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Procedure price report · Pathology

Special stain for germs such as bacteria or fungus

CPT 88312the billing code this page is about

An added chemical stain applied to tissue slides to reveal microorganisms, with interpretation by a pathologist. Billed once for each stain performed on each specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $125 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,252 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $128. Most fall between $61 and $220 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,252
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 3,252 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
$44$68$125$200$304

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($44 vs $304).

How the prices are spread

$30 – $39: 91 hospitals$30$39 – $51: 195 hospitals$51 – $67: 350 hospitals$51$67 – $88: 322 hospitals$88 – $116: 387 hospitals$88$116 – $151: 482 hospitals$151 – $198: 441 hospitals$151$198 – $259: 378 hospitals$259 – $340: 166 hospitals$259$340 – $445: 117 hospitals$340median $125price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,929 of 3,252 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$30$3991
$39$51195
$51$67350
$67$88322
$88$116387
$116$151482
$151$198441
$198$259378
$259$340166
$340$445117

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$53
Median cash price$125
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.3×

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 $125.

Alaska: median $193 across 15 hospitalsAK$193Maine: median $99 across 28 hospitalsME$99Vermont: median $199 across 13 hospitalsVT$199New Hampshire: median $208 across 24 hospitalsNH$208Washington: median $126 across 70 hospitalsWA$126Idaho: median $141 across 23 hospitalsID$141Montana: median $180 across 23 hospitalsMT$180North Dakota: median $223 across 35 hospitalsND$223Minnesota: median $173 across 107 hospitalsMN$173Illinois: median $153 across 140 hospitalsIL$153Wisconsin: median $131 across 103 hospitalsWI$131Michigan: median $77 across 100 hospitalsMI$77New York: median $136 across 120 hospitalsNY$136Massachusetts: median $172 across 50 hospitalsMA$172Oregon: median $161 across 48 hospitalsOR$161Nevada: median $176 across 17 hospitalsNV$176Wyoming: median $110 across 13 hospitalsWY$110South Dakota: median $250 across 34 hospitalsSD$250Iowa: median $134 across 87 hospitalsIA$134Indiana: median $137 across 95 hospitalsIN$137Ohio: median $125 across 141 hospitalsOH$125Pennsylvania: median $91 across 122 hospitalsPA$91New Jersey: median $72 across 56 hospitalsNJ$72Connecticut: median $153 across 22 hospitalsCT$153Rhode Island: median $80 across 10 hospitalsRI$80California: median $123 across 159 hospitalsCA$123Utah: median $215 across 40 hospitalsUT$215Colorado: median $197 across 68 hospitalsCO$197Nebraska: median $142 across 80 hospitalsNE$142Missouri: median $121 across 74 hospitalsMO$121Kentucky: median $126 across 63 hospitalsKY$126West Virginia: median $47 across 36 hospitalsWV$47Virginia: median $117 across 70 hospitalsVA$117Maryland: median $41 across 40 hospitalsMD$41Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $110 across 35 hospitalsAZ$110New Mexico: median $100 across 28 hospitalsNM$100Kansas: median $96 across 83 hospitalsKS$96Arkansas: median $66 across 36 hospitalsAR$66Tennessee: median $76 across 78 hospitalsTN$76North Carolina: median $135 across 90 hospitalsNC$135South Carolina: median $118 across 52 hospitalsSC$118Oklahoma: median $99 across 67 hospitalsOK$99Louisiana: median $82 across 52 hospitalsLA$82Mississippi: median $56 across 55 hospitalsMS$56Alabama: median $81 across 40 hospitalsAL$81Georgia: median $105 across 102 hospitalsGA$105Hawaii: median $181 across 19 hospitalsHI$181Texas: median $166 across 233 hospitalsTX$166Florida: median $88 across 149 hospitalsFL$88
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $125. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD34$250+100%$140 – $391
North Dakota ND35$223+79%$141 – $284
Utah UT40$215+72%$166 – $253
New Hampshire NH24$208+66%$49 – $414
Vermont VT13$199+59%$100 – $260
Colorado CO68$197+57%$107 – $271
Alaska AK15$193+54%$83 – $265
Hawaii HI19$181+45%$110 – $234
Montana MT23$180+44%$107 – $250
Nevada NV17$176+41%$50 – $289
Minnesota MN107$173+38%$58 – $226
Massachusetts MA50$172+37%$114 – $263
Texas TX233$166+33%$78 – $398
Oregon OR48$161+29%$96 – $300
Illinois IL140$153+23%$81 – $230
Connecticut CT22$153+22%$111 – $202
Nebraska NE80$142+14%$91 – $213
Idaho ID23$141+13%$106 – $237
Indiana IN95$137+9%$75 – $209
New York NY120$136+9%$63 – $266
North Carolina NC90$135+8%$76 – $174
Iowa IA87$134+7%$90 – $222
Wisconsin WI103$131+5%$68 – $294
Washington WA70$126+1%$90 – $197
Kentucky KY63$126+1%$67 – $223
Ohio OH141$1250%$66 – $186
California CA159$123−2%$40 – $197
Missouri MO74$121−3%$61 – $187
South Carolina SC52$118−5%$70 – $153
Virginia VA70$117−6%$62 – $178
Wyoming WY13$110−12%$75 – $199
Arizona AZ35$110−12%$80 – $395
Georgia GA102$105−16%$60 – $227
New Mexico NM28$100−20%$59 – $212
Maine ME28$99−21%$49 – $169
Oklahoma OK67$99−21%$53 – $148
Kansas KS83$96−23%$67 – $151
Pennsylvania PA122$91−27%$52 – $184
Florida FL149$88−29%$41 – $370
Louisiana LA52$82−35%$38 – $142
Alabama AL40$81−35%$53 – $242
Rhode Island RI10$80−36%$62 – $130
Michigan MI100$77−38%$51 – $154
Tennessee TN78$76−39%$40 – $126
New Jersey NJ56$72−42%$59 – $112
Arkansas AR36$66−48%$57 – $122
Mississippi MS55$56−55%$30 – $91
West Virginia WV36$47−63%$40 – $140
Maryland MD40$41−67%$32 – $49
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 $125.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,321$118$57 – $220
Children’s61$127$98 – $242
Critical access860$138$75 – $226
Ownership
For-profit468$141$60 – $376
Government579$119$61 – $201
Non-profit2,195$125$61 – $218
System affiliation
Part of a system2,658$128$61 – $226
Independent594$111$58 – $191

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$207
Median cash price$125
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

2,218 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $130 and the average of the middle 60% is $133; most fall between $62 and $220.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,218 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$72$130$202$290

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $290).

Of the 2,440 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,218 gave a usable cash price; 122 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 100 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,252 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,522 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,252
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here153
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 — excluded116
Hospitals that filed this code3,522

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 Special Stain Group 1 Microorganisms I&R|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, “Special stain for germs such as bacteria or fungus (CPT 88312) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88312-special-stain-for-germs-such-as-bacteria-or-fungus