Bacterial culture (wound) cost in Buffalo, NY — inpatient
In Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY, 7 hospitals list a cash price for bacterial culture of a sample other than urine, blood or stool (wound, throat, fluid) as an inpatient: from $24.00 to $87.00, with a median of $25.00. The lowest listed price is at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and 2 other hospitals — $1.00 less than the median here. Across New York, the median is $37.80 at 97 hospitals.
Cash prices at 7 facilities across 3 cities for code 87070, as an inpatient (admitted to hospital) . Collected Oct 2, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Apr 1, 2026 and Oct 1, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy Hospital of Buffalo lowest Buffalo, NY · (716) 826-7000 HC Culture, CSF+4 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $24.00 | $24.00 | $6.47–$24.00 | — |
| Sisters of Charity Hospital lowest Buffalo, NY · (716) 862-1000 HC Culture, CSF+4 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $24.00 | $24.00 | $6.47–$24.00 | — |
| Mount St. Mary's Hospital lowest Lewiston, NY · (716) 297-4800 HC Culture, CSF+4 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $24.00 | $24.00 | $6.47–$24.00 | — |
| Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY Unyt's Sterility Culture File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $25.00 | $25.00 | — | — |
| Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Springville, NY · (716) 592-2871 LEGIONELLA 87070 File of Oct 1, 2026 · source file | $25.50 | $30.00 | $5.74–$150.00 | 15% |
| Erie County Medical Center Buffalo, NY · (716) 898-3936 LEGIONELLA CULTURE+6 more lines at this price File of Aug 25, 2026 · source file | $36.69 | $89.80 | $6.47–$80.82 | 59% |
| Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Springville, NY · (716) 592-2871 CX THROAT OR NO LAB+2 more lines at this price File of Oct 1, 2026 · source file | $51.00 | $60.00 | $5.74–$150.00 | 15% |
| Kaleida Health Buffalo, NY · (716) 859-8620 Wound Culture Nonsurgical+21 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $87.00 | $87.00 | — | — |
| Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY Blood Cult Cgmp File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $168.48 | $168.48 | — | — |
| Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY Culture Legionella+21 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $185.77 | $185.77 | — | — |
Inpatient: lowest $24.00, median $25.00, highest $87.00 — a 3.6× difference within the same market.
As an outpatient, the same code is billed by 8 facilities here, median $24.50 — that is the price to compare if you are not being admitted.
Cash or insurance?
At 2 of 5 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at none is it below every plan's rate. 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 bacterial culture grows bacteria from a sample such as a wound, throat swab, eye or fluid to find which germ causes an infection. It takes one to three days.
What the price covers
The price usually covers running the test; collecting the sample may be billed separately.
3 rows held back from this comparison
They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 87070 ($87.75). 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mount St. Mary's Hospital Lewiston, NYHC Culture, Body Fluid | $8.15 | file |
| Mercy Hospital of Buffalo Buffalo, NYHC Culture, Body Fluid | $8.15 | file |
| Sisters of Charity Hospital Buffalo, NYHC Culture, Body Fluid | $8.15 | file |