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

Cell culture of bone marrow or blood for cancer testing

CPT 88237the billing code this page is about

Growing bone marrow or blood cells in the laboratory for chromosome study of a suspected or known cancer; covers the culture step only, not the analysis.

Hospitals typically charge $328 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,585 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $359. Most fall between $159 and $647 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,585
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 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 2,585 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
$112$180$328$594$957

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($112 vs $957).

How the prices are spread

$77 – $103: 83 hospitals$77$103 – $137: 185 hospitals$137 – $182: 257 hospitals$137$182 – $243: 278 hospitals$243 – $323: 348 hospitals$243$323 – $430: 272 hospitals$430 – $573: 356 hospitals$430$573 – $763: 294 hospitals$763 – $1,017: 163 hospitals$763$1,017 – $1,354: 91 hospitals$1,017median $328price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,327 of 2,585 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$77$10383
$103$137185
$137$182257
$182$243278
$243$323348
$323$430272
$430$573356
$573$763294
$763$1,017163
$1,017$1,35491

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $328.

Alaska: median $185 across 11 hospitalsAK$185Maine: median $218 across 20 hospitalsME$218Vermont: median $317 across 11 hospitalsVT$317New Hampshire: median $257 across 21 hospitalsNH$257Washington: median $408 across 50 hospitalsWA$408Idaho: median $255 across 17 hospitalsID$255Montana: median $321 across 12 hospitalsMT$321North Dakota: median $499 across 13 hospitalsND$499Minnesota: median $411 across 71 hospitalsMN$411Illinois: median $426 across 116 hospitalsIL$426Wisconsin: median $406 across 93 hospitalsWI$406Michigan: median $222 across 87 hospitalsMI$222New York: median $279 across 87 hospitalsNY$279Massachusetts: median $410 across 45 hospitalsMA$410Oregon: median $173 across 35 hospitalsOR$173Nevada: median $432 across 15 hospitalsNV$432Wyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $481 across 12 hospitalsSD$481Iowa: median $288 across 48 hospitalsIA$288Indiana: median $281 across 89 hospitalsIN$281Ohio: median $382 across 129 hospitalsOH$382Pennsylvania: median $500 across 115 hospitalsPA$500New Jersey: median $158 across 48 hospitalsNJ$158Connecticut: median $431 across 20 hospitalsCT$431Rhode Island: median $293 across 10 hospitalsRI$293California: median $198 across 113 hospitalsCA$198Utah: median $1,043 across 35 hospitalsUT$1,043Colorado: median $514 across 54 hospitalsCO$514Nebraska: median $551 across 44 hospitalsNE$551Missouri: median $248 across 66 hospitalsMO$248Kentucky: median $415 across 45 hospitalsKY$415West Virginia: median $427 across 32 hospitalsWV$427Virginia: median $696 across 69 hospitalsVA$696Maryland: median $397 across 39 hospitalsMD$397Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $682 across 35 hospitalsAZ$682New Mexico: median $518 across 18 hospitalsNM$518Kansas: median $316 across 52 hospitalsKS$316Arkansas: median $193 across 29 hospitalsAR$193Tennessee: median $236 across 70 hospitalsTN$236North Carolina: median $310 across 74 hospitalsNC$310South Carolina: median $522 across 46 hospitalsSC$522Oklahoma: median $174 across 47 hospitalsOK$174Louisiana: median $171 across 46 hospitalsLA$171Mississippi: median $175 across 44 hospitalsMS$175Alabama: median $352 across 33 hospitalsAL$352Georgia: median $361 across 84 hospitalsGA$361Hawaii: median $268 across 14 hospitalsHI$268Texas: median $344 across 182 hospitalsTX$344Florida: median $144 across 124 hospitalsFL$144
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $328. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT35$1,043+218%$431 – $1,228
Virginia VA69$696+112%$391 – $957
Arizona AZ35$682+108%$260 – $2,086
Nebraska NE44$551+68%$359 – $917
South Carolina SC46$522+59%$280 – $637
New Mexico NM18$518+58%$144 – $658
Colorado CO54$514+57%$261 – $1,203
Pennsylvania PA115$500+53%$165 – $1,156
North Dakota ND13$499+52%$431 – $856
South Dakota SD12$481+47%$282 – $612
Nevada NV15$432+32%$143 – $840
Connecticut CT20$431+31%$298 – $575
West Virginia WV32$427+30%$168 – $687
Illinois IL116$426+30%$241 – $649
Kentucky KY45$415+27%$149 – $479
Minnesota MN71$411+25%$283 – $767
Massachusetts MA45$410+25%$272 – $605
Washington WA50$408+24%$246 – $661
Wisconsin WI93$406+24%$248 – $939
Maryland MD39$397+21%$314 – $488
Ohio OH129$382+17%$204 – $601
Georgia GA84$361+10%$191 – $705
Alabama AL33$352+7%$167 – $534
Texas TX182$344+5%$117 – $855
Montana MT12$321−2%$180 – $451
Vermont VT11$317−3%$216 – $492
Kansas KS52$316−4%$200 – $662
North Carolina NC74$310−6%$180 – $645
Rhode Island RI10$293−11%$143 – $375
Iowa IA48$288−12%$180 – $576
Indiana IN89$281−14%$190 – $562
New York NY87$279−15%$144 – $574
Hawaii HI14$268−18%$106 – $749
New Hampshire NH21$257−22%$134 – $850
Idaho ID17$255−22%$188 – $682
Missouri MO66$248−24%$168 – $385
Tennessee TN70$236−28%$146 – $489
Michigan MI87$222−32%$121 – $643
Maine ME20$218−33%$96 – $315
California CA113$198−40%$94 – $319
Arkansas AR29$193−41%$117 – $363
Alaska AK11$185−44%$140 – $624
Mississippi MS44$175−47%$89 – $253
Oklahoma OK47$174−47%$41 – $510
Oregon OR35$173−47%$122 – $392
Louisiana LA46$171−48%$118 – $263
New Jersey NJ48$158−52%$144 – $329
Florida FL124$144−56%$68 – $394
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not 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 $328.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,029$319$146 – $645
Children’s47$402$232 – $855
Critical access499$364$189 – $701
Ownership
For-profit370$425$189 – $1,038
Government361$294$146 – $624
Non-profit1,844$319$158 – $637
System affiliation
Part of a system2,182$345$165 – $661
Independent403$272$151 – $578

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$570
Median cash price$328
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

1,834 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $355 and the average of the middle 60% is $378; most fall between $169 and $645.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,834 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
$116$190$355$606$939

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($116 vs $939).

Of the 2,025 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,834 gave a usable cash price; 106 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 85 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,585 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (65%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,829 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,585
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here141
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded99
Hospitals that filed this code2,829

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 Bone Marrow Culture.

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 of bone marrow or blood for cancer testing (CPT 88237) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88237-cell-culture-of-bone-marrow-or-blood-for-cancer-testing