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Procedure price report · Pathology

Fluorescent tissue stain, direct method, first marker

CPT 88346the billing code this page is about

Immunofluorescence testing in which a glowing antibody is applied directly to a tissue sample to detect one marker; covers the first stain on the specimen.

Hospitals typically charge $197 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,498 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $203. Most fall between $83 and $401 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,498
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 2,498 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
$49$96$197$329$596

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($49 vs $596).

How the prices are spread

$33 – $45: 78 hospitals$33$45 – $62: 134 hospitals$62 – $86: 195 hospitals$62$86 – $119: 240 hospitals$119 – $163: 278 hospitals$119$163 – $225: 386 hospitals$225 – $310: 380 hospitals$225$310 – $428: 238 hospitals$428 – $589: 182 hospitals$428$589 – $812: 139 hospitals$589median $197price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,250 of 2,498 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$33$4578
$45$62134
$62$86195
$86$119240
$119$163278
$163$225386
$225$310380
$310$428238
$428$589182
$589$812139

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$174
Median cash price$197
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.13×

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 $197.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $157 across 26 hospitalsME$157Vermont: median $181 across 12 hospitalsVT$181New Hampshire: median $218 across 14 hospitalsNH$218Washington: median $224 across 56 hospitalsWA$224Idaho: median $142 across 17 hospitalsID$142Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $288 across 19 hospitalsND$288Minnesota: median $163 across 84 hospitalsMN$163Illinois: median $234 across 109 hospitalsIL$234Wisconsin: median $230 across 95 hospitalsWI$230Michigan: median $86 across 75 hospitalsMI$86New York: median $220 across 88 hospitalsNY$220Massachusetts: median $395 across 48 hospitalsMA$395Oregon: median $232 across 34 hospitalsOR$232Nevada: median $205 across 12 hospitalsNV$205Wyoming: median $210 across 10 hospitalsWY$210South Dakota: median $260 across 10 hospitalsSD$260Iowa: median $215 across 52 hospitalsIA$215Indiana: median $283 across 81 hospitalsIN$283Ohio: median $246 across 123 hospitalsOH$246Pennsylvania: median $201 across 113 hospitalsPA$201New Jersey: median $202 across 50 hospitalsNJ$202Connecticut: median $181 across 17 hospitalsCT$181Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $211 across 121 hospitalsCA$211Utah: median $233 across 34 hospitalsUT$233Colorado: median $281 across 45 hospitalsCO$281Nebraska: median $157 across 39 hospitalsNE$157Missouri: median $185 across 61 hospitalsMO$185Kentucky: median $196 across 44 hospitalsKY$196West Virginia: median $80 across 28 hospitalsWV$80Virginia: median $213 across 61 hospitalsVA$213Maryland: median $163 across 41 hospitalsMD$163Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $274 across 36 hospitalsAZ$274New Mexico: median $248 across 11 hospitalsNM$248Kansas: median $145 across 30 hospitalsKS$145Arkansas: median $135 across 23 hospitalsAR$135Tennessee: median $96 across 66 hospitalsTN$96North Carolina: median $187 across 72 hospitalsNC$187South Carolina: median $311 across 44 hospitalsSC$311Oklahoma: median $148 across 48 hospitalsOK$148Louisiana: median $97 across 42 hospitalsLA$97Mississippi: median $102 across 47 hospitalsMS$102Alabama: median $287 across 35 hospitalsAL$287Georgia: median $142 across 78 hospitalsGA$142Hawaii: median $235 across 17 hospitalsHI$235Texas: median $167 across 187 hospitalsTX$167Florida: median $98 across 110 hospitalsFL$98
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $197. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA48$395+101%$244 – $759
South Carolina SC44$311+58%$109 – $387
North Dakota ND19$288+46%$155 – $400
Alabama AL35$287+45%$113 – $448
Indiana IN81$283+44%$153 – $454
Colorado CO45$281+43%$110 – $785
Arizona AZ36$274+39%$140 – $434
South Dakota SD10$260+32%$206 – $419
New Mexico NM11$248+26%$82 – $346
Ohio OH123$246+25%$141 – $578
Hawaii HI17$235+19%$160 – $642
Illinois IL109$234+19%$100 – $353
Utah UT34$233+18%$198 – $450
Oregon OR34$232+18%$35 – $524
Wisconsin WI95$230+16%$160 – $313
Washington WA56$224+14%$115 – $500
New York NY88$220+12%$113 – $647
New Hampshire NH14$218+11%$48 – $584
Iowa IA52$215+9%$90 – $292
Virginia VA61$213+8%$94 – $441
California CA121$211+7%$58 – $493
Wyoming WY10$210+7%$144 – $314
Nevada NV12$205+4%$161 – $720
New Jersey NJ50$202+2%$113 – $374
Pennsylvania PA113$201+2%$89 – $562
Kentucky KY44$1960%$113 – $340
North Carolina NC72$187−5%$81 – $439
Missouri MO61$185−6%$83 – $262
Connecticut CT17$181−8%$153 – $567
Vermont VT12$181−8%$62 – $568
Texas TX187$167−15%$54 – $442
Maryland MD41$163−17%$128 – $195
Minnesota MN84$163−17%$43 – $264
Nebraska NE39$157−20%$78 – $283
Maine ME26$157−20%$87 – $210
Oklahoma OK48$148−25%$88 – $235
Kansas KS30$145−26%$45 – $325
Georgia GA78$142−28%$76 – $224
Idaho ID17$142−28%$37 – $232
Arkansas AR23$135−31%$86 – $206
Mississippi MS47$102−48%$44 – $200
Florida FL110$98−50%$41 – $366
Louisiana LA42$97−51%$41 – $384
Tennessee TN66$96−51%$65 – $226
Michigan MI75$86−56%$24 – $233
West Virginia WV28$80−59%$74 – $255
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 $197.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,950$198$83 – $419
Children’s60$183$86 – $298
Critical access478$197$81 – $325
Ownership
For-profit319$221$81 – $529
Government362$174$76 – $311
Non-profit1,807$198$86 – $396
System affiliation
Part of a system2,135$198$82 – $402
Independent363$187$92 – $386

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$337
Median cash price$197
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

1,807 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $198 and the average of the middle 60% is $205; most fall between $85 and $407.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,807 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
$49$100$198$341$610

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($49 vs $610).

Of the 2,005 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,807 gave a usable cash price; 117 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 81 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,498 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (63%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,740 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,498
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here154
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 — excluded87
Hospitals that filed this code2,740

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 Immunofluorescence per Spec 1st Single Antb Stn|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, “Fluorescent tissue stain, direct method, first marker (CPT 88346) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88346-fluorescent-tissue-stain-direct-method-first-marker