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Procedure price report · Incision and drainage, skin and subcutaneous tissue

Draining a blood blister under a nail

CPT 11740the billing code this page is about

Making a small opening in the nail to release trapped blood collected underneath after an injury.

Hospitals typically charge $135 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,658 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $145. Most fall between $69 and $272 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,658
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 2,658 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$48$78$135$234$409

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($48 vs $409).

How the prices are spread

$37 – $49: 141 hospitals$37$49 – $65: 198 hospitals$65 – $86: 299 hospitals$65$86 – $113: 323 hospitals$113 – $150: 379 hospitals$113$150 – $199: 362 hospitals$199 – $263: 269 hospitals$199$263 – $348: 187 hospitals$348 – $460: 146 hospitals$348$460 – $609: 90 hospitals$460median $135price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,394 of 2,658 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$37$49141
$49$65198
$65$86299
$86$113323
$113$150379
$150$199362
$199$263269
$263$348187
$348$460146
$460$60990

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$136
Median cash price$135
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.00×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $135.

Alaska: median $217 across 16 hospitalsAK$217Maine: median $73 across 22 hospitalsME$73Vermont: median $175 across 12 hospitalsVT$175New Hampshire: median $73 across 20 hospitalsNH$73Washington: median $168 across 69 hospitalsWA$168Idaho: median $113 across 21 hospitalsID$113Montana: median $103 across 33 hospitalsMT$103North Dakota: median $144 across 26 hospitalsND$144Minnesota: median $137 across 92 hospitalsMN$137Illinois: median $139 across 114 hospitalsIL$139Wisconsin: median $87 across 96 hospitalsWI$87Michigan: median $99 across 82 hospitalsMI$99New York: median $153 across 101 hospitalsNY$153Massachusetts: median $185 across 42 hospitalsMA$185Oregon: median $105 across 51 hospitalsOR$105Nevada: median $148 across 17 hospitalsNV$148Wyoming: median $86 across 15 hospitalsWY$86South Dakota: median $160 across 29 hospitalsSD$160Iowa: median $96 across 81 hospitalsIA$96Indiana: median $127 across 55 hospitalsIN$127Ohio: median $224 across 110 hospitalsOH$224Pennsylvania: median $176 across 123 hospitalsPA$176New Jersey: median $313 across 54 hospitalsNJ$313Connecticut: median $154 across 18 hospitalsCT$154Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $276 across 136 hospitalsCA$276Utah: median $209 across 27 hospitalsUT$209Colorado: median $134 across 51 hospitalsCO$134Nebraska: median $109 across 71 hospitalsNE$109Missouri: median $82 across 55 hospitalsMO$82Kentucky: median $126 across 59 hospitalsKY$126West Virginia: median $145 across 38 hospitalsWV$145Virginia: median $147 across 54 hospitalsVA$147Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $116 across 26 hospitalsAZ$116New Mexico: median $109 across 26 hospitalsNM$109Kansas: median $81 across 70 hospitalsKS$81Arkansas: median $69 across 30 hospitalsAR$69Tennessee: median $68 across 50 hospitalsTN$68North Carolina: median $108 across 55 hospitalsNC$108South Carolina: median $122 across 46 hospitalsSC$122Oklahoma: median $83 across 64 hospitalsOK$83Louisiana: median $94 across 43 hospitalsLA$94Mississippi: median $66 across 51 hospitalsMS$66Alabama: median $110 across 29 hospitalsAL$110Georgia: median $132 across 70 hospitalsGA$132Hawaii: median $201 across 16 hospitalsHI$201Texas: median $160 across 174 hospitalsTX$160Florida: median $315 across 101 hospitalsFL$315
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $135. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL101$315+132%$123 – $510
New Jersey NJ54$313+131%$143 – $3,986
California CA136$276+104%$150 – $456
Ohio OH110$224+66%$76 – $284
Alaska AK16$217+60%$102 – $258
Utah UT27$209+55%$188 – $236
Hawaii HI16$201+48%$137 – $417
Massachusetts MA42$185+37%$98 – $409
Pennsylvania PA123$176+30%$77 – $371
Vermont VT12$175+29%$71 – $239
Washington WA69$168+24%$90 – $233
South Dakota SD29$160+18%$127 – $178
Texas TX174$160+18%$88 – $295
Connecticut CT18$154+14%$65 – $213
New York NY101$153+13%$62 – $281
Nevada NV17$148+9%$112 – $231
Virginia VA54$147+8%$64 – $189
West Virginia WV38$145+7%$96 – $250
North Dakota ND26$144+6%$83 – $173
Illinois IL114$139+2%$68 – $291
Minnesota MN92$137+1%$75 – $226
Colorado CO51$134−1%$65 – $192
Georgia GA70$132−2%$48 – $275
Indiana IN55$127−6%$62 – $241
Kentucky KY59$126−7%$77 – $518
South Carolina SC46$122−10%$87 – $214
Arizona AZ26$116−14%$66 – $374
Idaho ID21$113−16%$72 – $360
Alabama AL29$110−19%$53 – $616
Nebraska NE71$109−19%$81 – $135
New Mexico NM26$109−20%$69 – $225
North Carolina NC55$108−20%$66 – $176
Oregon OR51$105−22%$76 – $171
Montana MT33$103−24%$62 – $152
Michigan MI82$99−27%$41 – $183
Iowa IA81$96−29%$63 – $145
Louisiana LA43$94−31%$45 – $142
Wisconsin WI96$87−36%$74 – $197
Wyoming WY15$86−37%$40 – $153
Oklahoma OK64$83−39%$54 – $157
Missouri MO55$82−40%$57 – $153
Kansas KS70$81−40%$61 – $135
New Hampshire NH20$73−46%$45 – $128
Maine ME22$73−46%$59 – $111
Arkansas AR30$69−49%$45 – $216
Tennessee TN50$68−50%$40 – $243
Mississippi MS51$66−51%$41 – $181
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $135.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,774$152$75 – $324
Children’s51$295$138 – $608
Critical access826$101$61 – $183
Ownership
For-profit272$190$88 – $647
Government557$103$61 – $189
Non-profit1,822$144$73 – $276
System affiliation
Part of a system2,107$145$74 – $284
Independent551$106$62 – $209

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$225
Median cash price$135
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

1,943 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $143 and the average of the middle 60% is $153; most fall between $74 and $281.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,943 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$53$83$143$252$403

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($53 vs $403).

Of the 2,081 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,943 gave a usable cash price; 47 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 91 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,658 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (67%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,851 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,658
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here81
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded7
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded105
Hospitals that filed this code2,851

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between July 20, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Incision and drainage, skin and subcutaneous tissue family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Drain Blood From Under Nail.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Draining a blood blister under a nail (CPT 11740) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-11740-draining-a-blood-blister-under-a-nail