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Procedure price report · Breast biopsy and other diagnostic procedures on breast

Breast marker placement, mammogram guided, first lesion

CPT 19281the billing code this page is about

Placement of a wire, clip, or other marker into the breast through the skin using mammogram guidance to mark a target for later surgery; covers the first lesion marked.

Hospitals typically charge $1,185 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,278 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,278. Most fall between $538 and $2,362 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,278
States
50
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 2,278 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
$314$655$1,185$1,984$3,230

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($314 vs $3,230).

How the prices are spread

$197 – $269: 74 hospitals$197$269 – $369: 97 hospitals$369 – $505: 143 hospitals$369$505 – $692: 175 hospitals$692 – $947: 265 hospitals$692$947 – $1,297: 370 hospitals$1,297 – $1,776: 299 hospitals$1,297$1,776 – $2,431: 333 hospitals$2,431 – $3,329: 197 hospitals$2,431$3,329 – $4,558: 99 hospitals$3,329median $1,185price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,052 of 2,278 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$197$26974
$269$36997
$369$505143
$505$692175
$692$947265
$947$1,297370
$1,297$1,776299
$1,776$2,431333
$2,431$3,329197
$3,329$4,55899

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,185
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.70×

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 $1,185.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $682 across 18 hospitalsME$682Vermont: median $907 across 10 hospitalsVT$907New Hampshire: median $566 across 14 hospitalsNH$566Washington: median $1,434 across 45 hospitalsWA$1,434Idaho: median $1,898 across 17 hospitalsID$1,898Montana: median $377 across 18 hospitalsMT$377North Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $861 across 70 hospitalsMN$861Illinois: median $1,187 across 103 hospitalsIL$1,187Wisconsin: median $755 across 91 hospitalsWI$755Michigan: median $1,243 across 81 hospitalsMI$1,243New York: median $1,917 across 93 hospitalsNY$1,917Massachusetts: median $661 across 41 hospitalsMA$661Oregon: median $988 across 41 hospitalsOR$988Nevada: median $925 across 14 hospitalsNV$925Wyoming: median $845 across 11 hospitalsWY$845South Dakota: median $1,979 across 10 hospitalsSD$1,979Iowa: median $898 across 57 hospitalsIA$898Indiana: median $1,221 across 74 hospitalsIN$1,221Ohio: median $1,794 across 134 hospitalsOH$1,794Pennsylvania: median $1,878 across 104 hospitalsPA$1,878New Jersey: median $2,137 across 57 hospitalsNJ$2,137Connecticut: median $2,893 across 19 hospitalsCT$2,893Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,732 across 162 hospitalsCA$1,732Utah: median $1,263 across 29 hospitalsUT$1,263Colorado: median $1,145 across 49 hospitalsCO$1,145Nebraska: median $1,033 across 39 hospitalsNE$1,033Missouri: median $1,486 across 50 hospitalsMO$1,486Kentucky: median $862 across 32 hospitalsKY$862West Virginia: median $1,523 across 26 hospitalsWV$1,523Virginia: median $1,003 across 46 hospitalsVA$1,003Maryland: median $735 across 14 hospitalsMD$735Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $844 across 23 hospitalsAZ$844New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,229 across 30 hospitalsKS$1,229Arkansas: median $515 across 14 hospitalsAR$515Tennessee: median $647 across 51 hospitalsTN$647North Carolina: median $1,035 across 70 hospitalsNC$1,035South Carolina: median $1,787 across 37 hospitalsSC$1,787Oklahoma: median $847 across 39 hospitalsOK$847Louisiana: median $319 across 44 hospitalsLA$319Mississippi: median $528 across 34 hospitalsMS$528Alabama: median $1,142 across 30 hospitalsAL$1,142Georgia: median $1,010 across 74 hospitalsGA$1,010Hawaii: median $1,191 across 10 hospitalsHI$1,191Texas: median $1,352 across 134 hospitalsTX$1,352Florida: median $1,743 across 82 hospitalsFL$1,743
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,185. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Connecticut CT19$2,893+144%$1,023 – $5,419
New Jersey NJ57$2,137+80%$1,771 – $5,110
South Dakota SD10$1,979+67%$1,679 – $3,056
New York NY93$1,917+62%$528 – $3,825
Idaho ID17$1,898+60%$763 – $4,347
Pennsylvania PA104$1,878+58%$925 – $3,257
Ohio OH134$1,794+51%$1,094 – $2,977
South Carolina SC37$1,787+51%$1,387 – $2,130
Florida FL82$1,743+47%$607 – $3,949
California CA162$1,732+46%$779 – $2,826
West Virginia WV26$1,523+28%$669 – $3,059
Missouri MO50$1,486+25%$772 – $2,457
Washington WA45$1,434+21%$625 – $1,981
Texas TX134$1,352+14%$709 – $1,865
Utah UT29$1,263+7%$1,193 – $1,485
Michigan MI81$1,243+5%$782 – $2,158
Kansas KS30$1,229+4%$522 – $2,836
Indiana IN74$1,221+3%$831 – $3,176
Hawaii HI10$1,1910%$716 – $1,569
Illinois IL103$1,1870%$499 – $2,660
Colorado CO49$1,145−3%$673 – $2,678
Alabama AL30$1,142−4%$653 – $5,368
North Carolina NC70$1,035−13%$755 – $1,578
Nebraska NE39$1,033−13%$566 – $1,533
Georgia GA74$1,010−15%$654 – $1,394
Virginia VA46$1,003−15%$377 – $2,598
Oregon OR41$988−17%$367 – $2,349
Nevada NV14$925−22%$722 – $1,820
Vermont VT10$907−23%$329 – $1,980
Iowa IA57$898−24%$439 – $1,783
Kentucky KY32$862−27%$266 – $2,442
Minnesota MN70$861−27%$573 – $1,136
Oklahoma OK39$847−29%$271 – $1,539
Wyoming WY11$845−29%$386 – $1,772
Arizona AZ23$844−29%$525 – $2,426
Wisconsin WI91$755−36%$439 – $1,352
Maryland MD14$735−38%$294 – $1,897
Maine ME18$682−42%$480 – $1,819
Massachusetts MA41$661−44%$483 – $1,784
Tennessee TN51$647−45%$302 – $863
New Hampshire NH14$566−52%$126 – $1,218
Mississippi MS34$528−55%$371 – $1,076
Arkansas AR14$515−57%$255 – $1,033
Montana MT18$377−68%$343 – $1,362
Louisiana LA44$319−73%$177 – $1,189
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not 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 $1,185.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,831$1,277$654 – $2,429
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access426$811$347 – $1,634
Ownership
For-profit199$1,182$655 – $2,732
Government370$898$415 – $1,721
Non-profit1,700$1,259$598 – $2,410
System affiliation
Part of a system1,872$1,243$623 – $2,402
Independent406$975$364 – $1,915

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,062
Median cash price$1,185
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

1,680 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,250 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,346; most fall between $601 and $2,426.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,680 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
$329$697$1,250$2,158$3,190

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($329 vs $3,190).

Of the 1,810 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,680 gave a usable cash price; 47 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 2 gave an estimate, and 81 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,278 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (58%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,452 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,278
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here80
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded85
Hospitals that filed this code2,452

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 Breast biopsy and other diagnostic procedures on breast family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Perq Device Placement Breast Loc 1st Les W/Gdnce.

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, “Breast marker placement, mammogram guided, first lesion (CPT 19281) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-19281-breast-marker-placement-mammogram-guided-first-lesion