Bacterial culture (wound) cost in Merced, CA
In Merced, CA, 2 hospitals list a cash price for bacterial culture of a sample other than urine, blood or stool (wound, throat, fluid): from $10.60 to $423.00, with a median of $216.80. The lowest listed price is at Mercy Medical Center — $206.20 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $133.00 at 193 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 29, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Feb 28, 2026 and Apr 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 Merced, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercy Medical Center lowest Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 RL-A-MC HPYL 2006686A File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $10.60 | $20.57 | $5.97–$20.57 | 48% |
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 RL-A-MC NOC 60093 File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $18.19 | $35.31 | $8.62–$35.31 | 48% |
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 SJM-CULT CATHETER TIP File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $136.48 | $265.00 | $8.62–$249.10 | 48% |
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 CULT RESPIRATORY File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $153.99 | $299.00 | $8.62–$281.06 | 48% |
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 BM-CULT GENITAL File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $251.32 | $488.00 | $8.62–$458.72 | 49% |
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CA · (209) 564-5000 CULT GASTRIC File of Feb 28, 2026 · source file | $285.31 | $554.00 | $8.62–$520.76 | 49% |
| Memorial Hospital Los Banos Los Banos, CA · (209) 826-0591 HCHG CULT OTHER SOURCE AEROBIC NOT UR/BLD/STL+5 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $423.00 | $423.00 | — | — |
Outpatient: lowest $10.60, median $216.80, highest $423.00 — a 39.9× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $216.80. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
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 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.
1 row held back from this comparison
It is 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mercy Medical Center Merced, CACPE GONORRHEA NONL | $4.12 | file |