How Much Does a Pathology Exam of Biopsy Tissue Cost in Pennsylvania?
Tissue exam by pathologist
$88Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a pathology exam of biopsy tissue costs up to about $88 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Pennsylvania averages $69, from $66 in Rest of Pennsylvania to $73 in Metropolitan Philadelphia.
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- ✓Five nearby hospitals by name, with CMS star ratings
- ✓The add-on codes that typically land on the bill
- ✓A word-for-word script for asking for a good-faith estimate
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- ✓Everything in the Premium report
- ✓15 nearby hospitals instead of five
- ✓Filled good-faith-estimate request letter
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- ✓Printable PDF download
Pennsylvania Medicare physician rate (2026)
-0.9% vs nationalAverage of 2 localities. Office range $66.41–$72.56.
What the whole procedure costs
The office rate above is what an imaging center, lab or office is paid for the whole test. In a hospital, the facility bills its own fee and the physician bills only the reading. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.
Medicare may pay the facility separately for this code or package it into another service on the same day, so treat the facility share as an upper bound. For a test like this the physician in a hospital bills only the reading (the professional component); outside a hospital one global fee covers the whole test, shown in the office rate above. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.
Your ZIP in Pennsylvania
Look up your ZIP to see whether metro Philadelphia or rest-of-state pricing applies, from Philadelphia and its collar counties to Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, and the rural center.
What pathology exam of biopsy tissue costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Pennsylvania moves the bill more than anything else you control.
Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.
For example 15001.
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What these numbers are
Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery center rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again. In Pennsylvania the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $34.39.
National vs Pennsylvania
Where Pennsylvania ranks for this CPT
CPT 88305 by Pennsylvania locality
| Locality | Office |
|---|---|
| metropolitan philadelphia | $72.56 |
| rest of pennsylvania | $66.41 |
PE GPCI ranges from 0.918 to 1.041 in Pennsylvania. That index is why the same CPT is not one price statewide.
Pathology Exam of Biopsy Tissue and how Pennsylvania is priced
Pennsylvania's fee schedule separates metro Philadelphia from the rest of the state, giving the southeast its own higher-cost locality while Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Erie, and rural Pennsylvania share rest-of-state adjustments. That means the state's second-largest medical market, Pittsburgh, is priced with rural counties rather than with Philadelphia. The Philadelphia locality's premium reflects the metro's wage and rent levels, which lead the state by a wide margin. For patients, the key locality question in Pennsylvania is simply whether care happens in the Philadelphia area.
Philadelphia is one of America's historic centers of academic medicine, dense with teaching hospitals, while Pittsburgh is dominated by a pair of large integrated systems whose rivalry has defined that market for years. The rural middle of the state, sometimes called the T, has far fewer options, and hospital closures there have drawn statewide attention. Residents near the edges use New York, Baltimore, or Ohio providers when convenient.
This procedure: CPT 88305 covers a pathologist examining tissue from a biopsy or minor surgery under a microscope: a skin biopsy, a polyp removed during a colonoscopy, or a breast or prostate core, for example. The lab processes the tissue into stained glass slides, and a pathologist, often a dermatopathologist for skin samples, reads them and writes the diagnosis report. It is one of the most frequently billed pathology codes, and it is billed per specimen, so several biopsies from one procedure often produce several charges.
What Is Pathology Exam of Biopsy Tissue?
CPT 88305 covers a pathologist examining tissue from a biopsy or minor surgery under a microscope: a skin biopsy, a polyp removed during a colonoscopy, or a breast or prostate core, for example. The lab processes the tissue into stained glass slides, and a pathologist, often a dermatopathologist for skin samples, reads them and writes the diagnosis report. It is one of the most frequently billed pathology codes, and it is billed per specimen, so several biopsies from one procedure often produce several charges.
What Affects the Cost
- –Each separately submitted specimen is billed as its own unit, so three polyps sent in three containers can mean three charges.
- –Special stains or immunohistochemistry, used when the diagnosis is not clear on routine slides, are billed with additional codes such as 88312 or 88342.
- –An independent lab usually bills one global fee, while a hospital lab bills the tissue processing on its own claim and the pathologist bills the reading.
- –Out-of-network lab bills are a common surprise, because patients rarely choose the lab that receives their biopsy.
- –An outside second opinion on the slides is billed with separate consultation codes.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Which lab will the tissue go to, and is it in my network?
- 2.How many specimens will be sent, and will each one be billed?
- 3.Will special stains or extra tests be run, and would you tell me first?
- 4.Is a dermatopathologist or other subspecialist reading the slides, and are they in network?
- 5.If I get a bill from a lab I did not choose, who do I contact to have it reprocessed?
Other featured procedures in Pennsylvania
Pathology Exam of Biopsy Tissue in other states
Pathology Exam of Biopsy Tissue in Pennsylvania: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a pathology exam of biopsy tissue costs up to about $88 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Pennsylvania averages $69, from $66 in Rest of Pennsylvania to $73 in Metropolitan Philadelphia. Enter a ZIP for the exact Pennsylvania locality.
Yes. CMS splits Pennsylvania into 2 payment localities. For this CPT the office physician fee spans $6.15 from the lowest to highest locality. Look up your ZIP to see whether metro Philadelphia or rest-of-state pricing applies, from Philadelphia and its collar counties to Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, and the rural center.
After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $14 for the office physician line or $7 for the hospital physician line in Pennsylvania. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.
It depends on where the test is done. At an independent imaging center, lab or office, $69.49 is Medicare's full rate in Pennsylvania, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $35.10) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $88. Pennsylvania ranks #28 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (within 2% of the national office rate of $70.14).