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Procedure price report · Pathology

Cell smear exam from any other site, screened and read

CPT 88160the billing code this page is about

Microscopic screening and interpretation of a cell smear from a body site other than the cervix or vagina, using material already collected; billed per specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $82 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,868 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $85. Most fall between $40 and $147 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,868
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2022 – 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 1,868 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
$29$47$82$134$209

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($29 vs $209).

How the prices are spread

$25 – $32: 148 hospitals$25$32 – $41: 143 hospitals$41 – $53: 180 hospitals$41$53 – $69: 227 hospitals$69 – $89: 242 hospitals$69$89 – $114: 257 hospitals$114 – $147: 210 hospitals$114$147 – $190: 159 hospitals$190 – $244: 64 hospitals$190$244 – $315: 56 hospitals$244median $82price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,686 of 1,868 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$25$32148
$32$41143
$41$53180
$53$69227
$69$89242
$89$114257
$114$147210
$147$190159
$190$24464
$244$31556

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$30
Median cash price$82
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 $82.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $76 across 16 hospitalsME$76Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $87 across 51 hospitalsWA$87Idaho: median $93 across 14 hospitalsID$93Montana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $67 across 17 hospitalsND$67Minnesota: median $94 across 46 hospitalsMN$94Illinois: median $98 across 78 hospitalsIL$98Wisconsin: median $168 across 71 hospitalsWI$168Michigan: median $81 across 73 hospitalsMI$81New York: median $71 across 80 hospitalsNY$71Massachusetts: median $98 across 20 hospitalsMA$98Oregon: median $69 across 24 hospitalsOR$69Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $134 across 15 hospitalsSD$134Iowa: median $70 across 35 hospitalsIA$70Indiana: median $55 across 59 hospitalsIN$55Ohio: median $110 across 101 hospitalsOH$110Pennsylvania: median $55 across 89 hospitalsPA$55New Jersey: median $40 across 38 hospitalsNJ$40Connecticut: median $84 across 15 hospitalsCT$84Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $134 across 112 hospitalsCA$134Utah: median $140 across 34 hospitalsUT$140Colorado: median $84 across 34 hospitalsCO$84Nebraska: median $61 across 36 hospitalsNE$61Missouri: median $68 across 42 hospitalsMO$68Kentucky: median $73 across 39 hospitalsKY$73West Virginia: median $77 across 18 hospitalsWV$77Virginia: median $81 across 59 hospitalsVA$81Maryland: median $82 across 30 hospitalsMD$82Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $162 across 17 hospitalsAZ$162New Mexico: median $85 across 11 hospitalsNM$85Kansas: median $108 across 28 hospitalsKS$108Arkansas: median $69 across 16 hospitalsAR$69Tennessee: median $44 across 45 hospitalsTN$44North Carolina: median $88 across 47 hospitalsNC$88South Carolina: median $54 across 38 hospitalsSC$54Oklahoma: median $37 across 28 hospitalsOK$37Louisiana: median $37 across 37 hospitalsLA$37Mississippi: median $40 across 25 hospitalsMS$40Alabama: median $52 across 20 hospitalsAL$52Georgia: median $55 across 62 hospitalsGA$55Hawaii: median $137 across 15 hospitalsHI$137Texas: median $86 across 101 hospitalsTX$86Florida: median $71 across 79 hospitalsFL$71
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $82. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI71$168+105%$93 – $315
Arizona AZ17$162+98%$29 – $282
Utah UT34$140+71%$100 – $165
Hawaii HI15$137+66%$122 – $146
South Dakota SD15$134+64%$80 – $138
California CA112$134+63%$59 – $153
Ohio OH101$110+34%$49 – $145
Kansas KS28$108+32%$50 – $137
Massachusetts MA20$98+20%$57 – $159
Illinois IL78$98+19%$47 – $160
Minnesota MN46$94+15%$67 – $132
Idaho ID14$93+13%$39 – $188
North Carolina NC47$88+7%$54 – $141
Washington WA51$87+6%$64 – $150
Texas TX101$86+5%$62 – $311
New Mexico NM11$85+3%$56 – $137
Colorado CO34$84+3%$48 – $133
Connecticut CT15$84+2%$61 – $100
Maryland MD30$82−1%$64 – $98
Virginia VA59$81−1%$50 – $95
Michigan MI73$81−2%$33 – $147
West Virginia WV18$77−6%$55 – $115
Maine ME16$76−8%$38 – $165
Kentucky KY39$73−11%$46 – $99
New York NY80$71−13%$31 – $168
Florida FL79$71−14%$27 – $465
Iowa IA35$70−15%$47 – $83
Arkansas AR16$69−16%$37 – $82
Oregon OR24$69−16%$55 – $136
Missouri MO42$68−17%$57 – $117
North Dakota ND17$67−19%$49 – $110
Nebraska NE36$61−25%$51 – $112
Georgia GA62$55−33%$39 – $99
Indiana IN59$55−33%$33 – $111
Pennsylvania PA89$55−33%$29 – $131
South Carolina SC38$54−35%$53 – $118
Alabama AL20$52−37%$25 – $90
Tennessee TN45$44−47%$27 – $56
Mississippi MS25$40−51%$22 – $60
New Jersey NJ38$40−52%$27 – $84
Louisiana LA37$37−55%$18 – $74
Oklahoma OK28$37−55%$27 – $78
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not 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 $82.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,449$80$39 – $146
Children’s34$122$84 – $169
Critical access380$86$48 – $152
Ownership
For-profit233$86$37 – $271
Government253$70$35 – $118
Non-profit1,377$83$42 – $147
System affiliation
Part of a system1,571$83$41 – $149
Independent297$71$39 – $136

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$143
Median cash price$82
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

1,344 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $86 and the average of the middle 60% is $89; most fall between $46 and $150.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,344 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
$33$52$86$140$209

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($33 vs $209).

Of the 1,480 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,344 gave a usable cash price; 70 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 66 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,868 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (47%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,026 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,868
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here89
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 — excluded69
Hospitals that filed this code2,026

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 July 20, 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 Smrs Any Oth Src Scr&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 smear exam from any other site, screened and read (CPT 88160) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88160-cell-smear-exam-from-any-other-site-screened-and-read