HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

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

Nasal smear test for eosinophils

CPT 89190the billing code this page is about

Microscopic examination of a smear from nasal secretions to look for eosinophils, a type of white blood cell.

Hospitals typically charge $38 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,090 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $40. Most fall between $17 and $75 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,090
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 2,090 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
$10$20$38$65$136

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $136).

How the prices are spread

$7 – $10: 95 hospitals$7$10 – $13: 107 hospitals$13 – $19: 153 hospitals$13$19 – $26: 247 hospitals$26 – $36: 297 hospitals$26$36 – $50: 280 hospitals$50 – $69: 322 hospitals$50$69 – $96: 161 hospitals$96 – $133: 110 hospitals$96$133 – $185: 116 hospitals$133median $38price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,888 of 2,090 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$7$1095
$10$13107
$13$19153
$19$26247
$26$36297
$36$50280
$50$69322
$69$96161
$96$133110
$133$185116

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $38.

Alaska: median $101 across 13 hospitalsAK$101Maine: median $33 across 18 hospitalsME$33Vermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $49 across 14 hospitalsNH$49Washington: median $41 across 51 hospitalsWA$41Idaho: median $45 across 15 hospitalsID$45Montana: median $50 across 12 hospitalsMT$50North Dakota: median $32 across 12 hospitalsND$32Minnesota: median $48 across 64 hospitalsMN$48Illinois: median $56 across 90 hospitalsIL$56Wisconsin: median $33 across 72 hospitalsWI$33Michigan: median $23 across 59 hospitalsMI$23New York: median $17 across 60 hospitalsNY$17Massachusetts: median $38 across 35 hospitalsMA$38Oregon: median $29 across 34 hospitalsOR$29Nevada: median $30 across 11 hospitalsNV$30Wyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $43 across 13 hospitalsSD$43Iowa: median $35 across 48 hospitalsIA$35Indiana: median $32 across 76 hospitalsIN$32Ohio: median $35 across 115 hospitalsOH$35Pennsylvania: median $24 across 86 hospitalsPA$24New Jersey: median $7 across 51 hospitalsNJ$7Connecticut: median $20 across 12 hospitalsCT$20Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $55 across 129 hospitalsCA$55Utah: median $118 across 33 hospitalsUT$118Colorado: median $53 across 48 hospitalsCO$53Nebraska: median $44 across 45 hospitalsNE$44Missouri: median $45 across 48 hospitalsMO$45Kentucky: median $33 across 37 hospitalsKY$33West Virginia: median $25 across 15 hospitalsWV$25Virginia: median $41 across 47 hospitalsVA$41Maryland: median $20 across 24 hospitalsMD$20Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $48 across 24 hospitalsAZ$48New Mexico: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $46 across 28 hospitalsKS$46Arkansas: median $27 across 15 hospitalsAR$27Tennessee: median $17 across 51 hospitalsTN$17North Carolina: median $48 across 52 hospitalsNC$48South Carolina: median $47 across 41 hospitalsSC$47Oklahoma: median $33 across 46 hospitalsOK$33Louisiana: median $25 across 29 hospitalsLA$25Mississippi: median $21 across 24 hospitalsMS$21Alabama: median $22 across 24 hospitalsAL$22Georgia: median $26 across 74 hospitalsGA$26Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $61 across 158 hospitalsTX$61Florida: median $89 across 98 hospitalsFL$89
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $38. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT33$118+212%$60 – $139
Alaska AK13$101+166%$46 – $168
Florida FL98$89+136%$17 – $386
Texas TX158$61+60%$23 – $123
Illinois IL90$56+49%$27 – $95
California CA129$55+46%$30 – $138
Colorado CO48$53+39%$38 – $146
Montana MT12$50+31%$32 – $59
New Hampshire NH14$49+30%$27 – $151
North Carolina NC52$48+27%$11 – $70
Minnesota MN64$48+27%$27 – $60
Arizona AZ24$48+26%$25 – $185
South Carolina SC41$47+24%$31 – $145
Kansas KS28$46+23%$32 – $74
Missouri MO48$45+19%$23 – $65
Idaho ID15$45+19%$26 – $70
Nebraska NE45$44+16%$26 – $65
South Dakota SD13$43+14%$26 – $66
Washington WA51$41+8%$21 – $63
Virginia VA47$41+8%$19 – $85
Massachusetts MA35$38+1%$13 – $57
Iowa IA48$35−7%$18 – $56
Ohio OH115$35−7%$22 – $58
Maine ME18$33−12%$17 – $88
Oklahoma OK46$33−12%$11 – $49
Wisconsin WI72$33−13%$25 – $57
Kentucky KY37$33−14%$19 – $57
North Dakota ND12$32−15%$24 – $64
Indiana IN76$32−16%$9 – $56
Nevada NV11$30−20%$18 – $33
Oregon OR34$29−23%$23 – $57
Arkansas AR15$27−28%$17 – $38
Georgia GA74$26−32%$14 – $136
West Virginia WV15$25−34%$15 – $62
Louisiana LA29$25−35%$11 – $39
Pennsylvania PA86$24−36%$9 – $101
Michigan MI59$23−40%$12 – $37
Alabama AL24$22−42%$12 – $64
Mississippi MS24$21−44%$15 – $39
Connecticut CT12$20−46%$12 – $28
Maryland MD24$20−47%$17 – $26
Tennessee TN51$17−54%$11 – $31
New York NY60$17−55%$6 – $51
New Jersey NJ51$7−82%$6 – $15
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not 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 $38.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,597$36$16 – $78
Children’s38$60$23 – $137
Critical access446$41$23 – $64
Ownership
For-profit279$61$18 – $294
Government299$36$16 – $69
Non-profit1,503$36$17 – $69
System affiliation
Part of a system1,784$38$17 – $77
Independent306$39$17 – $69

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$65
Median cash price$38
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

1,482 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $41 and the average of the middle 60% is $42; most fall between $20 and $78.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,482 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
$13$23$41$68$122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($13 vs $122).

Of the 1,615 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,482 gave a usable cash price; 67 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 66 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,090 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 2,267 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,090
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here100
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded77
Hospitals that filed this code2,267

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 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 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 Hc Nasal Smear For Eosinophils.

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, “Nasal smear test for eosinophils (CPT 89190) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-89190-nasal-smear-test-for-eosinophils