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

Surgical opening and drainage of a deep breast abscess

CPT 19020the billing code this page is about

An incision is made into the breast to explore and drain an infection or fluid collection located deep in the breast tissue.

Hospitals typically charge $1,875 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,791 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,997. Most fall between $796 and $3,780 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,791
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 1,791 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
$518$955$1,875$3,376$5,110

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($518 vs $5,110).

How the prices are spread

$369 – $493: 71 hospitals$369$493 – $660: 116 hospitals$660 – $882: 132 hospitals$660$882 – $1,180: 165 hospitals$1,180 – $1,578: 165 hospitals$1,180$1,578 – $2,111: 313 hospitals$2,111 – $2,824: 158 hospitals$2,111$2,824 – $3,778: 218 hospitals$3,778 – $5,053: 179 hospitals$3,778$5,053 – $6,759: 97 hospitals$5,053median $1,875price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,614 of 1,791 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$369$49371
$493$660116
$660$882132
$882$1,180165
$1,180$1,578165
$1,578$2,111313
$2,111$2,824158
$2,824$3,778218
$3,778$5,053179
$5,053$6,75997

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,875
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.11×

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 $1,875.

Alaska: median $2,883 across 12 hospitalsAK$2,883Maine: median $1,313 across 17 hospitalsME$1,313Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $625 across 15 hospitalsNH$625Washington: median $2,197 across 59 hospitalsWA$2,197Idaho: median $2,987 across 15 hospitalsID$2,987Montana: median $974 across 15 hospitalsMT$974North Dakota: median $1,538 across 10 hospitalsND$1,538Minnesota: median $2,013 across 52 hospitalsMN$2,013Illinois: median $1,859 across 73 hospitalsIL$1,859Wisconsin: median $1,326 across 66 hospitalsWI$1,326Michigan: median $1,452 across 58 hospitalsMI$1,452New York: median $1,960 across 69 hospitalsNY$1,960Massachusetts: median $2,028 across 37 hospitalsMA$2,028Oregon: median $1,141 across 39 hospitalsOR$1,141Nevada: median $1,796 across 10 hospitalsNV$1,796Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $3,630 across 11 hospitalsSD$3,630Iowa: median $1,060 across 50 hospitalsIA$1,060Indiana: median $1,413 across 51 hospitalsIN$1,413Ohio: median $1,898 across 101 hospitalsOH$1,898Pennsylvania: median $1,999 across 88 hospitalsPA$1,999New Jersey: median $4,443 across 42 hospitalsNJ$4,443Connecticut: median $1,978 across 15 hospitalsCT$1,978Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,385 across 105 hospitalsCA$3,385Utah: median $410 across 24 hospitalsUT$410Colorado: median $2,156 across 25 hospitalsCO$2,156Nebraska: median $1,114 across 30 hospitalsNE$1,114Missouri: median $814 across 42 hospitalsMO$814Kentucky: median $946 across 29 hospitalsKY$946West Virginia: median $1,412 across 26 hospitalsWV$1,412Virginia: median $1,757 across 45 hospitalsVA$1,757Maryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,636 across 13 hospitalsAZ$1,636New Mexico: median $1,935 across 16 hospitalsNM$1,935Kansas: median $810 across 33 hospitalsKS$810Arkansas: median $1,423 across 14 hospitalsAR$1,423Tennessee: median $853 across 23 hospitalsTN$853North Carolina: median $2,007 across 30 hospitalsNC$2,007South Carolina: median $4,126 across 39 hospitalsSC$4,126Oklahoma: median $757 across 32 hospitalsOK$757Louisiana: median $1,482 across 28 hospitalsLA$1,482Mississippi: median $1,053 across 36 hospitalsMS$1,053Alabama: median $2,138 across 21 hospitalsAL$2,138Georgia: median $3,600 across 59 hospitalsGA$3,600Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,946 across 109 hospitalsTX$1,946Florida: median $2,071 across 66 hospitalsFL$2,071
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,875. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ42$4,443+137%$1,908 – $6,072
South Carolina SC39$4,126+120%$1,009 – $4,347
South Dakota SD11$3,630+94%$1,222 – $3,638
Georgia GA59$3,600+92%$1,904 – $4,674
California CA105$3,385+81%$1,564 – $7,073
Idaho ID15$2,987+59%$645 – $4,347
Alaska AK12$2,883+54%$1,136 – $4,973
Washington WA59$2,197+17%$909 – $4,031
Colorado CO25$2,156+15%$984 – $4,706
Alabama AL21$2,138+14%$1,432 – $4,388
Florida FL66$2,071+10%$1,321 – $4,507
Massachusetts MA37$2,028+8%$909 – $5,349
Minnesota MN52$2,013+7%$764 – $3,246
North Carolina NC30$2,007+7%$857 – $2,578
Pennsylvania PA88$1,999+7%$1,165 – $3,314
Connecticut CT15$1,978+5%$1,119 – $3,462
New York NY69$1,960+5%$1,000 – $4,469
Texas TX109$1,946+4%$1,358 – $3,207
New Mexico NM16$1,935+3%$517 – $5,318
Ohio OH101$1,898+1%$1,174 – $3,160
Illinois IL73$1,859−1%$864 – $3,764
Nevada NV10$1,796−4%$856 – $2,216
Virginia VA45$1,757−6%$1,250 – $3,031
Arizona AZ13$1,636−13%$786 – $7,777
North Dakota ND10$1,538−18%$567 – $1,733
Louisiana LA28$1,482−21%$746 – $2,403
Michigan MI58$1,452−23%$654 – $2,426
Arkansas AR14$1,423−24%$710 – $3,658
Indiana IN51$1,413−25%$449 – $2,784
West Virginia WV26$1,412−25%$353 – $2,993
Wisconsin WI66$1,326−29%$1,083 – $1,935
Maine ME17$1,313−30%$674 – $2,378
Oregon OR39$1,141−39%$840 – $3,976
Nebraska NE30$1,114−41%$732 – $1,641
Iowa IA50$1,060−43%$636 – $1,779
Mississippi MS36$1,053−44%$580 – $1,970
Montana MT15$974−48%$462 – $1,385
Kentucky KY29$946−50%$484 – $3,561
Tennessee TN23$853−55%$458 – $2,916
Missouri MO42$814−57%$523 – $3,340
Kansas KS33$810−57%$505 – $2,582
Oklahoma OK32$757−60%$523 – $3,049
New Hampshire NH15$625−67%$242 – $1,354
Utah UT24$410−78%$362 – $2,500
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not 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 $1,875.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,354$2,013$967 – $4,227
Children’s22$2,138$1,008 – $5,642
Critical access411$1,083$570 – $2,281
Ownership
For-profit148$2,480$922 – $4,674
Government323$1,370$715 – $2,986
Non-profit1,316$1,904$815 – $3,824
System affiliation
Part of a system1,469$1,946$872 – $4,090
Independent322$1,224$600 – $2,823

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,400
Median cash price$1,875
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

1,289 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,949 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,157; most fall between $915 and $3,915.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,289 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
$545$1,103$1,949$3,464$4,845

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($545 vs $4,845).

Of the 1,390 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,289 gave a usable cash price; 38 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 63 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,791 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (45%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,935 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,791
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here70
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded6
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded68
Hospitals that filed this code1,935

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 Other OR therapeutic procedures on skin and breast family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Explo/Drain Breast Abscess.

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, “Surgical opening and drainage of a deep breast abscess (CPT 19020) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-19020-surgical-opening-and-drainage-of-a-deep-breast-abscess