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Procedure price report · Pathology

Special stain on frozen tissue sample

CPT 88314the billing code this page is about

A chemical stain applied to tissue frozen during or after surgery, with interpretation by a pathologist. Billed once for each stain performed on each specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $128 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,752 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $137. Most fall between $60 and $260 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,752
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 1,752 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
$41$68$128$218$384

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($41 vs $384).

How the prices are spread

$27 – $37: 70 hospitals$27$37 – $51: 120 hospitals$51 – $70: 182 hospitals$51$70 – $97: 182 hospitals$97 – $133: 262 hospitals$97$133 – $183: 284 hospitals$183 – $252: 209 hospitals$183$252 – $348: 155 hospitals$348 – $479: 82 hospitals$348$479 – $660: 35 hospitals$479median $128price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,581 of 1,752 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$27$3770
$37$51120
$51$70182
$70$97182
$97$133262
$133$183284
$183$252209
$252$348155
$348$47982
$479$66035

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $128.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $125 across 36 hospitalsWA$125Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $175 across 10 hospitalsND$175Minnesota: median $120 across 43 hospitalsMN$120Illinois: median $181 across 83 hospitalsIL$181Wisconsin: median $150 across 79 hospitalsWI$150Michigan: median $103 across 56 hospitalsMI$103New York: median $117 across 46 hospitalsNY$117Massachusetts: median $155 across 26 hospitalsMA$155Oregon: median $146 across 17 hospitalsOR$146Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $179 across 28 hospitalsIA$179Indiana: median $135 across 65 hospitalsIN$135Ohio: median $129 across 77 hospitalsOH$129Pennsylvania: median $121 across 77 hospitalsPA$121New Jersey: median $213 across 26 hospitalsNJ$213Connecticut: median $254 across 13 hospitalsCT$254Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $203 across 87 hospitalsCA$203Utah: median $1,961 across 31 hospitalsUT$1,961Colorado: median $219 across 36 hospitalsCO$219Nebraska: median $88 across 13 hospitalsNE$88Missouri: median $159 across 44 hospitalsMO$159Kentucky: median $135 across 31 hospitalsKY$135West Virginia: median $63 across 21 hospitalsWV$63Virginia: median $94 across 48 hospitalsVA$94Maryland: median $75 across 36 hospitalsMD$75Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $90 across 24 hospitalsAZ$90New Mexico: median $80 across 12 hospitalsNM$80Kansas: median $157 across 28 hospitalsKS$157Arkansas: median $110 across 20 hospitalsAR$110Tennessee: median $63 across 29 hospitalsTN$63North Carolina: median $145 across 56 hospitalsNC$145South Carolina: median $165 across 43 hospitalsSC$165Oklahoma: median $59 across 31 hospitalsOK$59Louisiana: median $59 across 35 hospitalsLA$59Mississippi: median $46 across 27 hospitalsMS$46Alabama: median $84 across 30 hospitalsAL$84Georgia: median $100 across 67 hospitalsGA$100Hawaii: median $152 across 14 hospitalsHI$152Texas: median $179 across 143 hospitalsTX$179Florida: median $76 across 101 hospitalsFL$76
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $128. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT31$1,961+1431%$404 – $2,307
Connecticut CT13$254+98%$168 – $394
Colorado CO36$219+71%$94 – $326
New Jersey NJ26$213+66%$70 – $597
California CA87$203+59%$98 – $265
Illinois IL83$181+42%$90 – $285
Iowa IA28$179+40%$74 – $292
Texas TX143$179+40%$60 – $365
North Dakota ND10$175+37%$140 – $187
South Carolina SC43$165+29%$101 – $170
Missouri MO44$159+24%$89 – $213
Kansas KS28$157+23%$84 – $497
Massachusetts MA26$155+21%$116 – $220
Hawaii HI14$152+19%$105 – $320
Wisconsin WI79$150+17%$105 – $311
Oregon OR17$146+14%$88 – $335
North Carolina NC56$145+13%$68 – $230
Indiana IN65$135+6%$92 – $171
Kentucky KY31$135+6%$110 – $206
Ohio OH77$129+1%$92 – $153
Washington WA36$125−3%$104 – $221
Pennsylvania PA77$121−5%$17 – $276
Minnesota MN43$120−6%$30 – $338
New York NY46$117−9%$53 – $333
Arkansas AR20$110−14%$33 – $131
Michigan MI56$103−20%$45 – $134
Georgia GA67$100−22%$68 – $223
Virginia VA48$94−27%$24 – $345
Arizona AZ24$90−29%$46 – $289
Nebraska NE13$88−31%$50 – $174
Alabama AL30$84−34%$43 – $341
New Mexico NM12$80−38%$70 – $155
Florida FL101$76−41%$33 – $188
Maryland MD36$75−41%$64 – $98
Tennessee TN29$63−51%$29 – $75
West Virginia WV21$63−51%$21 – $175
Oklahoma OK31$59−54%$44 – $233
Louisiana LA35$59−54%$40 – $112
Mississippi MS27$46−64%$33 – $56
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not 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 $128.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,458$127$60 – $265
Children’s43$152$79 – $357
Critical access245$128$57 – $213
Ownership
For-profit249$139$60 – $414
Government215$115$57 – $221
Non-profit1,282$128$61 – $257
System affiliation
Part of a system1,527$129$61 – $265
Independent225$116$57 – $245

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$233
Median cash price$128
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. 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

1,286 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $133 and the average of the middle 60% is $141; most fall between $63 and $260.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,286 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
$41$73$133$223$361

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($41 vs $361).

Of the 1,433 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,286 gave a usable cash price; 87 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 60 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,752 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (44%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,947 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,752
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here85
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 code1,947

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 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 I&R Histochemical W/Frozen Tissu|TECHNICAL 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 on frozen tissue sample (CPT 88314) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88314-special-stain-on-frozen-tissue-sample