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Procedure price report · Pathology

Tissue exam under microscope, simplest level

CPT 88302the billing code this page is about

Visual and microscopic examination of tissue expected to be normal, such as a removed foreskin or fallopian tube from sterilization. Billed once per specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $110 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,141 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $113. Most fall between $52 and $191 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,141
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 3,141 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
$37$62$110$176$285

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $285).

How the prices are spread

$24 – $32: 97 hospitals$24$32 – $43: 154 hospitals$43 – $58: 322 hospitals$43$58 – $78: 372 hospitals$78 – $105: 382 hospitals$78$105 – $141: 492 hospitals$141 – $189: 525 hospitals$141$189 – $254: 259 hospitals$254 – $342: 163 hospitals$254$342 – $460: 61 hospitals$342median $110price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,827 of 3,141 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$24$3297
$32$43154
$43$58322
$58$78372
$78$105382
$105$141492
$141$189525
$189$254259
$254$342163
$342$46061

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$38
Median cash price$110
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.9×

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 $110.

Alaska: median $134 across 14 hospitalsAK$134Maine: median $90 across 28 hospitalsME$90Vermont: median $114 across 13 hospitalsVT$114New Hampshire: median $121 across 24 hospitalsNH$121Washington: median $111 across 68 hospitalsWA$111Idaho: median $119 across 21 hospitalsID$119Montana: median $105 across 19 hospitalsMT$105North Dakota: median $95 across 28 hospitalsND$95Minnesota: median $86 across 102 hospitalsMN$86Illinois: median $139 across 136 hospitalsIL$139Wisconsin: median $131 across 104 hospitalsWI$131Michigan: median $78 across 102 hospitalsMI$78New York: median $93 across 107 hospitalsNY$93Massachusetts: median $121 across 50 hospitalsMA$121Oregon: median $96 across 48 hospitalsOR$96Nevada: median $59 across 16 hospitalsNV$59Wyoming: median $71 across 13 hospitalsWY$71South Dakota: median $83 across 24 hospitalsSD$83Iowa: median $101 across 84 hospitalsIA$101Indiana: median $111 across 94 hospitalsIN$111Ohio: median $158 across 141 hospitalsOH$158Pennsylvania: median $91 across 112 hospitalsPA$91New Jersey: median $51 across 56 hospitalsNJ$51Connecticut: median $89 across 22 hospitalsCT$89Rhode Island: median $41 across 10 hospitalsRI$41California: median $105 across 158 hospitalsCA$105Utah: median $176 across 39 hospitalsUT$176Colorado: median $161 across 65 hospitalsCO$161Nebraska: median $104 across 72 hospitalsNE$104Missouri: median $98 across 74 hospitalsMO$98Kentucky: median $121 across 61 hospitalsKY$121West Virginia: median $28 across 36 hospitalsWV$28Virginia: median $138 across 70 hospitalsVA$138Maryland: median $66 across 39 hospitalsMD$66Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $134 across 35 hospitalsAZ$134New Mexico: median $81 across 27 hospitalsNM$81Kansas: median $91 across 72 hospitalsKS$91Arkansas: median $53 across 37 hospitalsAR$53Tennessee: median $47 across 77 hospitalsTN$47North Carolina: median $133 across 90 hospitalsNC$133South Carolina: median $184 across 51 hospitalsSC$184Oklahoma: median $82 across 63 hospitalsOK$82Louisiana: median $63 across 51 hospitalsLA$63Mississippi: median $45 across 53 hospitalsMS$45Alabama: median $78 across 39 hospitalsAL$78Georgia: median $113 across 99 hospitalsGA$113Hawaii: median $126 across 18 hospitalsHI$126Texas: median $160 across 230 hospitalsTX$160Florida: median $229 across 142 hospitalsFL$229
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $110. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL142$229+109%$45 – $781
South Carolina SC51$184+68%$105 – $239
Utah UT39$176+60%$114 – $207
Colorado CO65$161+47%$77 – $292
Texas TX230$160+46%$75 – $275
Ohio OH141$158+44%$82 – $211
Illinois IL136$139+27%$86 – $230
Virginia VA70$138+26%$83 – $219
Alaska AK14$134+22%$68 – $201
Arizona AZ35$134+22%$42 – $296
North Carolina NC90$133+21%$54 – $171
Wisconsin WI104$131+20%$49 – $185
Hawaii HI18$126+15%$68 – $189
Massachusetts MA50$121+10%$67 – $176
New Hampshire NH24$121+10%$58 – $293
Kentucky KY61$121+10%$57 – $225
Idaho ID21$119+9%$57 – $175
Vermont VT13$114+4%$38 – $185
Georgia GA99$113+3%$47 – $210
Indiana IN94$111+1%$61 – $161
Washington WA68$111+1%$67 – $160
Montana MT19$105−4%$76 – $146
California CA158$105−4%$55 – $175
Nebraska NE72$104−5%$65 – $156
Iowa IA84$101−8%$74 – $146
Missouri MO74$98−11%$72 – $155
Oregon OR48$96−12%$95 – $144
North Dakota ND28$95−13%$81 – $138
New York NY107$93−15%$46 – $218
Kansas KS72$91−17%$68 – $164
Pennsylvania PA112$91−17%$44 – $189
Maine ME28$90−18%$63 – $178
Connecticut CT22$89−19%$61 – $241
Minnesota MN102$86−21%$51 – $151
South Dakota SD24$83−24%$51 – $192
Oklahoma OK63$82−25%$49 – $193
New Mexico NM27$81−26%$50 – $150
Michigan MI102$78−29%$35 – $140
Alabama AL39$78−29%$40 – $166
Wyoming WY13$71−35%$55 – $190
Maryland MD39$66−40%$52 – $81
Louisiana LA51$63−43%$29 – $106
Nevada NV16$59−46%$24 – $204
Arkansas AR37$53−52%$43 – $146
New Jersey NJ56$51−53%$43 – $84
Tennessee TN77$47−57%$24 – $135
Mississippi MS53$45−59%$18 – $72
Rhode Island RI10$41−63%$20 – $112
West Virginia WV36$28−75%$26 – $123
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 $110.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,277$111$50 – $206
Children’s60$141$77 – $255
Critical access794$107$59 – $168
Ownership
For-profit460$139$56 – $457
Government541$98$46 – $169
Non-profit2,130$108$53 – $184
System affiliation
Part of a system2,574$114$54 – $195
Independent567$95$46 – $170

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$185
Median cash price$110
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,175 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $114 and the average of the middle 60% is $117; most fall between $56 and $188.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,175 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
$40$67$114$176$272

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($40 vs $272).

Of the 2,390 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,175 gave a usable cash price; 120 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 95 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,141 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (79%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,427 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,141
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here170
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded114
Hospitals that filed this code3,427

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 July 20, 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 Level II Surg Pathology Gross&Microscopic Exam|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, “Tissue exam under microscope, simplest level (CPT 88302) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88302-tissue-exam-under-microscope-simplest-level