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Procedure price report · Pathology

Cell smear exam during surgery, first site

CPT 88333the billing code this page is about

Cells are touched or scraped onto a slide during surgery, stained, and read right away to guide the operation. Covers the first site sampled.

Hospitals typically charge $350 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,413 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $396. Most fall between $113 and $952 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,413
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 2,413 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
$68$133$350$803$1,671

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 25× what the cheapest tenth charges ($68 vs $1,671).

How the prices are spread

$42 – $63: 97 hospitals$42$63 – $94: 159 hospitals$94 – $140: 278 hospitals$94$140 – $210: 284 hospitals$210 – $313: 225 hospitals$210$313 – $467: 255 hospitals$467 – $698: 318 hospitals$467$698 – $1,043: 256 hospitals$1,043 – $1,558: 159 hospitals$1,043$1,558 – $2,327: 142 hospitals$1,558median $350price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,173 of 2,413 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$42$6397
$63$94159
$94$140278
$140$210284
$210$313225
$313$467255
$467$698318
$698$1,043256
$1,043$1,558159
$1,558$2,327142

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$823
Median cash price$350
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.42×

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 $350.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $77 across 15 hospitalsME$77Vermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $125 across 14 hospitalsNH$125Washington: median $414 across 48 hospitalsWA$414Idaho: median $383 across 13 hospitalsID$383Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $286 across 10 hospitalsND$286Minnesota: median $149 across 74 hospitalsMN$149Illinois: median $440 across 84 hospitalsIL$440Wisconsin: median $269 across 89 hospitalsWI$269Michigan: median $652 across 81 hospitalsMI$652New York: median $823 across 91 hospitalsNY$823Massachusetts: median $742 across 42 hospitalsMA$742Oregon: median $262 across 34 hospitalsOR$262Nevada: median $876 across 10 hospitalsNV$876Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $162 across 14 hospitalsSD$162Iowa: median $97 across 43 hospitalsIA$97Indiana: median $419 across 74 hospitalsIN$419Ohio: median $630 across 126 hospitalsOH$630Pennsylvania: median $385 across 114 hospitalsPA$385New Jersey: median $732 across 44 hospitalsNJ$732Connecticut: median $800 across 18 hospitalsCT$800Rhode Island: median $488 across 10 hospitalsRI$488California: median $526 across 141 hospitalsCA$526Utah: median $171 across 36 hospitalsUT$171Colorado: median $948 across 47 hospitalsCO$948Nebraska: median $232 across 22 hospitalsNE$232Missouri: median $330 across 53 hospitalsMO$330Kentucky: median $225 across 44 hospitalsKY$225West Virginia: median $103 across 26 hospitalsWV$103Virginia: median $312 across 62 hospitalsVA$312Maryland: median $137 across 37 hospitalsMD$137Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $495 across 31 hospitalsAZ$495New Mexico: median $149 across 11 hospitalsNM$149Kansas: median $206 across 43 hospitalsKS$206Arkansas: median $224 across 22 hospitalsAR$224Tennessee: median $208 across 70 hospitalsTN$208North Carolina: median $215 across 74 hospitalsNC$215South Carolina: median $532 across 45 hospitalsSC$532Oklahoma: median $239 across 42 hospitalsOK$239Louisiana: median $173 across 39 hospitalsLA$173Mississippi: median $183 across 35 hospitalsMS$183Alabama: median $477 across 22 hospitalsAL$477Georgia: median $179 across 80 hospitalsGA$179Hawaii: median $1,120 across 15 hospitalsHI$1,120Texas: median $462 across 188 hospitalsTX$462Florida: median $506 across 140 hospitalsFL$506
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $350. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Hawaii HI15$1,120+220%$118 – $1,759
Colorado CO47$948+171%$308 – $2,095
Nevada NV10$876+151%$67 – $3,431
New York NY91$823+135%$120 – $1,935
Connecticut CT18$800+129%$334 – $2,776
Massachusetts MA42$742+112%$159 – $2,099
New Jersey NJ44$732+109%$196 – $1,072
Michigan MI81$652+86%$74 – $940
Ohio OH126$630+80%$241 – $1,357
South Carolina SC45$532+52%$135 – $637
California CA141$526+50%$113 – $1,704
Florida FL140$506+45%$123 – $1,008
Arizona AZ31$495+41%$181 – $604
Rhode Island RI10$488+40%$124 – $768
Alabama AL22$477+36%$215 – $797
Texas TX188$462+32%$134 – $920
Illinois IL84$440+26%$113 – $827
Indiana IN74$419+20%$212 – $816
Washington WA48$414+18%$123 – $855
Pennsylvania PA114$385+10%$110 – $1,328
Idaho ID13$383+9%$170 – $3,559
Missouri MO53$330−6%$111 – $533
Virginia VA62$312−11%$122 – $901
North Dakota ND10$286−18%$89 – $1,214
Wisconsin WI89$269−23%$80 – $467
Oregon OR34$262−25%$99 – $1,080
Oklahoma OK42$239−32%$114 – $709
Nebraska NE22$232−34%$88 – $551
Kentucky KY44$225−36%$88 – $1,238
Arkansas AR22$224−36%$161 – $601
North Carolina NC74$215−38%$100 – $472
Tennessee TN70$208−41%$36 – $418
Kansas KS43$206−41%$67 – $543
Mississippi MS35$183−48%$58 – $522
Georgia GA80$179−49%$110 – $783
Louisiana LA39$173−51%$45 – $579
Utah UT36$171−51%$171 – $201
South Dakota SD14$162−54%$102 – $622
New Mexico NM11$149−57%$63 – $688
Minnesota MN74$149−57%$42 – $443
Maryland MD37$137−61%$107 – $163
New Hampshire NH14$125−64%$76 – $3,496
West Virginia WV26$103−71%$64 – $495
Iowa IA43$97−72%$89 – $581
Maine ME15$77−78%$54 – $136
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not 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 $350.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,974$395$119 – $976
Children’s45$240$116 – $649
Critical access385$190$89 – $765
Ownership
For-profit367$462$128 – $1,120
Government326$230$82 – $854
Non-profit1,711$340$117 – $940
System affiliation
Part of a system2,080$350$118 – $950
Independent333$355$83 – $988

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$675
Median cash price$350
Cash as a share of list, median hospital64%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 36%. 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

1,735 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $355 and the average of the middle 60% is $394; most fall between $119 and $991.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,735 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
$74$135$355$793$1,741

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 24× what the cheapest tenth charges ($74 vs $1,741).

Of the 1,911 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,735 gave a usable cash price; 105 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 71 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,413 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (61%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,625 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,413
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here129
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded81
Hospitals that filed this code2,625

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 Imhchem/Imcytchm Ea Addl Single Antb Stain Px|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, “Cell smear exam during surgery, first site (CPT 88333) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88333-cell-smear-exam-during-surgery-first-site