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Procedure price report · Excision of skin lesion

Skin cancer destruction, trunk/arm/leg, up to 0.5 cm

CPT 17260the billing code this page is about

Destruction of a cancerous skin growth on the trunk, arms, or legs by freezing, burning, laser, or chemicals; covers one lesion measuring 0.5 centimeters or less.

Hospitals typically charge $218 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 876 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $220. Most fall between $112 and $367 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
876
States
48
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 876 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
$78$132$218$318$556

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($78 vs $556).

How the prices are spread

$53 – $70: 29 hospitals$53$70 – $91: 46 hospitals$91 – $119: 79 hospitals$91$119 – $155: 87 hospitals$155 – $203: 111 hospitals$155$203 – $264: 178 hospitals$264 – $345: 113 hospitals$264$345 – $450: 74 hospitals$450 – $588: 41 hospitals$450$588 – $767: 47 hospitals$588median $218price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (805 of 876 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$53$7029
$70$9146
$91$11979
$119$15587
$155$203111
$203$264178
$264$345113
$345$45074
$450$58841
$588$76747

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$205
Median cash price$218
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.06×

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 $218.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $207 across 24 hospitalsWA$207Idaho: median $297 across 13 hospitalsID$297Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $275 across 37 hospitalsMN$275Illinois: median $200 across 29 hospitalsIL$200Wisconsin: median $224 across 51 hospitalsWI$224Michigan: median $125 across 34 hospitalsMI$125New York: median $235 across 42 hospitalsNY$235Massachusetts: median $250 across 14 hospitalsMA$250Oregon: median $183 across 26 hospitalsOR$183Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $273 across 11 hospitalsSD$273Iowa: median $217 across 39 hospitalsIA$217Indiana: median $295 across 23 hospitalsIN$295Ohio: median $367 across 41 hospitalsOH$367Pennsylvania: median $233 across 33 hospitalsPA$233New Jersey: median $616 across 28 hospitalsNJ$616Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $656 across 43 hospitalsCA$656Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $138 across 22 hospitalsCO$138Nebraska: median $204 across 20 hospitalsNE$204Missouri: median $152 across 21 hospitalsMO$152Kentucky: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $229 across 16 hospitalsWV$229Virginia: median $274 across 24 hospitalsVA$274Maryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $155 across 26 hospitalsKS$155Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $84 across 12 hospitalsTN$84North Carolina: median $218 across 18 hospitalsNC$218South Carolina: median $310 across 26 hospitalsSC$310Oklahoma: median $116 across 14 hospitalsOK$116Louisiana: median $120 across 17 hospitalsLA$120Mississippi: median $165 across 13 hospitalsMS$165Alabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $46 across 11 hospitalsGA$46Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $320 across 31 hospitalsTX$320Florida: median $274 across 22 hospitalsFL$274
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $218. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA43$656+201%$206 – $767
New Jersey NJ28$616+182%$220 – $5,339
Ohio OH41$367+68%$113 – $387
Texas TX31$320+47%$157 – $321
South Carolina SC26$310+42%$221 – $323
Idaho ID13$297+36%$150 – $556
Indiana IN23$295+35%$108 – $397
Minnesota MN37$275+26%$152 – $410
Florida FL22$274+26%$191 – $605
Virginia VA24$274+25%$48 – $316
South Dakota SD11$273+25%$215 – $273
Massachusetts MA14$250+15%$110 – $503
New York NY42$235+8%$142 – $546
Pennsylvania PA33$233+7%$48 – $309
West Virginia WV16$229+5%$127 – $401
Wisconsin WI51$224+3%$167 – $250
North Carolina NC18$2180%$161 – $218
Iowa IA39$217−1%$134 – $238
Washington WA24$207−5%$169 – $301
Nebraska NE20$204−6%$107 – $227
Illinois IL29$200−8%$105 – $298
Oregon OR26$183−16%$98 – $231
Mississippi MS13$165−24%$118 – $246
Kansas KS26$155−29%$86 – $207
Missouri MO21$152−30%$133 – $157
Colorado CO22$138−37%$98 – $1,660
Michigan MI34$125−43%$65 – $224
Louisiana LA17$120−45%$67 – $171
Oklahoma OK14$116−47%$116 – $116
Tennessee TN12$84−62%$75 – $139
Georgia GA11$46−79%$46 – $46
Kentucky KY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $218.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care606$231$116 – $387
Children’s9fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access260$178$105 – $282
Ownership
For-profit45$188$105 – $353
Government196$191$103 – $246
Non-profit634$231$116 – $398
System affiliation
Part of a system682$224$116 – $387
Independent194$184$99 – $288

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$298
Median cash price$218
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

527 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $218 and the average of the middle 60% is $229; most fall between $110 and $387.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 527 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
$82$130$218$352$579

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($82 vs $579).

Of the 572 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 527 gave a usable cash price; 25 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 20 a list price only.

How complete is this

876 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (22%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 948 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted876
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here52
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded19
Hospitals that filed this code948

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 Excision of skin lesion family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Destruction Malignant Lesion T/a/L 0.5 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, “Skin cancer destruction, trunk/arm/leg, up to 0.5 cm (CPT 17260) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-17260-skin-cancer-destruction-trunk-arm-leg-up-to-0-5-cm