Lab tests CPT 82378 Inpatient — admitted to hospital

CEA test cost in Santa Cruz, CA — inpatient

In Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA, 2 hospitals list a cash price for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test as an inpatient: from $41.31 to $286.00, with a median of $163.66. The lowest listed price is at Watsonville Community Hospital — $122.35 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $120.12 at 185 hospitals.

Cash prices at 2 facilities across 2 cities for code 82378, as an inpatient (admitted to hospital) . Collected Oct 2, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Apr 1, 2026 and Sep 28, 2026.

Lowest$41.31Watsonville Community Hospital

Median$163.66half of hospitals charge less

Highest$286.00in this market

Difference6.9×highest vs lowest

Where each hospital's price falls

Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA.

median

Lowest $41.31Highest $286.00

Hospitals, cheapest first

Hospital	Cash price	List price	Insurers pay	Off list
Watsonville Community Hospital lowest Watsonville, CA · (831) 724-4741 CARCINOEMBRYONIC AG+1 more line at this price File of Sep 28, 2026 · source file	$41.31	$68.85	$13.87–$126.30	40%
Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA · (831) 477-2200 HCHG CORE CEA File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file	$286.00	$286.00	—	—

Hospital The hospital that published the price, its city and the line exactly as written in its price file.

Cash price The hospital's own price for a patient paying without insurance (“discounted cash” in its price file). Hospitals must publish it under federal law, 45 CFR 180.50. Call to confirm it before booking. More

List price The hospital's full chargemaster price (“gross charge”) before any discount. Almost nobody pays it; the gap to the cash price shows what the self-pay discount is worth. More

Insurers pay The lowest and highest rates this hospital has agreed with insurance plans for the same item, from its price file. If the cash price is below what your plan pays and you have not met your deductible, paying cash can cost you less. More

Off list How much lower the cash price is than the list price.

No cash discount This line's cash price equals the hospital's full list price. Many hospitals still reduce bills for uninsured patients: ask the billing office for its self-pay discount in writing. More

Inpatient: lowest $41.31, median $163.66, highest $286.00 — a 6.9× difference within the same market.

As an outpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $163.66 — that is the price to compare if you are not being admitted.

Cash or insurance?

At the one hospital here that publishes insurer rates for this code, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.

What it is

A CEA test measures a protein that can be high in colorectal and some other cancers. It is used to follow treatment and watch for recurrence, not to screen healthy people.

What the price covers

The price usually covers running the test. The blood draw (36415) is often billed as a separate line.

3 rows held back from this comparison

They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 82378 ($103.98). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.

Hospital	Cash price	File
Dominican Hospital Santa Cruz, CARL-A-CEA 80080	$2.70	file
Dominican Hospital Santa Cruz, CARL-A-CEA FL 20742	$4.50	file
Watsonville Community Hospital Watsonville, CAQ978 CEA IA	$4.95	file

File Link to the hospital's own price file.