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Procedure price report · Psychological and psychiatric evaluation and therapy

Psychological testing by a technician, first 30 minutes

CPT 96138the billing code this page is about

A technician gives and scores psychological or neuropsychological tests; this code covers the first 30 minutes of that testing time.

Hospitals typically charge $217 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 741 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $241. Most fall between $62 and $613 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
741
States
47
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 741 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
$45$71$217$500$857

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($45 vs $857).

How the prices are spread

$24 – $35: 17 hospitals$24$35 – $51: 45 hospitals$51 – $74: 90 hospitals$51$74 – $108: 70 hospitals$108 – $158: 39 hospitals$108$158 – $230: 92 hospitals$230 – $337: 95 hospitals$230$337 – $491: 69 hospitals$491 – $718: 84 hospitals$491$718 – $1,048: 67 hospitals$718median $217price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (668 of 741 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$24$3517
$35$5145
$51$7490
$74$10870
$108$15839
$158$23092
$230$33795
$337$49169
$491$71884
$718$1,04867

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$456
Median cash price$217
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.48×

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 $217.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $170 across 10 hospitalsWA$170Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $95 across 25 hospitalsMN$95Illinois: median $251 across 32 hospitalsIL$251Wisconsin: median $66 across 49 hospitalsWI$66Michigan: median $66 across 47 hospitalsMI$66New York: median $456 across 42 hospitalsNY$456Massachusetts: median $245 across 12 hospitalsMA$245Oregon: median $63 across 13 hospitalsOR$63Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $80 across 19 hospitalsIA$80Indiana: median $162 across 28 hospitalsIN$162Ohio: median $287 across 37 hospitalsOH$287Pennsylvania: median $265 across 33 hospitalsPA$265New Jersey: median $442 across 13 hospitalsNJ$442Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $685 across 61 hospitalsCA$685Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $50 across 11 hospitalsMO$50Kentucky: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $512 across 14 hospitalsWV$512Virginia: median $180 across 30 hospitalsVA$180Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $164 across 18 hospitalsTN$164North Carolina: median $95 across 21 hospitalsNC$95South Carolina: median $649 across 17 hospitalsSC$649Oklahoma: median $53 across 12 hospitalsOK$53Louisiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $372 across 18 hospitalsGA$372Hawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $234 across 52 hospitalsTX$234Florida: median $289 across 22 hospitalsFL$289
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $217. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA61$685+215%$264 – $1,103
South Carolina SC17$649+198%$388 – $649
West Virginia WV14$512+135%$181 – $524
New York NY42$456+110%$55 – $530
New Jersey NJ13$442+103%$436 – $578
Georgia GA18$372+71%$372 – $1,048
Florida FL22$289+33%$144 – $991
Ohio OH37$287+32%$211 – $778
Pennsylvania PA33$265+22%$54 – $752
Illinois IL32$251+16%$80 – $921
Massachusetts MA12$245+13%$61 – $386
Texas TX52$234+8%$217 – $277
Virginia VA30$180−17%$57 – $238
Washington WA10$170−22%$63 – $339
Tennessee TN18$164−25%$28 – $164
Indiana IN28$162−26%$36 – $560
North Carolina NC21$95−56%$62 – $148
Minnesota MN25$95−56%$39 – $111
Iowa IA19$80−63%$71 – $176
Michigan MI47$66−70%$17 – $614
Wisconsin WI49$66−70%$49 – $232
Oregon OR13$63−71%$58 – $248
Oklahoma OK12$53−76%$53 – $53
Missouri MO11$50−77%$35 – $210
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not 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 $217.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care598$235$62 – $649
Children’s30$170$95 – $309
Critical access110$99$58 – $277
Ownership
For-profit45$211$58 – $388
Government113$204$76 – $472
Non-profit580$223$58 – $649
System affiliation
Part of a system648$223$62 – $649
Independent93$141$60 – $363

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$336
Median cash price$217
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

560 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $211 and the average of the middle 60% is $214; most fall between $58 and $630.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 560 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
$47$66$211$399$820

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($47 vs $820).

Of the 595 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 560 gave a usable cash price; 16 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 19 a list price only.

How complete is this

741 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (19%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 781 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted741
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here20
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 — excluded20
Hospitals that filed this code781

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 Psychological and psychiatric evaluation and therapy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Psycl/Nrpsycl Tst Tech 2+ Tst 1st 30 Min.

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, “Psychological testing by a technician, first 30 minutes (CPT 96138) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-96138-psychological-testing-by-a-technician-first-30-minutes