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Procedure price report · Pathology

Manual removal of a targeted cell area from a tissue sample

CPT 88381the billing code this page is about

Preparation step in which a specific microscopic area of tissue or cells is dissected out by hand for further testing.

Hospitals typically charge $201 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,898 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $215. Most fall between $85 and $415 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,898
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 1,898 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
$55$105$201$350$605

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($55 vs $605).

How the prices are spread

$36 – $49: 65 hospitals$36$49 – $67: 119 hospitals$67 – $92: 126 hospitals$67$92 – $126: 165 hospitals$126 – $173: 263 hospitals$126$173 – $236: 278 hospitals$236 – $324: 241 hospitals$236$324 – $443: 222 hospitals$443 – $607: 149 hospitals$443$607 – $831: 82 hospitals$607median $201price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,710 of 1,898 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$36$4965
$49$67119
$67$92126
$92$126165
$126$173263
$173$236278
$236$324241
$324$443222
$443$607149
$607$83182

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $201.

Alaska: median $150 across 10 hospitalsAK$150Maine: median $175 across 27 hospitalsME$175Vermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $213 across 12 hospitalsNH$213Washington: median $231 across 47 hospitalsWA$231Idaho: median $216 across 10 hospitalsID$216Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $265 across 54 hospitalsMN$265Illinois: median $202 across 78 hospitalsIL$202Wisconsin: median $300 across 77 hospitalsWI$300Michigan: median $49 across 49 hospitalsMI$49New York: median $234 across 62 hospitalsNY$234Massachusetts: median $283 across 34 hospitalsMA$283Oregon: median $166 across 23 hospitalsOR$166Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $153 across 32 hospitalsIA$153Indiana: median $167 across 70 hospitalsIN$167Ohio: median $146 across 99 hospitalsOH$146Pennsylvania: median $316 across 72 hospitalsPA$316New Jersey: median $157 across 35 hospitalsNJ$157Connecticut: median $228 across 16 hospitalsCT$228Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $433 across 66 hospitalsCA$433Utah: median $415 across 34 hospitalsUT$415Colorado: median $259 across 34 hospitalsCO$259Nebraska: median $203 across 28 hospitalsNE$203Missouri: median $146 across 60 hospitalsMO$146Kentucky: median $177 across 39 hospitalsKY$177West Virginia: median $131 across 27 hospitalsWV$131Virginia: median $276 across 59 hospitalsVA$276Maryland: median $461 across 29 hospitalsMD$461Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $307 across 26 hospitalsAZ$307New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $194 across 32 hospitalsKS$194Arkansas: median $93 across 24 hospitalsAR$93Tennessee: median $168 across 49 hospitalsTN$168North Carolina: median $199 across 59 hospitalsNC$199South Carolina: median $223 across 38 hospitalsSC$223Oklahoma: median $159 across 44 hospitalsOK$159Louisiana: median $222 across 30 hospitalsLA$222Mississippi: median $58 across 34 hospitalsMS$58Alabama: median $161 across 24 hospitalsAL$161Georgia: median $212 across 78 hospitalsGA$212Hawaii: median $267 across 13 hospitalsHI$267Texas: median $161 across 136 hospitalsTX$161Florida: median $112 across 77 hospitalsFL$112
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $201. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD29$461+129%$209 – $1,468
California CA66$433+115%$133 – $605
Utah UT34$415+106%$342 – $488
Pennsylvania PA72$316+57%$106 – $1,058
Arizona AZ26$307+52%$120 – $604
Wisconsin WI77$300+49%$107 – $484
Massachusetts MA34$283+40%$145 – $541
Virginia VA59$276+37%$194 – $552
Hawaii HI13$267+33%$65 – $638
Minnesota MN54$265+32%$71 – $512
Colorado CO34$259+29%$94 – $713
New York NY62$234+16%$85 – $362
Washington WA47$231+15%$158 – $277
Connecticut CT16$228+13%$160 – $439
South Carolina SC38$223+11%$131 – $346
Louisiana LA30$222+10%$116 – $352
Idaho ID10$216+7%$137 – $415
New Hampshire NH12$213+6%$70 – $468
Georgia GA78$212+5%$140 – $380
Nebraska NE28$203+1%$106 – $372
Illinois IL78$2020%$77 – $431
North Carolina NC59$199−1%$98 – $247
Kansas KS32$194−3%$88 – $382
Kentucky KY39$177−12%$67 – $410
Maine ME27$175−13%$119 – $290
Tennessee TN49$168−17%$67 – $239
Indiana IN70$167−17%$57 – $310
Oregon OR23$166−18%$153 – $210
Alabama AL24$161−20%$50 – $749
Texas TX136$161−20%$108 – $308
Oklahoma OK44$159−21%$69 – $216
New Jersey NJ35$157−22%$77 – $451
Iowa IA32$153−24%$51 – $159
Alaska AK10$150−26%$122 – $219
Missouri MO60$146−27%$93 – $274
Ohio OH99$146−27%$92 – $337
West Virginia WV27$131−35%$25 – $363
Florida FL77$112−44%$76 – $262
Arkansas AR24$93−54%$34 – $256
Mississippi MS34$58−71%$38 – $137
Michigan MI49$49−76%$16 – $207
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not 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 $201.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,512$200$84 – $415
Children’s31$140$62 – $368
Critical access346$210$103 – $415
Ownership
For-profit242$212$92 – $528
Government261$163$74 – $284
Non-profit1,386$208$88 – $415
System affiliation
Part of a system1,647$200$87 – $417
Independent251$206$85 – $339

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$349
Median cash price$201
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

1,382 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $212 and the average of the middle 60% is $225; most fall between $95 and $433.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,382 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
$62$112$212$368$605

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $605).

Of the 1,534 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,382 gave a usable cash price; 82 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 69 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,898 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (48%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,085 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,898
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here86
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded99
Hospitals that filed this code2,085

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 HC Slide Read Charge.

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, “Manual removal of a targeted cell area from a tissue sample (CPT 88381) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-88381-manual-removal-of-a-targeted-cell-area-from-a-tissue-sample