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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Chromosome probe study, 3 to 5 cells examined

CPT 88272the billing code this page is about

Microscope study of dividing cells labeled with genetic probes, with 3 to 5 cells scored; billed separately from the probes themselves.

Hospitals typically charge $124 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 467 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $133. Most fall between $47 and $272 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
467
States
43
Filings dated
Jun 2025 – 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 467 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
$38$59$124$243$461

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($38 vs $461).

How the prices are spread

$30 – $42: 51 hospitals$30$42 – $59: 40 hospitals$59 – $83: 51 hospitals$59$83 – $117: 56 hospitals$117 – $165: 78 hospitals$117$165 – $232: 47 hospitals$232 – $327: 48 hospitals$232$327 – $461: 26 hospitals$461 – $649: 15 hospitals$461$649 – $915: 19 hospitals$649median $124price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (431 of 467 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$30$4251
$42$5940
$59$8351
$83$11756
$117$16578
$165$23247
$232$32748
$327$46126
$461$64915
$649$91519

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $124.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $146 across 21 hospitalsWA$146Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $99 across 21 hospitalsMN$99Illinois: median $233 across 31 hospitalsIL$233Wisconsin: median $915 across 20 hospitalsWI$915Michigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $41 across 22 hospitalsNY$41Massachusetts: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $128 across 14 hospitalsIA$128Indiana: median $31 across 14 hospitalsIN$31Ohio: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $47 across 21 hospitalsPA$47New Jersey: median $45 across 23 hospitalsNJ$45Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $272 across 41 hospitalsCA$272Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $163 across 19 hospitalsCO$163Nebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $108 across 12 hospitalsMO$108Kentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $114 across 11 hospitalsVA$114Maryland: median $397 across 10 hospitalsMD$397Delaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $36 across 12 hospitalsTN$36North Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $465 across 12 hospitalsOK$465Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $160 across 43 hospitalsTX$160Florida: median $77 across 23 hospitalsFL$77
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $124. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI20$915+638%$58 – $915
Oklahoma OK12$465+276%$87 – $595
Maryland MD10$397+220%$80 – $437
California CA41$272+120%$216 – $272
Illinois IL31$233+88%$58 – $1,105
Colorado CO19$163+31%$153 – $832
Texas TX43$160+29%$124 – $170
Washington WA21$146+17%$81 – $183
Iowa IA14$128+3%$128 – $128
Virginia VA11$114−8%$95 – $315
Missouri MO12$108−13%$82 – $123
Minnesota MN21$99−20%$85 – $135
Florida FL23$77−38%$65 – $279
Pennsylvania PA21$47−62%$28 – $83
New Jersey NJ23$45−64%$41 – $45
New York NY22$41−67%$41 – $89
Tennessee TN12$36−71%$22 – $68
Indiana IN14$31−75%$25 – $56
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not 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 $124.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care412$128$45 – $272
Children’s15fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access40$99$53 – $128
Ownership
For-profit51$147$65 – $424
Government41$99$41 – $156
Non-profit375$124$47 – $272
System affiliation
Part of a system421$128$50 – $272
Independent46$80$45 – $146

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$219
Median cash price$124
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

354 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $128 and the average of the middle 60% is $154; most fall between $76 and $272.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 354 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
$47$85$128$272$465

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $465).

Of the 386 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 354 gave a usable cash price; 14 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

467 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (12%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 498 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted467
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here15
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 — excluded15
Hospitals that filed this code498

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Fish 3-5 Metaphases.

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, “Chromosome probe study, 3 to 5 cells examined (CPT 88272) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88272-chromosome-probe-study-3-to-5-cells-examined