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

Cell culture of solid tumor tissue for cancer testing

CPT 88239the billing code this page is about

Growing cells from a solid tumor sample in the laboratory for chromosome study; covers the culture step only, not the chromosome analysis.

Hospitals typically charge $436 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,320 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $460. Most fall between $190 and $841 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,320
States
49
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 1,320 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
$148$217$436$769$1,314

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($148 vs $1,314).

How the prices are spread

$109 – $144: 51 hospitals$109$144 – $191: 148 hospitals$191 – $252: 147 hospitals$191$252 – $332: 125 hospitals$332 – $438: 124 hospitals$332$438 – $579: 159 hospitals$579 – $764: 160 hospitals$579$764 – $1,009: 140 hospitals$1,009 – $1,332: 79 hospitals$1,009$1,332 – $1,758: 56 hospitals$1,332median $436price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,189 of 1,320 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$109$14451
$144$191148
$191$252147
$252$332125
$332$438124
$438$579159
$579$764160
$764$1,009140
$1,009$1,33279
$1,332$1,75856

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $436.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $525 across 23 hospitalsWA$525Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $287 across 23 hospitalsMN$287Illinois: median $608 across 59 hospitalsIL$608Wisconsin: median $373 across 50 hospitalsWI$373Michigan: median $711 across 44 hospitalsMI$711New York: median $183 across 40 hospitalsNY$183Massachusetts: median $589 across 30 hospitalsMA$589Oregon: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $180 across 22 hospitalsIA$180Indiana: median $285 across 39 hospitalsIN$285Ohio: median $662 across 82 hospitalsOH$662Pennsylvania: median $428 across 61 hospitalsPA$428New Jersey: median $162 across 36 hospitalsNJ$162Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $259 across 49 hospitalsCA$259Utah: median $1,118 across 34 hospitalsUT$1,118Colorado: median $835 across 36 hospitalsCO$835Nebraska: median $470 across 15 hospitalsNE$470Missouri: median $426 across 24 hospitalsMO$426Kentucky: median $538 across 20 hospitalsKY$538West Virginia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $830 across 37 hospitalsVA$830Maryland: median $661 across 24 hospitalsMD$661Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $514 across 26 hospitalsAZ$514New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $640 across 18 hospitalsKS$640Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $421 across 30 hospitalsTN$421North Carolina: median $737 across 41 hospitalsNC$737South Carolina: median $386 across 35 hospitalsSC$386Oklahoma: median $225 across 28 hospitalsOK$225Louisiana: median $179 across 21 hospitalsLA$179Mississippi: median $181 across 23 hospitalsMS$181Alabama: median $239 across 14 hospitalsAL$239Georgia: median $427 across 59 hospitalsGA$427Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $653 across 130 hospitalsTX$653Florida: median $358 across 64 hospitalsFL$358
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $436. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT34$1,118+156%$413 – $1,316
Colorado CO36$835+91%$538 – $2,318
Virginia VA37$830+90%$504 – $951
North Carolina NC41$737+69%$217 – $1,071
Michigan MI44$711+63%$140 – $803
Ohio OH82$662+52%$269 – $1,083
Maryland MD24$661+52%$523 – $783
Texas TX130$653+50%$284 – $773
Kansas KS18$640+47%$238 – $914
Illinois IL59$608+39%$195 – $1,133
Massachusetts MA30$589+35%$363 – $799
Kentucky KY20$538+23%$305 – $768
Washington WA23$525+20%$343 – $756
Arizona AZ26$514+18%$158 – $2,332
Nebraska NE15$470+8%$241 – $846
Pennsylvania PA61$428−2%$132 – $1,350
Georgia GA59$427−2%$353 – $723
Missouri MO24$426−2%$250 – $850
Tennessee TN30$421−3%$122 – $492
South Carolina SC35$386−11%$217 – $797
Wisconsin WI50$373−15%$255 – $521
Florida FL64$358−18%$154 – $699
Minnesota MN23$287−34%$240 – $314
Indiana IN39$285−35%$208 – $800
California CA49$259−41%$95 – $259
Alabama AL14$239−45%$120 – $979
Oklahoma OK28$225−48%$189 – $324
New York NY40$183−58%$148 – $727
Mississippi MS23$181−59%$85 – $239
Iowa IA22$180−59%$180 – $493
Louisiana LA21$179−59%$118 – $266
New Jersey NJ36$162−63%$148 – $170
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $436.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,135$428$187 – $835
Children’s42$550$270 – $1,181
Critical access136$455$195 – $808
Ownership
For-profit199$583$221 – $1,191
Government168$400$180 – $729
Non-profit946$428$185 – $835
System affiliation
Part of a system1,168$439$194 – $868
Independent152$357$185 – $744

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$775
Median cash price$436
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

985 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $459 and the average of the middle 60% is $495; most fall between $220 and $835.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 985 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
$170$247$459$772$1,204

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($170 vs $1,204).

Of the 1,088 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 985 gave a usable cash price; 73 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 30 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,320 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (33%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,446 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,320
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here94
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded31
Hospitals that filed this code1,446

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 Solid Tumor 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 solid tumor tissue for cancer testing (CPT 88239) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88239-cell-culture-of-solid-tumor-tissue-for-cancer-testing