HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Pathology

Removing calcium from tissue before slide review

CPT 88311the billing code this page is about

An extra laboratory step that softens bone or calcified tissue so it can be sliced onto slides for microscopic examination. Billed once per specimen treated.

Hospitals typically charge $55 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,059 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $57. Most fall between $24 and $103 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,059
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 3,059 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
$15$28$55$91$168

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $168).

How the prices are spread

$9 – $13: 116 hospitals$9$13 – $18: 147 hospitals$18 – $26: 253 hospitals$18$26 – $36: 348 hospitals$36 – $50: 383 hospitals$36$50 – $70: 536 hospitals$70 – $99: 468 hospitals$70$99 – $138: 250 hospitals$138 – $194: 153 hospitals$138$194 – $272: 101 hospitals$194median $55price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,755 of 3,059 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$9$13116
$13$18147
$18$26253
$26$36348
$36$50383
$50$70536
$70$99468
$99$138250
$138$194153
$194$272101

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $55.

Alaska: median $101 across 13 hospitalsAK$101Maine: median $39 across 27 hospitalsME$39Vermont: median $86 across 13 hospitalsVT$86New Hampshire: median $54 across 24 hospitalsNH$54Washington: median $54 across 67 hospitalsWA$54Idaho: median $59 across 22 hospitalsID$59Montana: median $39 across 20 hospitalsMT$39North Dakota: median $34 across 26 hospitalsND$34Minnesota: median $49 across 97 hospitalsMN$49Illinois: median $69 across 134 hospitalsIL$69Wisconsin: median $73 across 103 hospitalsWI$73Michigan: median $31 across 99 hospitalsMI$31New York: median $54 across 96 hospitalsNY$54Massachusetts: median $57 across 50 hospitalsMA$57Oregon: median $49 across 47 hospitalsOR$49Nevada: median $41 across 15 hospitalsNV$41Wyoming: median $29 across 14 hospitalsWY$29South Dakota: median $55 across 25 hospitalsSD$55Iowa: median $49 across 82 hospitalsIA$49Indiana: median $60 across 94 hospitalsIN$60Ohio: median $66 across 141 hospitalsOH$66Pennsylvania: median $102 across 109 hospitalsPA$102New Jersey: median $32 across 43 hospitalsNJ$32Connecticut: median $42 across 22 hospitalsCT$42Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $40 across 157 hospitalsCA$40Utah: median $82 across 40 hospitalsUT$82Colorado: median $61 across 65 hospitalsCO$61Nebraska: median $70 across 72 hospitalsNE$70Missouri: median $50 across 72 hospitalsMO$50Kentucky: median $46 across 61 hospitalsKY$46West Virginia: median $36 across 36 hospitalsWV$36Virginia: median $55 across 70 hospitalsVA$55Maryland: median $13 across 40 hospitalsMD$13Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $78 across 35 hospitalsAZ$78New Mexico: median $43 across 27 hospitalsNM$43Kansas: median $63 across 69 hospitalsKS$63Arkansas: median $26 across 34 hospitalsAR$26Tennessee: median $20 across 75 hospitalsTN$20North Carolina: median $47 across 89 hospitalsNC$47South Carolina: median $68 across 48 hospitalsSC$68Oklahoma: median $33 across 58 hospitalsOK$33Louisiana: median $21 across 47 hospitalsLA$21Mississippi: median $24 across 51 hospitalsMS$24Alabama: median $43 across 35 hospitalsAL$43Georgia: median $54 across 97 hospitalsGA$54Hawaii: median $57 across 17 hospitalsHI$57Texas: median $95 across 223 hospitalsTX$95Florida: median $112 across 142 hospitalsFL$112
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $55. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL142$112+104%$19 – $309
Pennsylvania PA109$102+85%$27 – $188
Alaska AK13$101+83%$20 – $244
Texas TX223$95+72%$42 – $273
Vermont VT13$86+57%$65 – $100
Utah UT40$82+49%$70 – $152
Arizona AZ35$78+43%$29 – $140
Wisconsin WI103$73+33%$42 – $83
Nebraska NE72$70+28%$24 – $84
Illinois IL134$69+25%$35 – $118
South Carolina SC48$68+24%$50 – $88
Ohio OH141$66+20%$39 – $145
Kansas KS69$63+15%$42 – $95
Colorado CO65$61+10%$32 – $160
Indiana IN94$60+9%$28 – $98
Idaho ID22$59+8%$26 – $92
Massachusetts MA50$57+4%$34 – $105
Hawaii HI17$57+3%$22 – $90
South Dakota SD25$55+1%$26 – $72
Virginia VA70$550%$24 – $96
Georgia GA97$54−2%$18 – $87
Washington WA67$54−3%$28 – $76
New Hampshire NH24$54−3%$22 – $125
New York NY96$54−3%$21 – $104
Missouri MO72$50−9%$25 – $78
Iowa IA82$49−10%$26 – $99
Oregon OR47$49−11%$26 – $59
Minnesota MN97$49−12%$34 – $73
North Carolina NC89$47−15%$19 – $75
Kentucky KY61$46−17%$21 – $102
Alabama AL35$43−22%$17 – $118
New Mexico NM27$43−23%$23 – $93
Connecticut CT22$42−23%$29 – $82
Nevada NV15$41−26%$9 – $98
California CA157$40−28%$24 – $71
Maine ME27$39−29%$17 – $81
Montana MT20$39−30%$29 – $72
West Virginia WV36$36−35%$20 – $74
North Dakota ND26$34−39%$26 – $51
Oklahoma OK58$33−41%$17 – $88
New Jersey NJ43$32−43%$24 – $113
Michigan MI99$31−44%$14 – $67
Wyoming WY14$29−48%$18 – $43
Arkansas AR34$26−52%$15 – $59
Mississippi MS51$24−56%$10 – $43
Louisiana LA47$21−63%$10 – $47
Tennessee TN75$20−65%$9 – $65
Maryland MD40$13−76%$11 – $16
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $55.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,224$55$23 – $115
Children’s60$68$40 – $158
Critical access765$53$26 – $85
Ownership
For-profit445$77$26 – $285
Government502$50$21 – $85
Non-profit2,102$54$24 – $96
System affiliation
Part of a system2,513$57$25 – $107
Independent546$49$20 – $92

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$92
Median cash price$55
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

2,128 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $57 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $25 and $103.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,128 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
$15$30$57$92$154

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $154).

Of the 2,360 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,128 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 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,059 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 3,387 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,059
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here147
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded179
Hospitals that filed this code3,387

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 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 Decalcification Procedure|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, “Removing calcium from tissue before slide review (CPT 88311) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88311-removing-calcium-from-tissue-before-slide-review