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Procedure price report · Suture of skin and subcutaneous tissue

Simple stitching of face or lip wound, over 30 cm

CPT 12018the billing code this page is about

Single-layer stitch repair of a shallow cut on the face, ear, eyelid, nose, lip or mouth lining, where the wound lengths repaired total more than 30 cm.

Hospitals typically charge $478 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,326 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $513. Most fall between $251 and $935 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,326
States
49
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 1,326 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
$203$293$478$777$1,372

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($203 vs $1,372).

How the prices are spread

$139 – $181: 35 hospitals$139$181 – $237: 137 hospitals$237 – $310: 113 hospitals$237$310 – $405: 194 hospitals$405 – $530: 164 hospitals$405$530 – $693: 203 hospitals$693 – $907: 138 hospitals$693$907 – $1,186: 123 hospitals$1,186 – $1,551: 47 hospitals$1,186$1,551 – $2,028: 41 hospitals$1,551median $478price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,195 of 1,326 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$139$18135
$181$237137
$237$310113
$310$405194
$405$530164
$530$693203
$693$907138
$907$1,186123
$1,186$1,55147
$1,551$2,02841

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$205
Median cash price$478
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.3×

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 $478.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $268 across 14 hospitalsME$268Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $612 across 41 hospitalsWA$612Idaho: median $556 across 13 hospitalsID$556Montana: median $380 across 10 hospitalsMT$380North Dakota: median $378 across 15 hospitalsND$378Minnesota: median $387 across 17 hospitalsMN$387Illinois: median $620 across 56 hospitalsIL$620Wisconsin: median $568 across 46 hospitalsWI$568Michigan: median $389 across 43 hospitalsMI$389New York: median $515 across 54 hospitalsNY$515Massachusetts: median $1,107 across 16 hospitalsMA$1,107Oregon: median $408 across 29 hospitalsOR$408Nevada: median $270 across 10 hospitalsNV$270Wyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $474 across 14 hospitalsSD$474Iowa: median $432 across 40 hospitalsIA$432Indiana: median $798 across 32 hospitalsIN$798Ohio: median $382 across 54 hospitalsOH$382Pennsylvania: median $336 across 38 hospitalsPA$336New Jersey: median $600 across 30 hospitalsNJ$600Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $662 across 95 hospitalsCA$662Utah: median $364 across 24 hospitalsUT$364Colorado: median $1,019 across 29 hospitalsCO$1,019Nebraska: median $394 across 32 hospitalsNE$394Missouri: median $320 across 17 hospitalsMO$320Kentucky: median $392 across 24 hospitalsKY$392West Virginia: median $482 across 13 hospitalsWV$482Virginia: median $761 across 42 hospitalsVA$761Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: median $246 across 19 hospitalsAZ$246New Mexico: median $667 across 12 hospitalsNM$667Kansas: median $684 across 30 hospitalsKS$684Arkansas: median $225 across 10 hospitalsAR$225Tennessee: median $137 across 21 hospitalsTN$137North Carolina: median $386 across 26 hospitalsNC$386South Carolina: median $279 across 31 hospitalsSC$279Oklahoma: median $350 across 37 hospitalsOK$350Louisiana: median $246 across 30 hospitalsLA$246Mississippi: median $240 across 23 hospitalsMS$240Alabama: median $269 across 16 hospitalsAL$269Georgia: median $673 across 42 hospitalsGA$673Hawaii: median $475 across 10 hospitalsHI$475Texas: median $589 across 81 hospitalsTX$589Florida: median $497 across 46 hospitalsFL$497
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $478. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA16$1,107+131%$773 – $3,704
Colorado CO29$1,019+113%$409 – $1,603
Indiana IN32$798+67%$316 – $1,135
Virginia VA42$761+59%$392 – $1,124
Kansas KS30$684+43%$360 – $1,343
Georgia GA42$673+41%$254 – $741
New Mexico NM12$667+39%$280 – $970
California CA95$662+38%$538 – $1,313
Illinois IL56$620+30%$358 – $1,048
Washington WA41$612+28%$417 – $1,135
New Jersey NJ30$600+25%$220 – $5,110
Texas TX81$589+23%$382 – $824
Wisconsin WI46$568+19%$382 – $770
Idaho ID13$556+16%$410 – $936
New York NY54$515+8%$235 – $935
Florida FL46$497+4%$381 – $2,345
West Virginia WV13$482+1%$196 – $732
Hawaii HI10$475−1%$279 – $1,390
South Dakota SD14$474−1%$411 – $679
Iowa IA40$432−10%$332 – $685
Oregon OR29$408−15%$317 – $655
Nebraska NE32$394−18%$309 – $500
Kentucky KY24$392−18%$289 – $798
Michigan MI43$389−19%$267 – $966
Minnesota MN17$387−19%$317 – $640
North Carolina NC26$386−19%$249 – $480
Ohio OH54$382−20%$264 – $738
Montana MT10$380−21%$193 – $486
North Dakota ND15$378−21%$204 – $556
Utah UT24$364−24%$328 – $410
Oklahoma OK37$350−27%$224 – $1,132
Pennsylvania PA38$336−30%$127 – $751
Missouri MO17$320−33%$183 – $502
South Carolina SC31$279−42%$210 – $939
Nevada NV10$270−44%$182 – $594
Alabama AL16$269−44%$174 – $389
Maine ME14$268−44%$169 – $613
Arizona AZ19$246−49%$233 – $989
Louisiana LA30$246−49%$69 – $434
Mississippi MS23$240−50%$184 – $326
Arkansas AR10$225−53%$203 – $496
Tennessee TN21$137−71%$137 – $224
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $478.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care923$502$242 – $950
Children’s19fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access382$441$286 – $800
Ownership
For-profit133$567$224 – $1,075
Government269$444$255 – $824
Non-profit922$484$260 – $935
System affiliation
Part of a system1,036$497$267 – $939
Independent290$435$224 – $849

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$782
Median cash price$478
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. 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

973 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $538 and the average of the middle 60% is $551; most fall between $304 and $960.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 973 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
$210$337$538$825$1,452

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($210 vs $1,452).

Of the 1,071 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 973 gave a usable cash price; 32 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 66 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,326 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (34%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,436 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,326
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here50
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded60
Hospitals that filed this code1,436

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 September 4, 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 Suture of skin and subcutaneous tissue family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Simple Repair F/E/E/N/L/M >30.0 Cm.

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, “Simple stitching of face or lip wound, over 30 cm (CPT 12018) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-12018-simple-stitching-of-face-or-lip-wound-over-30-cm