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Procedure price report · Pathology

Cell smear exam during surgery, each extra site

CPT 88334the billing code this page is about

Add-on for each additional site sampled and read as a cell smear during the same operation; billed per extra site beyond the first.

Hospitals typically charge $81 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,104 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $85. Most fall between $40 and $147 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,104
States
50
Filings dated
Feb 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 2,104 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
$27$47$81$131$215

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($27 vs $215).

How the prices are spread

$20 – $26: 93 hospitals$20$26 – $34: 115 hospitals$34 – $45: 184 hospitals$34$45 – $60: 204 hospitals$60 – $79: 330 hospitals$60$79 – $104: 334 hospitals$104 – $137: 257 hospitals$104$137 – $182: 194 hospitals$182 – $240: 113 hospitals$182$240 – $317: 74 hospitals$240median $81price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,898 of 2,104 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$20$2693
$26$34115
$34$45184
$45$60204
$60$79330
$79$104334
$104$137257
$137$182194
$182$240113
$240$31774

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $81.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $29 across 13 hospitalsME$29Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $88 across 10 hospitalsNH$88Washington: median $59 across 47 hospitalsWA$59Idaho: median $161 across 13 hospitalsID$161Montana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $79 across 49 hospitalsMN$79Illinois: median $111 across 87 hospitalsIL$111Wisconsin: median $90 across 82 hospitalsWI$90Michigan: median $69 across 76 hospitalsMI$69New York: median $94 across 64 hospitalsNY$94Massachusetts: median $81 across 43 hospitalsMA$81Oregon: median $68 across 30 hospitalsOR$68Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $67 across 12 hospitalsSD$67Iowa: median $97 across 36 hospitalsIA$97Indiana: median $80 across 70 hospitalsIN$80Ohio: median $119 across 111 hospitalsOH$119Pennsylvania: median $86 across 94 hospitalsPA$86New Jersey: median $125 across 29 hospitalsNJ$125Connecticut: median $94 across 14 hospitalsCT$94Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $96 across 132 hospitalsCA$96Utah: median $270 across 36 hospitalsUT$270Colorado: median $90 across 43 hospitalsCO$90Nebraska: median $90 across 20 hospitalsNE$90Missouri: median $59 across 50 hospitalsMO$59Kentucky: median $67 across 43 hospitalsKY$67West Virginia: median $56 across 21 hospitalsWV$56Virginia: median $68 across 58 hospitalsVA$68Maryland: median $82 across 36 hospitalsMD$82Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $74 across 28 hospitalsAZ$74New Mexico: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $64 across 36 hospitalsKS$64Arkansas: median $72 across 18 hospitalsAR$72Tennessee: median $27 across 63 hospitalsTN$27North Carolina: median $59 across 65 hospitalsNC$59South Carolina: median $48 across 36 hospitalsSC$48Oklahoma: median $43 across 33 hospitalsOK$43Louisiana: median $34 across 32 hospitalsLA$34Mississippi: median $32 across 19 hospitalsMS$32Alabama: median $60 across 12 hospitalsAL$60Georgia: median $74 across 71 hospitalsGA$74Hawaii: median $71 across 13 hospitalsHI$71Texas: median $112 across 175 hospitalsTX$112Florida: median $134 across 116 hospitalsFL$134
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $81. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT36$270+233%$100 – $317
Idaho ID13$161+99%$62 – $265
Florida FL116$134+65%$37 – $227
New Jersey NJ29$125+54%$31 – $201
Ohio OH111$119+47%$66 – $150
Texas TX175$112+38%$62 – $203
Illinois IL87$111+37%$53 – $182
Iowa IA36$97+20%$66 – $105
California CA132$96+19%$50 – $115
Connecticut CT14$94+16%$55 – $188
New York NY64$94+16%$52 – $195
Wisconsin WI82$90+11%$58 – $169
Nebraska NE20$90+11%$37 – $102
Colorado CO43$90+11%$51 – $226
New Hampshire NH10$88+9%$64 – $191
Pennsylvania PA94$86+7%$28 – $140
Maryland MD36$82+2%$64 – $98
Massachusetts MA43$81−1%$47 – $102
Indiana IN70$80−1%$40 – $112
Minnesota MN49$79−2%$38 – $149
Arizona AZ28$74−9%$40 – $223
Georgia GA71$74−9%$41 – $146
Arkansas AR18$72−12%$22 – $161
Hawaii HI13$71−12%$60 – $102
Michigan MI76$69−15%$31 – $103
Virginia VA58$68−16%$42 – $150
Oregon OR30$68−17%$59 – $124
South Dakota SD12$67−17%$30 – $104
Kentucky KY43$67−18%$41 – $121
Kansas KS36$64−21%$21 – $179
Alabama AL12$60−25%$40 – $112
Missouri MO50$59−27%$39 – $109
Washington WA47$59−27%$51 – $105
North Carolina NC65$59−27%$38 – $118
West Virginia WV21$56−30%$39 – $82
South Carolina SC36$48−40%$45 – $117
Oklahoma OK33$43−47%$30 – $100
Louisiana LA32$34−59%$17 – $62
Mississippi MS19$32−60%$15 – $58
Maine ME13$29−65%$14 – $36
Tennessee TN63$27−66%$14 – $46
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not 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 $81.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,753$79$40 – $146
Children’s42$109$55 – $225
Critical access299$85$42 – $138
Ownership
For-profit319$102$51 – $289
Government260$63$37 – $117
Non-profit1,515$81$40 – $144
System affiliation
Part of a system1,844$85$42 – $148
Independent260$64$35 – $125

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$136
Median cash price$81
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

1,551 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $85 and the average of the middle 60% is $87; most fall between $43 and $144.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,551 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
$30$49$85$124$196

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($30 vs $196).

Of the 1,709 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,551 gave a usable cash price; 93 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 65 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,104 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (53%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,321 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,104
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here95
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code2,321

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 Path Consltj Surg Cytologic Exam Each Addl Site|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, “Cell smear exam during surgery, each extra site (CPT 88334) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88334-cell-smear-exam-during-surgery-each-extra-site