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Procedure price report · Pathology

Second-opinion review of slides prepared elsewhere

CPT 88321the billing code this page is about

A pathologist reviews microscope slides made and already reported at another facility and issues a written consultation report. Billed once per consultation.

Hospitals typically charge $162 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,770 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $174. Most fall between $70 and $337 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,770
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 1,770 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$81$162$283$467

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $467).

How the prices are spread

$35 – $46: 88 hospitals$35$46 – $62: 127 hospitals$62 – $83: 155 hospitals$62$83 – $111: 150 hospitals$111 – $149: 175 hospitals$111$149 – $199: 286 hospitals$199 – $267: 209 hospitals$199$267 – $357: 162 hospitals$357 – $478: 157 hospitals$357$478 – $639: 86 hospitals$478median $162price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,595 of 1,770 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$35$4688
$46$62127
$62$83155
$83$111150
$111$149175
$149$199286
$199$267209
$267$357162
$357$478157
$478$63986

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$38
Median cash price$162
Cash as a multiple of Medicare4.2×

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 $162.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $337 across 10 hospitalsME$337Vermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $143 across 14 hospitalsNH$143Washington: median $189 across 27 hospitalsWA$189Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: median $215 across 11 hospitalsMT$215North Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $252 across 59 hospitalsMN$252Illinois: median $211 across 78 hospitalsIL$211Wisconsin: median $283 across 63 hospitalsWI$283Michigan: median $82 across 49 hospitalsMI$82New York: median $138 across 79 hospitalsNY$138Massachusetts: median $103 across 27 hospitalsMA$103Oregon: median $165 across 26 hospitalsOR$165Nevada: 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 $111 across 39 hospitalsIA$111Indiana: median $157 across 60 hospitalsIN$157Ohio: median $176 across 68 hospitalsOH$176Pennsylvania: median $88 across 87 hospitalsPA$88New Jersey: median $51 across 48 hospitalsNJ$51Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $157 across 104 hospitalsCA$157Utah: median $450 across 36 hospitalsUT$450Colorado: median $230 across 48 hospitalsCO$230Nebraska: median $154 across 33 hospitalsNE$154Missouri: median $169 across 54 hospitalsMO$169Kentucky: median $158 across 29 hospitalsKY$158West Virginia: median $119 across 27 hospitalsWV$119Virginia: median $196 across 27 hospitalsVA$196Maryland: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $110 across 30 hospitalsAZ$110New Mexico: median $212 across 11 hospitalsNM$212Kansas: median $182 across 22 hospitalsKS$182Arkansas: median $125 across 17 hospitalsAR$125Tennessee: median $98 across 17 hospitalsTN$98North Carolina: median $138 across 48 hospitalsNC$138South Carolina: median $102 across 25 hospitalsSC$102Oklahoma: median $159 across 29 hospitalsOK$159Louisiana: median $54 across 13 hospitalsLA$54Mississippi: median $70 across 37 hospitalsMS$70Alabama: median $155 across 14 hospitalsAL$155Georgia: median $124 across 67 hospitalsGA$124Hawaii: median $110 across 12 hospitalsHI$110Texas: median $172 across 153 hospitalsTX$172Florida: median $196 across 102 hospitalsFL$196
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $162. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT36$450+178%$118 – $529
Maine ME10$337+109%$51 – $537
Wisconsin WI63$283+75%$200 – $457
Minnesota MN59$252+56%$165 – $464
Colorado CO48$230+42%$121 – $358
Montana MT11$215+33%$198 – $232
New Mexico NM11$212+31%$86 – $228
Illinois IL78$211+31%$88 – $385
Virginia VA27$196+21%$153 – $566
Florida FL102$196+21%$77 – $457
Washington WA27$189+17%$139 – $282
Kansas KS22$182+13%$101 – $832
Ohio OH68$176+9%$98 – $322
Texas TX153$172+6%$72 – $386
Missouri MO54$169+5%$94 – $340
Oregon OR26$165+2%$74 – $236
Oklahoma OK29$159−2%$96 – $369
Kentucky KY29$158−3%$87 – $314
California CA104$157−3%$102 – $243
Indiana IN60$157−3%$75 – $316
Alabama AL14$155−4%$34 – $1,521
Nebraska NE33$154−5%$111 – $309
New Hampshire NH14$143−12%$103 – $372
North Carolina NC48$138−14%$23 – $280
New York NY79$138−15%$47 – $281
Arkansas AR17$125−23%$60 – $195
Georgia GA67$124−24%$95 – $265
West Virginia WV27$119−26%$77 – $408
Iowa IA39$111−31%$97 – $267
Arizona AZ30$110−32%$50 – $431
Hawaii HI12$110−32%$104 – $313
Massachusetts MA27$103−36%$50 – $184
South Carolina SC25$102−37%$43 – $230
Tennessee TN17$98−39%$47 – $126
Pennsylvania PA87$88−46%$53 – $266
Michigan MI49$82−50%$51 – $175
Mississippi MS37$70−57%$55 – $117
Louisiana LA13$54−67%$21 – $175
New Jersey NJ48$51−68%$43 – $129
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not 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 $162.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,399$157$67 – $322
Children’s46$150$102 – $370
Critical access319$200$84 – $383
Ownership
For-profit244$191$91 – $467
Government232$145$49 – $307
Non-profit1,288$161$71 – $326
System affiliation
Part of a system1,516$161$71 – $333
Independent254$173$65 – $349

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$286
Median cash price$162
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

1,209 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $172 and the average of the middle 60% is $180; most fall between $79 and $342.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,209 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
$53$97$172$283$457

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($53 vs $457).

Of the 1,349 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,209 gave a usable cash price; 85 carried a plausibility flag, 3 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 52 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,770 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (45%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,933 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,770
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here104
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded3
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded55
Hospitals that filed this code1,933

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 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 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 Consltj&Reprt Referred Slides Prepared Elsewhere.

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, “Second-opinion review of slides prepared elsewhere (CPT 88321) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88321-second-opinion-review-of-slides-prepared-elsewhere