Bacterial culture (wound) cost in McAllen, TX
In McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX, 2 hospitals list a cash price for bacterial culture of a sample other than urine, blood or stool (wound, throat, fluid): from $69.00 to $1,091.92, with a median of $580.46. The lowest listed price is at Driscoll Children's Hospital Rio Grande Valley — $511.46 less than the median here. Across Texas, the median is $69.48 at 296 hospitals.
Cash prices at 2 facilities across 2 cities for code 87070, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 27, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Oct 6, 2025 and Sep 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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driscoll Children's Hospital Rio Grande Valley lowest Edinburg, TX · (361) 694-5041 Culture, Bacteria, Other File of Oct 6, 2025 · source file | $69.00 | $345.00 | $7.24–$165.82 | 80% |
| Rio Grande Regional Hospital San Juan, TX · (956) 632-6000 CULT THROAT+1 more line at this price File of Sep 1, 2026 · source file | $1,091.92 | $1,091.92 | $76.43–$928.13 | — |
| Rio Grande Regional Hospital San Juan, TX · (956) 632-6000 CULTURE SPUTUM+13 more lines at this price File of Sep 1, 2026 · source file | $1,377.42 | $1,377.42 | $96.42–$1,170.81 | — |
Outpatient: lowest $69.00, median $580.46, highest $1,091.92 — a 15.8× difference within the same market.
Cash or insurance?
At 1 of 2 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.
6 rows held back from this comparison
They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 87070 ($91.03). 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande Regional Hospital San Juan, TXCULT ENVIRON EPIDEMI | $6.68 | file |
| Knapp Medical Center Weslaco, TXHc Culture Spec, Bacteria, Not Urine,Stool,Blood | $8.00 | file |
| Mission Regional Medical Center Mission, TXCULTURE-THROAT/NOSE | $8.00 | file |
| Mission Regional Medical Center Mission, TXID & SENSITIVITY,NON UA/BLD/ST | $8.00 | file |
| Mission Regional Medical Center Mission, TXBACTALERT-BODY FLUID CULT | $8.00 | file |
| Mission Regional Medical Center Mission, TXBACTERIAL CULT OTHR SOURCE | $8.00 | file |