How the prices are spread

$29 – $38: 114 hospitals$29$38 – $51: 224 hospitals$51 – $67: 249 hospitals$51$67 – $88: 355 hospitals$88 – $117: 339 hospitals$88$117 – $154: 428 hospitals$154 – $203: 359 hospitals$154$203 – $268: 199 hospitals$268 – $354: 98 hospitals$268$354 – $467: 73 hospitals$354median $112price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,438 of 2,707 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$29$38114
$38$51224
$51$67249
$67$88355
$88$117339
$117$154428
$154$203359
$203$268199
$268$35498
$354$46773

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$38
Median cash price$112
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.9×

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 $112.

Alaska: median $171 across 14 hospitalsAK$171Maine: median $69 across 19 hospitalsME$69Vermont: median $131 across 10 hospitalsVT$131New Hampshire: median $124 across 15 hospitalsNH$124Washington: median $114 across 67 hospitalsWA$114Idaho: median $125 across 21 hospitalsID$125Montana: median $126 across 14 hospitalsMT$126North Dakota: median $118 across 23 hospitalsND$118Minnesota: median $119 across 86 hospitalsMN$119Illinois: median $137 across 113 hospitalsIL$137Wisconsin: median $153 across 85 hospitalsWI$153Michigan: median $89 across 91 hospitalsMI$89New York: median $104 across 93 hospitalsNY$104Massachusetts: median $144 across 36 hospitalsMA$144Oregon: median $118 across 43 hospitalsOR$118Nevada: median $76 across 17 hospitalsNV$76Wyoming: median $61 across 12 hospitalsWY$61South Dakota: median $168 across 17 hospitalsSD$168Iowa: median $95 across 48 hospitalsIA$95Indiana: median $97 across 85 hospitalsIN$97Ohio: median $176 across 124 hospitalsOH$176Pennsylvania: median $84 across 112 hospitalsPA$84New Jersey: median $54 across 56 hospitalsNJ$54Connecticut: median $94 across 16 hospitalsCT$94Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $126 across 151 hospitalsCA$126Utah: median $168 across 37 hospitalsUT$168Colorado: median $134 across 64 hospitalsCO$134Nebraska: median $113 across 53 hospitalsNE$113Missouri: median $78 across 67 hospitalsMO$78Kentucky: median $89 across 39 hospitalsKY$89West Virginia: median $71 across 32 hospitalsWV$71Virginia: median $137 across 60 hospitalsVA$137Maryland: median $190 across 34 hospitalsMD$190Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $113 across 37 hospitalsAZ$113New Mexico: median $111 across 17 hospitalsNM$111Kansas: median $98 across 56 hospitalsKS$98Arkansas: median $70 across 31 hospitalsAR$70Tennessee: median $50 across 56 hospitalsTN$50North Carolina: median $157 across 67 hospitalsNC$157South Carolina: median $77 across 47 hospitalsSC$77Oklahoma: median $73 across 49 hospitalsOK$73Louisiana: median $65 across 45 hospitalsLA$65Mississippi: median $40 across 42 hospitalsMS$40Alabama: median $62 across 37 hospitalsAL$62Georgia: median $68 across 89 hospitalsGA$68Hawaii: median $172 across 19 hospitalsHI$172Texas: median $143 across 209 hospitalsTX$143Florida: median $141 across 141 hospitalsFL$141
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $112. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD34$190+69%$140 – $228
Ohio OH124$176+57%$88 – $246
Hawaii HI19$172+53%$65 – $214
Alaska AK14$171+53%$83 – $231
South Dakota SD17$168+50%$150 – $213
Utah UT37$168+50%$116 – $198
North Carolina NC67$157+40%$68 – $231
Wisconsin WI85$153+36%$72 – $215
Massachusetts MA36$144+28%$91 – $212
Texas TX209$143+27%$86 – $249
Florida FL141$141+26%$51 – $552
Illinois IL113$137+22%$72 – $178
Virginia VA60$137+22%$74 – $181
Colorado CO64$134+19%$84 – $237
Vermont VT10$131+17%$66 – $233
California CA151$126+12%$50 – $164
Montana MT14$126+12%$75 – $222
Idaho ID21$125+12%$94 – $175
New Hampshire NH15$124+10%$42 – $151
Minnesota MN86$119+6%$84 – $184
Oregon OR43$118+5%$91 – $202
North Dakota ND23$118+5%$66 – $170
Washington WA67$114+2%$61 – $194
Arizona AZ37$113+1%$46 – $406
Nebraska NE53$1130%$72 – $167
New Mexico NM17$111−1%$68 – $161
New York NY93$104−7%$46 – $233
Kansas KS56$98−12%$62 – $144
Indiana IN85$97−13%$52 – $168
Iowa IA48$95−16%$66 – $138
Connecticut CT16$94−16%$90 – $140
Kentucky KY39$89−21%$62 – $186
Michigan MI91$89−21%$44 – $123
Pennsylvania PA112$84−25%$43 – $233
Missouri MO67$78−31%$62 – $146
South Carolina SC47$77−32%$45 – $189
Nevada NV17$76−32%$40 – $371
Oklahoma OK49$73−35%$42 – $122
West Virginia WV32$71−37%$39 – $131
Arkansas AR31$70−37%$47 – $125
Maine ME19$69−39%$36 – $86
Georgia GA89$68−39%$50 – $158
Louisiana LA45$65−42%$28 – $104
Alabama AL37$62−44%$33 – $202
Wyoming WY12$61−46%$48 – $100
New Jersey NJ56$54−52%$43 – $204
Tennessee TN56$50−55%$31 – $71
Mississippi MS42$40−65%$22 – $79
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not 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 $112.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,038$113$52 – $200
Children’s58$112$89 – $236
Critical access601$109$63 – $179
Ownership
For-profit390$134$56 – $482
Government435$96$48 – $164
Non-profit1,872$114$58 – $189
System affiliation
Part of a system2,257$115$56 – $201
Independent450$99$52 – $178

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$186
Median cash price$112
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

1,870 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $118 and the average of the middle 60% is $118; most fall between $61 and $192.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,870 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
$44$68$118$175$260

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($44 vs $260).

Of the 2,076 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,870 gave a usable cash price; 117 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 89 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,707 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (68%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,952 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,707
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here144
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 — excluded101
Hospitals that filed this code2,952

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 Concentration Smears & Interpretation|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, concentrated sample (CPT 88108) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88108-cell-exam-of-fluid-or-washings-concentrated-sample