HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Pathology

Pathologist interpretation and report of needle aspiration

CPT 88173the billing code this page is about

Full microscopic examination of cells obtained by fine needle aspiration, with a written diagnostic report by the pathologist, billed once per site sampled.

Hospitals typically charge $176 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,972 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $181. Most fall between $86 and $306 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,972
States
50
Filings dated
Nov 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 2,972 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
$62$102$176$269$426

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $426).

How the prices are spread

$48 – $62: 149 hospitals$48$62 – $81: 230 hospitals$81 – $104: 249 hospitals$81$104 – $135: 293 hospitals$135 – $174: 404 hospitals$135$174 – $225: 463 hospitals$225 – $291: 380 hospitals$225$291 – $377: 253 hospitals$377 – $487: 169 hospitals$377$487 – $630: 86 hospitals$487median $176price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,676 of 2,972 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$48$62149
$62$81230
$81$104249
$104$135293
$135$174404
$174$225463
$225$291380
$291$377253
$377$487169
$487$63086

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$53
Median cash price$176
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.3×

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 $176.

Alaska: median $330 across 13 hospitalsAK$330Maine: median $110 across 28 hospitalsME$110Vermont: median $287 across 11 hospitalsVT$287New Hampshire: median $222 across 24 hospitalsNH$222Washington: median $163 across 64 hospitalsWA$163Idaho: median $177 across 20 hospitalsID$177Montana: median $233 across 15 hospitalsMT$233North Dakota: median $217 across 16 hospitalsND$217Minnesota: median $251 across 92 hospitalsMN$251Illinois: median $216 across 129 hospitalsIL$216Wisconsin: median $238 across 101 hospitalsWI$238Michigan: median $186 across 96 hospitalsMI$186New York: median $176 across 115 hospitalsNY$176Massachusetts: median $199 across 50 hospitalsMA$199Oregon: median $200 across 44 hospitalsOR$200Nevada: median $98 across 16 hospitalsNV$98Wyoming: median $97 across 14 hospitalsWY$97South Dakota: median $238 across 21 hospitalsSD$238Iowa: median $130 across 63 hospitalsIA$130Indiana: median $152 across 91 hospitalsIN$152Ohio: median $187 across 130 hospitalsOH$187Pennsylvania: median $119 across 118 hospitalsPA$119New Jersey: median $71 across 56 hospitalsNJ$71Connecticut: median $188 across 23 hospitalsCT$188Rhode Island: median $199 across 10 hospitalsRI$199California: median $234 across 148 hospitalsCA$234Utah: median $187 across 39 hospitalsUT$187Colorado: median $217 across 63 hospitalsCO$217Nebraska: median $179 across 67 hospitalsNE$179Missouri: median $143 across 69 hospitalsMO$143Kentucky: median $128 across 58 hospitalsKY$128West Virginia: median $135 across 33 hospitalsWV$135Virginia: median $160 across 71 hospitalsVA$160Maryland: median $238 across 40 hospitalsMD$238Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $184 across 35 hospitalsAZ$184New Mexico: median $187 across 19 hospitalsNM$187Kansas: median $215 across 67 hospitalsKS$215Arkansas: median $101 across 31 hospitalsAR$101Tennessee: median $86 across 78 hospitalsTN$86North Carolina: median $154 across 85 hospitalsNC$154South Carolina: median $188 across 51 hospitalsSC$188Oklahoma: median $109 across 56 hospitalsOK$109Louisiana: median $104 across 48 hospitalsLA$104Mississippi: median $62 across 47 hospitalsMS$62Alabama: median $99 across 31 hospitalsAL$99Georgia: median $146 across 89 hospitalsGA$146Hawaii: median $268 across 19 hospitalsHI$268Texas: median $255 across 212 hospitalsTX$255Florida: median $170 across 150 hospitalsFL$170
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $176. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK13$330+87%$192 – $543
Vermont VT11$287+63%$124 – $397
Hawaii HI19$268+52%$220 – $375
Texas TX212$255+45%$124 – $406
Minnesota MN92$251+42%$139 – $337
Maryland MD40$238+35%$188 – $288
Wisconsin WI101$238+35%$136 – $337
South Dakota SD21$238+35%$147 – $246
California CA148$234+33%$91 – $431
Montana MT15$233+32%$106 – $257
New Hampshire NH24$222+26%$78 – $404
Colorado CO63$217+23%$112 – $399
North Dakota ND16$217+23%$199 – $250
Illinois IL129$216+23%$144 – $359
Kansas KS67$215+22%$104 – $377
Oregon OR44$200+14%$150 – $318
Massachusetts MA50$199+13%$159 – $293
Rhode Island RI10$199+13%$89 – $250
Connecticut CT23$188+7%$129 – $382
South Carolina SC51$188+7%$112 – $212
Ohio OH130$187+6%$128 – $308
Utah UT39$187+6%$159 – $227
New Mexico NM19$187+6%$106 – $322
Michigan MI96$186+6%$72 – $269
Arizona AZ35$184+5%$77 – $612
Nebraska NE67$179+2%$102 – $296
Idaho ID20$1770%$152 – $237
New York NY115$1760%$69 – $273
Florida FL150$170−4%$77 – $577
Washington WA64$163−7%$120 – $250
Virginia VA71$160−9%$114 – $365
North Carolina NC85$154−12%$84 – $232
Indiana IN91$152−14%$80 – $262
Georgia GA89$146−17%$85 – $306
Missouri MO69$143−19%$71 – $214
West Virginia WV33$135−23%$69 – $210
Iowa IA63$130−26%$97 – $208
Kentucky KY58$128−28%$71 – $238
Pennsylvania PA118$119−33%$68 – $265
Maine ME28$110−37%$63 – $236
Oklahoma OK56$109−38%$58 – $150
Louisiana LA48$104−41%$40 – $199
Arkansas AR31$101−43%$73 – $179
Alabama AL31$99−44%$50 – $227
Nevada NV16$98−44%$33 – $241
Wyoming WY14$97−45%$69 – $208
Tennessee TN78$86−51%$44 – $149
New Jersey NJ56$71−60%$58 – $183
Mississippi MS47$62−65%$35 – $112
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 $176.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,228$172$84 – $309
Children’s56$234$149 – $479
Critical access678$178$97 – $289
Ownership
For-profit430$209$86 – $612
Government478$146$78 – $246
Non-profit2,054$180$90 – $295
System affiliation
Part of a system2,469$184$87 – $314
Independent503$155$78 – $277

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$290
Median cash price$176
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

2,055 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $186 and the average of the middle 60% is $188; most fall between $96 and $308.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,055 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
$66$110$186$271$410

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($66 vs $410).

Of the 2,261 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,055 gave a usable cash price; 118 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 88 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,972 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (75%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,223 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,972
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here149
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded101
Hospitals that filed this code3,223

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 Eval Fine Needle Aspirate Interp & Report|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, “Pathologist interpretation and report of needle aspiration (CPT 88173) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88173-pathologist-interpretation-and-report-of-needle-aspiration