Bacterial culture (wound) cost in Modesto, CA
In Modesto, CA, 3 hospitals list a cash price for bacterial culture of a sample other than urine, blood or stool (wound, throat, fluid): from $254.80 to $423.00, with a median of $405.00. The lowest listed price is at Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Modesto — $150.20 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $133.00 at 193 hospitals.
Cash prices at 3 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 Apr 1, 2026 and Jul 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 Modesto, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Modesto lowest Modesto, CA CUL BACT XCPT URINE BLOOD/STOOL AEROBIC ISOL source file | $254.80 | $455.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% |
| Oak Valley Hospital District Oakdale, CA · (209) 847-3011 Bacterial culture, any other source except urine, blood or stool, aerobic File of Jul 17, 2026 · source file | $405.00 | $540.00 | $8.62–$486.00 | 25% |
| Memorial Medical Center Modesto, CA · (209) 526-4500 HCHG CORE CULT NASAL+12 more lines at this price File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $423.00 | $423.00 | — | — |
Outpatient: lowest $254.80, median $405.00, highest $423.00 — a 1.7× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $338.90. 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 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.