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Procedure price report · Pathology

Electron microscope study of tissue for diagnosis

CPT 88348the billing code this page is about

Examination of a tissue sample under an electron microscope, which magnifies far beyond a standard microscope, to help make a diagnosis.

Hospitals typically charge $885 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,122 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $918. Most fall between $430 and $1,527 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,122
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 2,122 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
$276$502$885$1,414$2,231

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($276 vs $2,231).

How the prices are spread

$169 – $227: 65 hospitals$169$227 – $305: 99 hospitals$305 – $411: 134 hospitals$305$411 – $552: 202 hospitals$552 – $743: 268 hospitals$552$743 – $999: 362 hospitals$999 – $1,344: 307 hospitals$999$1,344 – $1,807: 263 hospitals$1,807 – $2,430: 138 hospitals$1,807$2,430 – $3,268: 72 hospitals$2,430median $885price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,910 of 2,122 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$169$22765
$227$30599
$305$411134
$411$552202
$552$743268
$743$999362
$999$1,344307
$1,344$1,807263
$1,807$2,430138
$2,430$3,26872

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$823
Median cash price$885
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.07×

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 $885.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $1,381 across 13 hospitalsNH$1,381Washington: median $1,071 across 39 hospitalsWA$1,071Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $792 across 56 hospitalsMN$792Illinois: median $1,161 across 91 hospitalsIL$1,161Wisconsin: median $977 across 79 hospitalsWI$977Michigan: median $471 across 61 hospitalsMI$471New York: median $1,283 across 75 hospitalsNY$1,283Massachusetts: median $1,623 across 43 hospitalsMA$1,623Oregon: median $733 across 26 hospitalsOR$733Nevada: median $980 across 11 hospitalsNV$980Wyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $787 across 32 hospitalsIA$787Indiana: median $1,045 across 68 hospitalsIN$1,045Ohio: median $839 across 119 hospitalsOH$839Pennsylvania: median $958 across 96 hospitalsPA$958New Jersey: median $962 across 49 hospitalsNJ$962Connecticut: median $980 across 14 hospitalsCT$980Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,070 across 100 hospitalsCA$1,070Utah: median $1,240 across 35 hospitalsUT$1,240Colorado: median $1,282 across 37 hospitalsCO$1,282Nebraska: median $877 across 23 hospitalsNE$877Missouri: median $733 across 47 hospitalsMO$733Kentucky: median $780 across 31 hospitalsKY$780West Virginia: median $753 across 28 hospitalsWV$753Virginia: median $1,008 across 55 hospitalsVA$1,008Maryland: median $1,058 across 40 hospitalsMD$1,058Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $989 across 33 hospitalsAZ$989New Mexico: median $1,031 across 11 hospitalsNM$1,031Kansas: median $812 across 27 hospitalsKS$812Arkansas: median $505 across 23 hospitalsAR$505Tennessee: median $565 across 46 hospitalsTN$565North Carolina: median $885 across 72 hospitalsNC$885South Carolina: median $901 across 44 hospitalsSC$901Oklahoma: median $578 across 40 hospitalsOK$578Louisiana: median $689 across 38 hospitalsLA$689Mississippi: median $430 across 42 hospitalsMS$430Alabama: median $799 across 32 hospitalsAL$799Georgia: median $451 across 75 hospitalsGA$451Hawaii: median $959 across 12 hospitalsHI$959Texas: median $1,257 across 174 hospitalsTX$1,257Florida: median $567 across 122 hospitalsFL$567
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $885. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA43$1,623+83%$894 – $2,509
New Hampshire NH13$1,381+56%$583 – $3,364
New York NY75$1,283+45%$540 – $2,155
Colorado CO37$1,282+45%$804 – $1,830
Texas TX174$1,257+42%$527 – $1,924
Utah UT35$1,240+40%$916 – $1,459
Illinois IL91$1,161+31%$411 – $1,956
Washington WA39$1,071+21%$549 – $1,265
California CA100$1,070+21%$404 – $1,758
Maryland MD40$1,058+20%$837 – $1,281
Indiana IN68$1,045+18%$708 – $1,527
New Mexico NM11$1,031+16%$285 – $1,506
Virginia VA55$1,008+14%$203 – $1,254
Arizona AZ33$989+12%$644 – $1,413
Connecticut CT14$980+11%$714 – $2,858
Nevada NV11$980+11%$426 – $3,431
Wisconsin WI79$977+10%$828 – $1,504
New Jersey NJ49$962+9%$515 – $1,422
Hawaii HI12$959+8%$959 – $3,396
Pennsylvania PA96$958+8%$514 – $2,134
South Carolina SC44$901+2%$598 – $1,458
North Carolina NC72$8850%$462 – $1,621
Nebraska NE23$877−1%$226 – $1,158
Ohio OH119$839−5%$539 – $1,599
Kansas KS27$812−8%$471 – $1,850
Alabama AL32$799−10%$486 – $2,066
Minnesota MN56$792−10%$326 – $902
Iowa IA32$787−11%$557 – $1,272
Kentucky KY31$780−12%$372 – $1,527
West Virginia WV28$753−15%$369 – $1,412
Oregon OR26$733−17%$280 – $841
Missouri MO47$733−17%$513 – $1,182
Louisiana LA38$689−22%$321 – $1,124
Oklahoma OK40$578−35%$289 – $828
Florida FL122$567−36%$293 – $1,147
Tennessee TN46$565−36%$232 – $1,124
Arkansas AR23$505−43%$387 – $932
Michigan MI61$471−47%$280 – $1,238
Georgia GA75$451−49%$349 – $1,911
Mississippi MS42$430−51%$275 – $556
Maine ME9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not 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 $885.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,800$885$423 – $1,625
Children’s47$729$276 – $1,299
Critical access266$902$481 – $1,371
Ownership
For-profit309$994$399 – $2,325
Government259$726$343 – $1,281
Non-profit1,545$893$454 – $1,504
System affiliation
Part of a system1,858$895$448 – $1,599
Independent264$762$357 – $1,398

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,503
Median cash price$885
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

1,541 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $901 and the average of the middle 60% is $955; most fall between $457 and $1,625.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,541 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
$280$540$901$1,451$2,197

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($280 vs $2,197).

Of the 1,705 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,541 gave a usable cash price; 106 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 58 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,122 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (54%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,326 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,122
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here136
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 — excluded67
Hospitals that filed this code2,326

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 Electron Microscopy Diagnostic|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, “Electron microscope study of tissue for diagnosis (CPT 88348) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88348-electron-microscope-study-of-tissue-for-diagnosis