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Procedure price report · Pathology

Tissue exam under microscope, moderate complexity

CPT 88305the billing code this page is about

Visual and microscopic study of a removed tissue specimen of moderate complexity, such as a skin or colon biopsy. Billed once per specimen submitted.

Hospitals typically charge $166 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,303 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $167. Most fall between $72 and $298 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,303
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 3,303 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
$50$84$166$259$413

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $413).

How the prices are spread

$33 – $44: 112 hospitals$33$44 – $59: 172 hospitals$59 – $78: 294 hospitals$59$78 – $104: 345 hospitals$104 – $138: 352 hospitals$104$138 – $184: 378 hospitals$184 – $244: 592 hospitals$184$244 – $325: 362 hospitals$325 – $432: 224 hospitals$325$432 – $574: 142 hospitals$432median $166price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,973 of 3,303 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$33$44112
$44$59172
$59$78294
$78$104345
$104$138352
$138$184378
$184$244592
$244$325362
$325$432224
$432$574142

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$53
Median cash price$166
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.1×

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 $166.

Alaska: median $217 across 17 hospitalsAK$217Maine: median $139 across 28 hospitalsME$139Vermont: median $131 across 14 hospitalsVT$131New Hampshire: median $193 across 25 hospitalsNH$193Washington: median $156 across 70 hospitalsWA$156Idaho: median $200 across 24 hospitalsID$200Montana: median $144 across 24 hospitalsMT$144North Dakota: median $123 across 35 hospitalsND$123Minnesota: median $149 across 110 hospitalsMN$149Illinois: median $239 across 141 hospitalsIL$239Wisconsin: median $208 across 106 hospitalsWI$208Michigan: median $87 across 103 hospitalsMI$87New York: median $130 across 121 hospitalsNY$130Massachusetts: median $207 across 50 hospitalsMA$207Oregon: median $169 across 49 hospitalsOR$169Nevada: median $173 across 21 hospitalsNV$173Wyoming: median $145 across 15 hospitalsWY$145South Dakota: median $181 across 40 hospitalsSD$181Iowa: median $165 across 89 hospitalsIA$165Indiana: median $203 across 96 hospitalsIN$203Ohio: median $183 across 140 hospitalsOH$183Pennsylvania: median $144 across 122 hospitalsPA$144New Jersey: median $79 across 56 hospitalsNJ$79Connecticut: median $202 across 22 hospitalsCT$202Rhode Island: median $111 across 10 hospitalsRI$111California: median $130 across 158 hospitalsCA$130Utah: median $208 across 42 hospitalsUT$208Colorado: median $222 across 68 hospitalsCO$222Nebraska: median $191 across 82 hospitalsNE$191Missouri: median $159 across 74 hospitalsMO$159Kentucky: median $129 across 65 hospitalsKY$129West Virginia: median $64 across 40 hospitalsWV$64Virginia: median $206 across 64 hospitalsVA$206Maryland: median $147 across 41 hospitalsMD$147Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $312 across 41 hospitalsAZ$312New Mexico: median $153 across 27 hospitalsNM$153Kansas: median $200 across 85 hospitalsKS$200Arkansas: median $67 across 38 hospitalsAR$67Tennessee: median $75 across 79 hospitalsTN$75North Carolina: median $176 across 91 hospitalsNC$176South Carolina: median $228 across 52 hospitalsSC$228Oklahoma: median $125 across 71 hospitalsOK$125Louisiana: median $86 across 54 hospitalsLA$86Mississippi: median $73 across 54 hospitalsMS$73Alabama: median $168 across 41 hospitalsAL$168Georgia: median $92 across 100 hospitalsGA$92Hawaii: median $254 across 19 hospitalsHI$254Texas: median $278 across 240 hospitalsTX$278Florida: median $116 across 142 hospitalsFL$116
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $166. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ41$312+88%$66 – $542
Texas TX240$278+67%$123 – $524
Hawaii HI19$254+53%$190 – $302
Illinois IL141$239+44%$122 – $385
South Carolina SC52$228+37%$107 – $412
Colorado CO68$222+34%$112 – $349
Alaska AK17$217+31%$116 – $379
Wisconsin WI106$208+25%$120 – $298
Utah UT42$208+25%$142 – $244
Massachusetts MA50$207+25%$129 – $332
Virginia VA64$206+24%$150 – $266
Indiana IN96$203+22%$86 – $340
Connecticut CT22$202+22%$80 – $382
Idaho ID24$200+21%$105 – $237
Kansas KS85$200+21%$114 – $270
New Hampshire NH25$193+16%$83 – $380
Nebraska NE82$191+15%$90 – $305
Ohio OH140$183+10%$88 – $303
South Dakota SD40$181+9%$118 – $312
North Carolina NC91$176+6%$91 – $340
Nevada NV21$173+4%$50 – $329
Oregon OR49$169+2%$83 – $206
Alabama AL41$168+1%$62 – $273
Iowa IA89$1650%$99 – $250
Missouri MO74$159−4%$83 – $260
Washington WA70$156−6%$64 – $239
New Mexico NM27$153−8%$83 – $275
Minnesota MN110$149−10%$55 – $208
Maryland MD41$147−11%$120 – $195
Wyoming WY15$145−13%$75 – $220
Montana MT24$144−13%$95 – $258
Pennsylvania PA122$144−13%$62 – $250
Maine ME28$139−16%$101 – $274
Vermont VT14$131−21%$62 – $530
New York NY121$130−22%$64 – $312
California CA158$130−22%$58 – $230
Kentucky KY65$129−22%$88 – $201
Oklahoma OK71$125−24%$66 – $250
North Dakota ND35$123−26%$93 – $206
Florida FL142$116−30%$38 – $568
Rhode Island RI10$111−33%$58 – $207
Georgia GA100$92−44%$61 – $266
Michigan MI103$87−47%$39 – $202
Louisiana LA54$86−48%$40 – $151
New Jersey NJ56$79−53%$63 – $172
Tennessee TN79$75−55%$35 – $123
Mississippi MS54$73−56%$33 – $96
Arkansas AR38$67−59%$60 – $165
West Virginia WV40$64−61%$40 – $176
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 $166.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,310$157$65 – $308
Children’s63$198$104 – $382
Critical access920$174$84 – $266
Ownership
For-profit473$203$76 – $553
Government597$159$65 – $266
Non-profit2,223$159$72 – $284
System affiliation
Part of a system2,692$171$73 – $308
Independent611$147$68 – $260

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$258
Median cash price$166
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

2,246 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $176 and the average of the middle 60% is $174; most fall between $76 and $305.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,246 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
$51$88$176$269$408

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($51 vs $408).

Of the 2,492 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,246 gave a usable cash price; 144 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 102 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,303 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,612 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,303
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here187
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 — excluded121
Hospitals that filed this code3,612

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 IV 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, moderate complexity (CPT 88305) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88305-tissue-exam-under-microscope-moderate-complexity