Urine culture cost in Columbus, OH
In Columbus, OH, 19 hospitals list a cash price for urine culture for bacteria, with colony count: from $41.60 to $135.85, with a median of $81.00. The lowest listed price is at Mount Carmel Grove City and 5 other hospitals — $39.40 less than the median here. Across Ohio, the median is $56.90 at 134 hospitals.
- The median here, $81.00, is 19% above the US median of $67.86.
- That is 10.0× Medicare's 2026 national rate for the same service ($8.07).
- Columbus, OH ranks 4th of 4 metro areas in Ohio by median, cheapest first.
- 1 of 19 hospitals list a cash price equal to their full list price, with no self-pay discount.
Cash prices at 19 facilities across 13 cities for code 87086, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 29, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Oct 22, 2025 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 Columbus, OH.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Carmel Grove City lowest Grove City, OH HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$632.00 | 35% |
| Mount Carmel Dublin lowest Dublin, OH · (380) 898-9000 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$69.00 | 35% |
| Mount Carmel East lowest Columbus, OH · (614) 234-5000 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$632.00 | 35% |
| Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital lowest New Albany, OH · (614) 775-6600 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$632.00 | 35% |
| Mount Carmel St Ann's lowest Westerville, OH · (614) 546-4034 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$632.00 | 35% |
| Diley Ridge Medical Center lowest Canal Winchester, OH · (614) 838-7911 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $41.60 | $64.00 | $7.09–$632.00 | 35% |
| Fairfield Medical Center Lancaster, OH · (740) 687-8000 Culture, Urine File of Feb 26, 2026 · source file | $49.05 | $109.00 | $6.71–$109.00 | 55% |
| Morrow County Hospital Mount Gilead, OH · (419) 946-5015 Bacterial colony count, urine File of Oct 22, 2025 · source file | $49.86 | $76.70 | $3.98–$74.40 | 35% |
| Licking Memorial Hospital Newark, OH · (740) 348-4000 HC Culture, Urine File of Mar 16, 2026 · source file | $68.70 | $68.70 | $7.91–$68.70 | — |
| Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus, OH · (614) 722-2000 URINE CULTURE, QUANTITATIVE File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $81.00 | $90.00 | $42.30–$88.20 | 10% |
| Grady Memorial Hospital Delaware, OH · (740) 368-5145 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $86.45 | $133.00 | — | 35% |
| Berger Hospital Circleville, OH · (740) 420-8008 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $87.75 | $135.00 | — | 35% |
| Galion Community Hospital Galion, OH · (419) 468-4841 HC BACT CULTURE - URINE QUAN COUNT File of Mar 20, 2026 · source file | $106.25 | $125.00 | $42.50–$115.00 | 15% |
| Doctors Hospital Columbus, OH · (614) 544-2136 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Grant Medical Center Columbus, OH · (614) 566-9164 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Riverside Methodist Hospital Columbus, OH · (614) 566-5000 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Grove City Methodist Grove City, OH · (614) 544-2136 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Pickerington Methodist Hospital Pickerington, OH · (614) 544-2136 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Dublin Methodist Hospital Dublin, OH · (614) 544-8000 Hc Culture Urine Aerobic Colony Count File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file | $135.85 | $209.00 | — | 35% |
| Mount Carmel St Ann's Westerville, OH · (614) 546-4034 HC Culture Colony Count Urine File of Mar 31, 2026 · source file | $20,157.70 | — | $632.00–$7,518.69 | — |
Outpatient: lowest $41.60, median $81.00, highest $135.85 — a 3.3× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 18 facilities here, median $83.73. 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 10 of 11 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 urine culture is, what the price covers and why prices differ: Urine culture explained.