CMS Price Transparency Data

Culture, bacterial

Facility: St James Hospital

Billing Code: 87070 (CPT)

The BaseRate · fair price medium confidence

A fair price for this

$52

about 5.8× the $9 Medicare rate · typically $20–$60

modeled estimate · not a bill or quote

Medicare pays $9 Fair price $52 Hospital's list price $130

How we calculate the fair BaseRate →

What each insurance company pays

Which insurers have negotiated a price with this hospital for this procedure — and which haven’t.

5 of 6 major insurers have a published price at this hospital

✓ UnitedHealthcare✓ Blue Cross Blue Shield✓ Aetna✓ Cigna✓ Humana Kaiser Permanente

Crossed out = this hospital hasn’t published a negotiated price for that insurer for this procedure. It doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t accepted — ask your insurer.

Insurance company	Price range	vs. Medicare
UnitedHealthcaremajor	$9 - $115	104%
Blue Cross Blue Shieldmajor	$69 - $136	800%
Aetnamajor	$119 - $129	1381%
Cignamajor	$66 - $129	766%
Humanamajor	$9	104%
GEHA	$107 - $115	1241%
PacificSource	$57 - $129	661%
+ 6 smaller / regional plans	$18 - $129

Self-Pay How to get the cash price

Tell the billing desk you want to be billed as self-pay — not through insurance — before your visit.
Ask for the cash / prompt-pay discount in writing, with the exact price, before you agree to anything.
Get it in writing that they won’t also bill your insurance, so the cash price is what you owe.
Check the CPT code on your bill matches exactly: 87070.

Insurance Before you use insurance

Call your insurance company to confirm St James Hospital is in-network.
Ask your insurer whether prior approval is required for CPT code 87070.
Confirm the doctor or provider is in-network too — not just the hospital building.
Check your Explanation of Benefits against the hospital’s final itemized bill.

Other Procedures at St James Hospital

Compare: Culture, bacterial at other MT hospitals

Insurance negotiated median for the same procedure, sorted lowest first.