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Procedure price report · Pathology

Automated probe test on urine cells (3 to 5 probes)

CPT 88121the billing code this page is about

Computer-assisted in situ hybridization testing of cells in a urine specimen using three to five genetic probes; billed once per specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $491 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 835 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $502. Most fall between $203 and $926 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
835
States
48
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 835 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
$137$230$491$855$1,244

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($137 vs $1,244).

How the prices are spread

$73 – $101: 27 hospitals$73$101 – $141: 17 hospitals$141 – $196: 61 hospitals$141$196 – $272: 131 hospitals$272 – $378: 79 hospitals$272$378 – $525: 103 hospitals$525 – $729: 106 hospitals$525$729 – $1,013: 143 hospitals$1,013 – $1,408: 51 hospitals$1,013$1,408 – $1,956: 35 hospitals$1,408median $491price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (753 of 835 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$73$10127
$101$14117
$141$19661
$196$272131
$272$37879
$378$525103
$525$729106
$729$1,013143
$1,013$1,40851
$1,408$1,95635

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$174
Median cash price$491
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.8×

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 $491.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $374 across 29 hospitalsWA$374Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $478 across 42 hospitalsIL$478Wisconsin: median $760 across 35 hospitalsWI$760Michigan: median $253 across 31 hospitalsMI$253New York: median $341 across 35 hospitalsNY$341Massachusetts: median $805 across 18 hospitalsMA$805Oregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $98 across 14 hospitalsIA$98Indiana: median $442 across 25 hospitalsIN$442Ohio: median $768 across 42 hospitalsOH$768Pennsylvania: median $290 across 58 hospitalsPA$290New Jersey: median $216 across 25 hospitalsNJ$216Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,215 across 38 hospitalsCA$1,215Utah: median $961 across 10 hospitalsUT$961Colorado: median $680 across 32 hospitalsCO$680Nebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $456 across 10 hospitalsMO$456Kentucky: median $502 across 19 hospitalsKY$502West Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $793 across 23 hospitalsVA$793Maryland: median $438 across 15 hospitalsMD$438Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $2,479 across 15 hospitalsAZ$2,479New Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $688 across 11 hospitalsKS$688Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $206 across 18 hospitalsTN$206North Carolina: median $472 across 26 hospitalsNC$472South Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $128 across 16 hospitalsOK$128Louisiana: median $230 across 11 hospitalsLA$230Mississippi: median $258 across 14 hospitalsMS$258Alabama: median $206 across 10 hospitalsAL$206Georgia: median $941 across 41 hospitalsGA$941Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $690 across 42 hospitalsTX$690Florida: median $265 across 45 hospitalsFL$265
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $491. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ15$2,479+405%$209 – $2,479
California CA38$1,215+148%$280 – $1,215
Utah UT10$961+96%$353 – $1,098
Georgia GA41$941+92%$580 – $941
Massachusetts MA18$805+64%$340 – $1,056
Virginia VA23$793+62%$355 – $861
Ohio OH42$768+57%$449 – $908
Wisconsin WI35$760+55%$500 – $1,557
Texas TX42$690+41%$345 – $690
Kansas KS11$688+40%$511 – $2,640
Colorado CO32$680+39%$446 – $1,147
Kentucky KY19$502+2%$184 – $502
Illinois IL42$478−3%$199 – $855
North Carolina NC26$472−4%$248 – $1,480
Missouri MO10$456−7%$240 – $935
Indiana IN25$442−10%$153 – $589
Maryland MD15$438−11%$255 – $691
Washington WA29$374−24%$172 – $727
New York NY35$341−30%$203 – $655
Pennsylvania PA58$290−41%$135 – $2,330
Florida FL45$265−46%$159 – $619
Mississippi MS14$258−47%$225 – $440
Michigan MI31$253−48%$168 – $779
Louisiana LA11$230−53%$230 – $268
New Jersey NJ25$216−56%$190 – $370
Tennessee TN18$206−58%$73 – $641
Alabama AL10$206−58%$57 – $407
Oklahoma OK16$128−74%$122 – $337
Iowa IA14$98−80%$98 – $200
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $491.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care730$476$202 – $941
Children’s5fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access95$515$234 – $856
Ownership
For-profit117$485$174 – $941
Government93$378$175 – $860
Non-profit620$502$213 – $935
System affiliation
Part of a system729$500$203 – $941
Independent106$436$209 – $691

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$875
Median cash price$491
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

598 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $564 and the average of the middle 60% is $583; most fall between $245 and $941.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 598 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
$155$264$564$862$1,215

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($155 vs $1,215).

Of the 664 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 598 gave a usable cash price; 49 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 17 a list price only.

How complete is this

835 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (21%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 910 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted835
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here56
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded18
Hospitals that filed this code910

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 Insitu Hybrid Urne Spec 3-5 Probes Cptr Ea|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, “Automated probe test on urine cells (3 to 5 probes) (CPT 88121) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88121-automated-probe-test-on-urine-cells-3-to-5-probes