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Procedure price report · Pathology

Tissue exam under microscope, highest complexity

CPT 88309the billing code this page is about

Visual and microscopic study of the most complex specimens, such as a cancer resection with lymph nodes or a bone tumor. Billed once per specimen submitted.

Hospitals typically charge $625 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,032 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $655. Most fall between $328 and $1,145 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,032
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 3,032 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
$225$364$625$1,009$1,758

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($225 vs $1,758).

How the prices are spread

$157 – $208: 111 hospitals$157$208 – $276: 196 hospitals$276 – $366: 319 hospitals$276$366 – $485: 355 hospitals$485 – $642: 421 hospitals$485$642 – $851: 440 hospitals$851 – $1,128: 420 hospitals$851$1,128 – $1,495: 197 hospitals$1,495 – $1,981: 169 hospitals$1,495$1,981 – $2,625: 102 hospitals$1,981median $625price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,730 of 3,032 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$157$208111
$208$276196
$276$366319
$366$485355
$485$642421
$642$851440
$851$1,128420
$1,128$1,495197
$1,495$1,981169
$1,981$2,625102

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$823
Median cash price$625
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.76×

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 $625.

Alaska: median $724 across 13 hospitalsAK$724Maine: median $462 across 27 hospitalsME$462Vermont: median $844 across 13 hospitalsVT$844New Hampshire: median $640 across 22 hospitalsNH$640Washington: median $509 across 65 hospitalsWA$509Idaho: median $645 across 20 hospitalsID$645Montana: median $491 across 18 hospitalsMT$491North Dakota: median $791 across 22 hospitalsND$791Minnesota: median $606 across 93 hospitalsMN$606Illinois: median $718 across 127 hospitalsIL$718Wisconsin: median $712 across 97 hospitalsWI$712Michigan: median $605 across 96 hospitalsMI$605New York: median $956 across 102 hospitalsNY$956Massachusetts: median $1,082 across 50 hospitalsMA$1,082Oregon: median $758 across 47 hospitalsOR$758Nevada: median $753 across 16 hospitalsNV$753Wyoming: median $730 across 12 hospitalsWY$730South Dakota: median $882 across 21 hospitalsSD$882Iowa: median $531 across 73 hospitalsIA$531Indiana: median $712 across 94 hospitalsIN$712Ohio: median $669 across 141 hospitalsOH$669Pennsylvania: median $706 across 119 hospitalsPA$706New Jersey: median $903 across 56 hospitalsNJ$903Connecticut: median $822 across 22 hospitalsCT$822Rhode Island: median $589 across 10 hospitalsRI$589California: median $958 across 155 hospitalsCA$958Utah: median $428 across 39 hospitalsUT$428Colorado: median $918 across 64 hospitalsCO$918Nebraska: median $512 across 64 hospitalsNE$512Missouri: median $549 across 72 hospitalsMO$549Kentucky: median $472 across 59 hospitalsKY$472West Virginia: median $210 across 33 hospitalsWV$210Virginia: median $548 across 69 hospitalsVA$548Maryland: median $340 across 40 hospitalsMD$340Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $858 across 35 hospitalsAZ$858New Mexico: median $443 across 24 hospitalsNM$443Kansas: median $495 across 68 hospitalsKS$495Arkansas: median $421 across 32 hospitalsAR$421Tennessee: median $333 across 77 hospitalsTN$333North Carolina: median $522 across 85 hospitalsNC$522South Carolina: median $573 across 51 hospitalsSC$573Oklahoma: median $457 across 59 hospitalsOK$457Louisiana: median $321 across 52 hospitalsLA$321Mississippi: median $253 across 48 hospitalsMS$253Alabama: median $537 across 39 hospitalsAL$537Georgia: median $344 across 94 hospitalsGA$344Hawaii: median $1,028 across 18 hospitalsHI$1,028Texas: median $657 across 224 hospitalsTX$657Florida: median $973 across 148 hospitalsFL$973
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $625. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA50$1,082+73%$742 – $1,824
Hawaii HI18$1,028+65%$365 – $1,584
Florida FL148$973+56%$325 – $2,670
California CA155$958+53%$481 – $1,704
New York NY102$956+53%$342 – $1,832
Colorado CO64$918+47%$535 – $1,741
New Jersey NJ56$903+45%$323 – $1,144
South Dakota SD21$882+41%$622 – $997
Arizona AZ35$858+37%$457 – $1,676
Vermont VT13$844+35%$358 – $913
Connecticut CT22$822+32%$507 – $1,192
North Dakota ND22$791+27%$611 – $1,214
Oregon OR47$758+21%$463 – $1,562
Nevada NV16$753+21%$182 – $1,569
Wyoming WY12$730+17%$403 – $1,290
Alaska AK13$724+16%$575 – $1,305
Illinois IL127$718+15%$352 – $1,030
Wisconsin WI97$712+14%$492 – $1,009
Indiana IN94$712+14%$497 – $1,023
Pennsylvania PA119$706+13%$335 – $1,472
Ohio OH141$669+7%$400 – $1,239
Texas TX224$657+5%$350 – $1,582
Idaho ID20$645+3%$364 – $3,559
New Hampshire NH22$640+2%$287 – $1,461
Minnesota MN93$606−3%$399 – $858
Michigan MI96$605−3%$201 – $889
Rhode Island RI10$589−6%$586 – $768
South Carolina SC51$573−8%$350 – $1,149
Missouri MO72$549−12%$372 – $935
Virginia VA69$548−12%$374 – $1,013
Alabama AL39$537−14%$283 – $1,058
Iowa IA73$531−15%$341 – $787
North Carolina NC85$522−16%$286 – $710
Nebraska NE64$512−18%$239 – $703
Washington WA65$509−18%$332 – $985
Kansas KS68$495−21%$341 – $1,310
Montana MT18$491−21%$231 – $1,083
Kentucky KY59$472−25%$286 – $1,507
Maine ME27$462−26%$321 – $792
Oklahoma OK59$457−27%$238 – $874
New Mexico NM24$443−29%$263 – $952
Utah UT39$428−31%$364 – $916
Arkansas AR32$421−33%$261 – $805
Georgia GA94$344−45%$334 – $983
Maryland MD40$340−46%$262 – $406
Tennessee TN77$333−47%$208 – $544
Louisiana LA52$321−49%$186 – $959
Mississippi MS48$253−59%$187 – $433
West Virginia WV33$210−66%$126 – $603
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 $625.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,268$640$330 – $1,247
Children’s61$729$365 – $1,192
Critical access693$603$318 – $983
Ownership
For-profit451$757$325 – $2,182
Government502$537$295 – $926
Non-profit2,069$625$333 – $1,094
System affiliation
Part of a system2,495$634$333 – $1,164
Independent537$596$295 – $1,072

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,049
Median cash price$625
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

2,075 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $625 and the average of the middle 60% is $655; most fall between $334 and $1,138.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,075 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
$245$370$625$997$1,704

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($245 vs $1,704).

Of the 2,292 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,075 gave a usable cash price; 124 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 93 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,032 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (77%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,302 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,032
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here160
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 — excluded109
Hospitals that filed this code3,302

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 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 Pathology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Level VI 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, highest complexity (CPT 88309) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88309-tissue-exam-under-microscope-highest-complexity