HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Cell culture from skin or tissue biopsy for genetic testing

CPT 88233the billing code this page is about

Growing cells taken from a skin or other solid tissue biopsy in the laboratory for chromosome study of non-cancer conditions; covers the culture step only.

Hospitals typically charge $383 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,078 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $415. Most fall between $179 and $749 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,078
States
50
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 2,078 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
$131$211$383$657$1,207

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($131 vs $1,207).

How the prices are spread

$101 – $133: 124 hospitals$101$133 – $176: 175 hospitals$176 – $233: 180 hospitals$176$233 – $309: 217 hospitals$309 – $408: 297 hospitals$309$408 – $540: 244 hospitals$540 – $715: 289 hospitals$540$715 – $945: 153 hospitals$945 – $1,250: 97 hospitals$945$1,250 – $1,654: 96 hospitals$1,250median $383price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,872 of 2,078 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$101$133124
$133$176175
$176$233180
$233$309217
$309$408297
$408$540244
$540$715289
$715$945153
$945$1,25097
$1,250$1,65496

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $383.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $285 across 21 hospitalsME$285Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $456 across 13 hospitalsNH$456Washington: median $461 across 42 hospitalsWA$461Idaho: median $459 across 13 hospitalsID$459Montana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $230 across 46 hospitalsMN$230Illinois: median $499 across 90 hospitalsIL$499Wisconsin: median $514 across 88 hospitalsWI$514Michigan: median $358 across 64 hospitalsMI$358New York: median $311 across 81 hospitalsNY$311Massachusetts: median $502 across 43 hospitalsMA$502Oregon: median $272 across 30 hospitalsOR$272Nevada: median $236 across 10 hospitalsNV$236Wyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $243 across 32 hospitalsIA$243Indiana: median $355 across 68 hospitalsIN$355Ohio: median $481 across 111 hospitalsOH$481Pennsylvania: median $591 across 103 hospitalsPA$591New Jersey: median $155 across 47 hospitalsNJ$155Connecticut: median $562 across 12 hospitalsCT$562Rhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $375 across 77 hospitalsCA$375Utah: median $1,108 across 36 hospitalsUT$1,108Colorado: median $425 across 49 hospitalsCO$425Nebraska: median $465 across 23 hospitalsNE$465Missouri: median $330 across 51 hospitalsMO$330Kentucky: median $422 across 36 hospitalsKY$422West Virginia: median $110 across 25 hospitalsWV$110Virginia: median $452 across 59 hospitalsVA$452Maryland: median $549 across 39 hospitalsMD$549Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $493 across 33 hospitalsAZ$493New Mexico: median $764 across 11 hospitalsNM$764Kansas: median $499 across 31 hospitalsKS$499Arkansas: median $290 across 15 hospitalsAR$290Tennessee: median $167 across 48 hospitalsTN$167North Carolina: median $317 across 66 hospitalsNC$317South Carolina: median $593 across 45 hospitalsSC$593Oklahoma: median $279 across 46 hospitalsOK$279Louisiana: median $154 across 31 hospitalsLA$154Mississippi: median $156 across 28 hospitalsMS$156Alabama: median $550 across 23 hospitalsAL$550Georgia: median $353 across 67 hospitalsGA$353Hawaii: median $517 across 13 hospitalsHI$517Texas: median $377 across 168 hospitalsTX$377Florida: median $202 across 94 hospitalsFL$202
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $383. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT36$1,108+190%$422 – $1,303
New Mexico NM11$764+100%$194 – $779
South Carolina SC45$593+55%$333 – $604
Pennsylvania PA103$591+55%$162 – $1,299
Connecticut CT12$562+47%$421 – $753
Alabama AL23$550+44%$228 – $2,010
Maryland MD39$549+43%$418 – $650
Hawaii HI13$517+35%$291 – $1,065
Wisconsin WI88$514+34%$280 – $608
Massachusetts MA43$502+31%$353 – $659
Illinois IL90$499+30%$186 – $846
Kansas KS31$499+30%$250 – $1,243
Arizona AZ33$493+29%$162 – $2,229
Ohio OH111$481+26%$276 – $1,015
Nebraska NE23$465+22%$239 – $756
Washington WA42$461+21%$289 – $793
Idaho ID13$459+20%$289 – $752
New Hampshire NH13$456+19%$253 – $738
Virginia VA59$452+18%$281 – $906
Colorado CO49$425+11%$190 – $1,181
Kentucky KY36$422+10%$262 – $1,458
Texas TX168$377−1%$232 – $712
California CA77$375−2%$141 – $418
Michigan MI64$358−7%$166 – $711
Indiana IN68$355−7%$225 – $677
Georgia GA67$353−8%$239 – $646
Missouri MO51$330−14%$226 – $525
North Carolina NC66$317−17%$178 – $794
New York NY81$311−19%$141 – $630
Arkansas AR15$290−24%$158 – $339
Maine ME21$285−26%$176 – $601
Oklahoma OK46$279−27%$165 – $454
Oregon OR30$272−29%$144 – $428
Iowa IA32$243−36%$180 – $749
Nevada NV10$236−38%$105 – $493
Minnesota MN46$230−40%$152 – $578
Florida FL94$202−47%$119 – $510
Tennessee TN48$167−56%$127 – $493
Mississippi MS28$156−59%$87 – $248
New Jersey NJ47$155−60%$141 – $561
Louisiana LA31$154−60%$86 – $318
West Virginia WV25$110−71%$110 – $418
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not 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 $383.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,689$382$169 – $753
Children’s48$436$245 – $912
Critical access333$386$212 – $711
Ownership
For-profit278$463$225 – $1,125
Government242$355$163 – $719
Non-profit1,550$381$172 – $714
System affiliation
Part of a system1,803$383$179 – $753
Independent275$385$183 – $701

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$670
Median cash price$383
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

1,509 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $418 and the average of the middle 60% is $443; most fall between $190 and $754.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,509 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
$135$239$418$673$1,152

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($135 vs $1,152).

Of the 1,681 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,509 gave a usable cash price; 102 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 70 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,078 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (53%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,290 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,078
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here131
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 — excluded80
Hospitals that filed this code2,290

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Tissue Culture Processing.

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 culture from skin or tissue biopsy for genetic testing (CPT 88233) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88233-cell-culture-from-skin-or-tissue-biopsy-for-genetic-testing