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Procedure price report · Pathology

Pap test, liquid-based, hand screening

CPT 88142the billing code this page is about

Cervical or vaginal cell sample processed into a liquid-based thin-layer slide and screened by a technologist under physician supervision; billed per specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $72 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,398 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $74. Most fall between $35 and $124 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,398
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 2,398 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
$24$41$72$113$166

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($24 vs $166).

How the prices are spread

$20 – $25: 172 hospitals$20$25 – $32: 140 hospitals$32 – $41: 176 hospitals$32$41 – $52: 223 hospitals$52 – $65: 266 hospitals$52$65 – $83: 272 hospitals$83 – $105: 342 hospitals$83$105 – $133: 272 hospitals$133 – $168: 193 hospitals$133$168 – $213: 114 hospitals$168median $72price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,170 of 2,398 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$20$25172
$25$32140
$32$41176
$41$52223
$52$65266
$65$83272
$83$105342
$105$133272
$133$168193
$168$213114

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $72.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $60 across 26 hospitalsME$60Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $90 across 17 hospitalsNH$90Washington: median $61 across 45 hospitalsWA$61Idaho: median $90 across 18 hospitalsID$90Montana: median $86 across 16 hospitalsMT$86North Dakota: median $106 across 31 hospitalsND$106Minnesota: median $77 across 91 hospitalsMN$77Illinois: median $85 across 109 hospitalsIL$85Wisconsin: median $92 across 95 hospitalsWI$92Michigan: median $64 across 87 hospitalsMI$64New York: median $61 across 107 hospitalsNY$61Massachusetts: median $109 across 46 hospitalsMA$109Oregon: median $75 across 33 hospitalsOR$75Nevada: median $72 across 15 hospitalsNV$72Wyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $55 across 46 hospitalsIA$55Indiana: median $57 across 66 hospitalsIN$57Ohio: median $90 across 126 hospitalsOH$90Pennsylvania: median $54 across 106 hospitalsPA$54New Jersey: median $23 across 51 hospitalsNJ$23Connecticut: median $85 across 21 hospitalsCT$85Rhode Island: median $94 across 10 hospitalsRI$94California: median $91 across 104 hospitalsCA$91Utah: median $160 across 37 hospitalsUT$160Colorado: median $108 across 55 hospitalsCO$108Nebraska: median $76 across 63 hospitalsNE$76Missouri: median $64 across 57 hospitalsMO$64Kentucky: median $52 across 38 hospitalsKY$52West Virginia: median $50 across 34 hospitalsWV$50Virginia: median $68 across 57 hospitalsVA$68Maryland: median $106 across 36 hospitalsMD$106Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $41 across 24 hospitalsAZ$41New Mexico: median $85 across 11 hospitalsNM$85Kansas: median $72 across 44 hospitalsKS$72Arkansas: median $50 across 21 hospitalsAR$50Tennessee: median $35 across 45 hospitalsTN$35North Carolina: median $72 across 70 hospitalsNC$72South Carolina: median $70 across 28 hospitalsSC$70Oklahoma: median $51 across 44 hospitalsOK$51Louisiana: median $36 across 36 hospitalsLA$36Mississippi: median $26 across 43 hospitalsMS$26Alabama: median $47 across 27 hospitalsAL$47Georgia: median $52 across 74 hospitalsGA$52Hawaii: median $69 across 14 hospitalsHI$69Texas: median $91 across 146 hospitalsTX$91Florida: median $59 across 89 hospitalsFL$59
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $72. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT37$160+122%$93 – $188
Massachusetts MA46$109+51%$59 – $151
Colorado CO55$108+51%$71 – $117
North Dakota ND31$106+48%$38 – $121
Maryland MD36$106+47%$84 – $128
Rhode Island RI10$94+31%$44 – $161
Wisconsin WI95$92+27%$76 – $148
California CA104$91+26%$39 – $105
Texas TX146$91+26%$33 – $147
Idaho ID18$90+25%$80 – $159
Ohio OH126$90+25%$45 – $140
New Hampshire NH17$90+25%$43 – $142
Montana MT16$86+20%$61 – $117
Connecticut CT21$85+18%$61 – $123
Illinois IL109$85+18%$43 – $153
New Mexico NM11$85+18%$57 – $146
Minnesota MN91$77+7%$50 – $119
Nebraska NE63$76+5%$41 – $135
Oregon OR33$75+4%$60 – $104
Nevada NV15$720%$21 – $108
Kansas KS44$720%$40 – $165
North Carolina NC70$720%$31 – $131
South Carolina SC28$70−3%$40 – $171
Hawaii HI14$69−4%$67 – $119
Virginia VA57$68−6%$35 – $88
Michigan MI87$64−12%$27 – $114
Missouri MO57$64−12%$43 – $104
Washington WA45$61−15%$40 – $110
New York NY107$61−15%$28 – $96
Maine ME26$60−16%$41 – $103
Florida FL89$59−18%$20 – $146
Indiana IN66$57−20%$33 – $80
Iowa IA46$55−23%$42 – $92
Pennsylvania PA106$54−25%$23 – $147
Kentucky KY38$52−27%$43 – $93
Georgia GA74$52−27%$41 – $117
Oklahoma OK44$51−29%$30 – $112
Arkansas AR21$50−30%$21 – $58
West Virginia WV34$50−31%$44 – $88
Alabama AL27$47−34%$20 – $98
Arizona AZ24$41−43%$29 – $91
Louisiana LA36$36−50%$22 – $78
Tennessee TN45$35−51%$27 – $42
Mississippi MS43$26−64%$16 – $52
New Jersey NJ51$23−68%$22 – $69
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 $72.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,739$70$32 – $124
Children’s35$92$47 – $132
Critical access614$76$40 – $123
Ownership
For-profit271$80$32 – $169
Government369$65$30 – $117
Non-profit1,748$72$36 – $120
System affiliation
Part of a system2,033$72$34 – $124
Independent365$72$38 – $117

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$123
Median cash price$72
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

1,681 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $75 and the average of the middle 60% is $77; most fall between $36 and $131.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,681 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$43$75$114$166

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($26 vs $166).

Of the 1,826 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,681 gave a usable cash price; 78 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 67 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,398 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (61%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,575 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,398
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here100
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 — excluded77
Hospitals that filed this code2,575

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 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 HC Diag Thin Prep Gyn.

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, “Pap test, liquid-based, hand screening (CPT 88142) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88142-pap-test-liquid-based-hand-screening