Bacterial culture (wound) cost in Meridian, MS
In Meridian, MS, 3 hospitals list a cash price for bacterial culture of a sample other than urine, blood or stool (wound, throat, fluid): from $12.06 to $48.83, with a median of $13.60. The lowest listed price is at Ochsner Watkins Hospital — $1.54 less than the median here. Across Mississippi, the median is $53.04 at 53 hospitals.
Cash prices at 3 facilities across 2 cities for code 87070, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Oct 1, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Feb 17, 2026 and Feb 17, 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 Meridian, MS.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ochsner Watkins Hospital lowest Quitman, MS · (601) 776-6925 HC CULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL source file | $12.06 | $18.00 | $7.76–$18.07 | 33% |
| Baptist Anderson Regional Medical Center-South Meridian, MS · (601) 484-3590 CULTURE AEROBIC SOURCE OTHER THAN BLOOD/URINE/STOOL File of Feb 17, 2026 · source file | $13.60 | $34.00 | $8.62–$25.50 | 60% |
| Ochsner Watkins Hospital Quitman, MS · (601) 776-6925 HC RESP CULT, CYSTIC FIBROSIS source file | $35.51 | $53.00 | $7.76–$43.46 | 33% |
| Ochsner Rush Hospital Meridian, MS · (601) 483-0011 HC CULTURE MISC+2 more lines at this price source file | $48.83 | $157.50 | $6.56–$126.00 | 69% |
| Ochsner Watkins Hospital Quitman, MS · (601) 776-6925 HC RESPIRATORY CULTURE+1 more line at this price source file | $121.27 | $181.00 | $7.76–$148.42 | 33% |
Outpatient: lowest $12.06, median $13.60, highest $48.83 — a 4.0× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 4 facilities here, median $30.43. 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 3 of 3 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.
2 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ochsner Rush Hospital Meridian, MSHC CULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL | $5.58 | file |
| Baptist Anderson Regional Medical Center Meridian, MSCULTURE AEROBIC SOURCE OTHER THAN BLOOD/URINE/STOOL | $7.48 | file |