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Procedure price report · Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology)

Crystal check in joint fluid or tissue under the microscope

CPT 89060the billing code this page is about

Microscopic examination, with or without polarized light, to identify crystals in a tissue or body fluid sample other than urine.

Hospitals typically charge $55 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,256 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $59. Most fall between $26 and $102 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,256
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 3,256 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
$17$31$55$93$160

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($17 vs $160).

How the prices are spread

$11 – $15: 121 hospitals$11$15 – $20: 165 hospitals$20 – $28: 272 hospitals$20$28 – $38: 313 hospitals$38 – $52: 482 hospitals$38$52 – $71: 496 hospitals$71 – $97: 499 hospitals$71$97 – $133: 307 hospitals$133 – $182: 161 hospitals$133$182 – $250: 116 hospitals$182median $55price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,932 of 3,256 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$11$15121
$15$20165
$20$28272
$28$38313
$38$52482
$52$71496
$71$97499
$97$133307
$133$182161
$182$250116

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $55.

Alaska: median $94 across 18 hospitalsAK$94Maine: median $44 across 28 hospitalsME$44Vermont: median $91 across 14 hospitalsVT$91New Hampshire: median $65 across 24 hospitalsNH$65Washington: median $64 across 74 hospitalsWA$64Idaho: median $39 across 25 hospitalsID$39Montana: median $53 across 26 hospitalsMT$53North Dakota: median $55 across 29 hospitalsND$55Minnesota: median $67 across 103 hospitalsMN$67Illinois: median $69 across 136 hospitalsIL$69Wisconsin: median $60 across 106 hospitalsWI$60Michigan: median $36 across 97 hospitalsMI$36New York: median $26 across 119 hospitalsNY$26Massachusetts: median $52 across 51 hospitalsMA$52Oregon: median $54 across 48 hospitalsOR$54Nevada: median $47 across 21 hospitalsNV$47Wyoming: median $56 across 16 hospitalsWY$56South Dakota: median $77 across 33 hospitalsSD$77Iowa: median $54 across 85 hospitalsIA$54Indiana: median $53 across 97 hospitalsIN$53Ohio: median $58 across 136 hospitalsOH$58Pennsylvania: median $36 across 122 hospitalsPA$36New Jersey: median $8 across 56 hospitalsNJ$8Connecticut: median $40 across 22 hospitalsCT$40Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $97 across 161 hospitalsCA$97Utah: median $122 across 42 hospitalsUT$122Colorado: median $70 across 70 hospitalsCO$70Nebraska: median $66 across 78 hospitalsNE$66Missouri: median $48 across 76 hospitalsMO$48Kentucky: median $58 across 63 hospitalsKY$58West Virginia: median $42 across 40 hospitalsWV$42Virginia: median $61 across 73 hospitalsVA$61Maryland: median $40 across 40 hospitalsMD$40Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $84 across 41 hospitalsAZ$84New Mexico: median $50 across 28 hospitalsNM$50Kansas: median $83 across 89 hospitalsKS$83Arkansas: median $27 across 37 hospitalsAR$27Tennessee: median $33 across 71 hospitalsTN$33North Carolina: median $58 across 83 hospitalsNC$58South Carolina: median $66 across 53 hospitalsSC$66Oklahoma: median $33 across 65 hospitalsOK$33Louisiana: median $26 across 47 hospitalsLA$26Mississippi: median $27 across 53 hospitalsMS$27Alabama: median $46 across 42 hospitalsAL$46Georgia: median $47 across 99 hospitalsGA$47Hawaii: median $51 across 21 hospitalsHI$51Texas: median $56 across 236 hospitalsTX$56Florida: median $142 across 146 hospitalsFL$142
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $55. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL146$142+159%$29 – $394
Utah UT42$122+121%$100 – $143
California CA161$97+76%$41 – $186
Alaska AK18$94+70%$77 – $164
Vermont VT14$91+65%$42 – $162
Arizona AZ41$84+53%$11 – $205
Kansas KS89$83+50%$58 – $115
South Dakota SD33$77+39%$51 – $118
Colorado CO70$70+27%$46 – $158
Illinois IL136$69+25%$44 – $134
Minnesota MN103$67+22%$41 – $89
Nebraska NE78$66+20%$40 – $95
South Carolina SC53$66+19%$34 – $103
New Hampshire NH24$65+18%$40 – $109
Washington WA74$64+16%$34 – $94
Virginia VA73$61+11%$27 – $96
Wisconsin WI106$60+9%$49 – $101
Kentucky KY63$58+6%$22 – $98
North Carolina NC83$58+5%$38 – $89
Ohio OH136$58+5%$31 – $90
Texas TX236$56+2%$29 – $168
Wyoming WY16$56+2%$17 – $79
North Dakota ND29$550%$46 – $74
Oregon OR48$54−2%$41 – $83
Iowa IA85$54−2%$34 – $67
Indiana IN97$53−4%$20 – $98
Montana MT26$53−4%$37 – $72
Massachusetts MA51$52−5%$29 – $86
Hawaii HI21$51−7%$37 – $79
New Mexico NM28$50−9%$23 – $99
Missouri MO76$48−12%$32 – $89
Nevada NV21$47−14%$17 – $112
Georgia GA99$47−15%$23 – $107
Alabama AL42$46−16%$21 – $79
Maine ME28$44−21%$27 – $84
West Virginia WV40$42−23%$22 – $79
Maryland MD40$40−28%$29 – $48
Connecticut CT22$40−28%$27 – $60
Idaho ID25$39−29%$29 – $85
Michigan MI97$36−35%$18 – $82
Pennsylvania PA122$36−35%$13 – $89
Oklahoma OK65$33−39%$22 – $80
Tennessee TN71$33−40%$15 – $83
Mississippi MS53$27−50%$14 – $43
Arkansas AR37$27−52%$24 – $55
Louisiana LA47$26−52%$15 – $49
New York NY119$26−53%$18 – $71
New Jersey NJ56$8−85%$8 – $37
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not 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 $55.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,272$52$23 – $107
Children’s60$63$41 – $134
Critical access914$63$32 – $95
Ownership
For-profit460$84$30 – $304
Government600$60$28 – $96
Non-profit2,186$53$24 – $95
System affiliation
Part of a system2,645$55$25 – $103
Independent611$57$28 – $100

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$90
Median cash price$55
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,194 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $55 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $27 and $101.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,194 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
$18$33$55$91$146

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($18 vs $146).

Of the 2,420 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,194 gave a usable cash price; 125 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,256 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,545 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,256
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here165
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 — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,545

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 Microscopic examination (bacterial smear, culture, toxicology) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Crystal ID Light Microscopy Alys Tiss/Any Fluid.

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, “Crystal check in joint fluid or tissue under the microscope (CPT 89060) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-89060-crystal-check-in-joint-fluid-or-tissue-under-the-microscope