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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on skin and breast

Liposuction of an arm

CPT 15878the billing code this page is about

Suction-assisted removal of fat through small incisions in an upper limb; the charge applies to one upper extremity treated.

Hospitals typically charge $2,272 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 370 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,679. Most fall between $984 and $5,181 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
370
States
47
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 370 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
$502$1,250$2,272$4,059$7,291

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($502 vs $7,291).

How the prices are spread

$482 – $687: 27 hospitals$482$687 – $979: 29 hospitals$979 – $1,396: 30 hospitals$979$1,396 – $1,991: 33 hospitals$1,991 – $2,838: 80 hospitals$1,991$2,838 – $4,047: 57 hospitals$4,047 – $5,771: 37 hospitals$4,047$5,771 – $8,230: 32 hospitals$8,230 – $11,735: 4 hospitals$8,230$11,735 – $16,733: 6 hospitals$11,735median $2,272price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (335 of 370 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$482$68727
$687$97929
$979$1,39630
$1,396$1,99133
$1,991$2,83880
$2,838$4,04757
$4,047$5,77137
$5,771$8,23032
$8,230$11,7354
$11,735$16,7336

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$2,108
Median cash price$2,272
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.08×

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 $2,272.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: median $2,251 across 25 hospitalsWI$2,251Michigan: median $1,260 across 10 hospitalsMI$1,260New York: median $2,165 across 23 hospitalsNY$2,165Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $1,467 across 10 hospitalsOR$1,467Nevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $2,272 across 16 hospitalsIA$2,272Indiana: median $1,932 across 17 hospitalsIN$1,932Ohio: median $2,350 across 11 hospitalsOH$2,350Pennsylvania: median $1,413 across 21 hospitalsPA$1,413New Jersey: median $3,819 across 30 hospitalsNJ$3,819Connecticut: 3 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 $3,562 across 42 hospitalsCA$3,562Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,179 across 10 hospitalsVA$1,179Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $452 across 13 hospitalsOK$452Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $6,653 across 10 hospitalsGA$6,653Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $5,181 across 21 hospitalsTX$5,181Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,272. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA10$6,653+193%$3,300 – $6,653
Texas TX21$5,181+128%$3,577 – $5,181
New Jersey NJ30$3,819+68%$2,026 – $5,741
California CA42$3,562+57%$3,562 – $7,291
Ohio OH11$2,350+3%$1,664 – $3,105
Iowa IA16$2,2720%$1,806 – $2,272
Wisconsin WI25$2,251−1%$488 – $4,059
New York NY23$2,165−5%$1,250 – $2,449
Indiana IN17$1,932−15%$805 – $2,562
Oregon OR10$1,467−35%$1,467 – $2,214
Pennsylvania PA21$1,413−38%$1,139 – $3,093
Michigan MI10$1,260−45%$488 – $2,837
Virginia VA10$1,179−48%$377 – $30,898
Oklahoma OK13$452−80%$452 – $1,078
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $2,272.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care310$2,375$1,078 – $5,415
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access52$2,214$714 – $2,988
Ownership
For-profit48$2,841$805 – $5,953
Government39$2,165$1,002 – $4,599
Non-profit282$2,272$1,008 – $5,181
System affiliation
Part of a system321$2,272$932 – $5,181
Independent49$2,386$1,315 – $4,599

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,615
Median cash price$2,272
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

206 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,025 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,370; most fall between $585 and $5,181.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 206 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
$478$805$2,025$3,742$7,291

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($478 vs $7,291).

Of the 218 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 206 gave a usable cash price; 10 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 2 a list price only.

How complete is this

370 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 390 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted370
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here16
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded2
Hospitals that filed this code390

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 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other OR therapeutic procedures on skin and breast family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Suct Assis Lipectomy,Up Extrem.

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, “Liposuction of an arm (CPT 15878) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-15878-liposuction-of-an-arm