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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic procedures on musculoskeletal system

Open biopsy of a spine bone in the neck or lower back

CPT 20251the billing code this page is about

Through a surgical incision, a tissue sample is taken from a cervical or lumbar vertebra for laboratory examination.

Hospitals typically charge $2,697 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 354 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,687. Most fall between $799 and $9,058 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
354
States
42
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 23, 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 354 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$991$2,697$8,413$12,740

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 25× what the cheapest tenth charges ($502 vs $12,740).

How the prices are spread

$333 – $490: 18 hospitals$333$490 – $723: 28 hospitals$723 – $1,066: 43 hospitals$723$1,066 – $1,572: 28 hospitals$1,572 – $2,319: 33 hospitals$1,572$2,319 – $3,419: 24 hospitals$3,419 – $5,042: 22 hospitals$3,419$5,042 – $7,435: 39 hospitals$7,435 – $10,964: 48 hospitals$7,435$10,964 – $16,168: 39 hospitals$10,964median $2,697price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (322 of 354 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$333$49018
$490$72328
$723$1,06643
$1,066$1,57228
$1,572$2,31933
$2,319$3,41924
$3,419$5,04222
$5,042$7,43539
$7,435$10,96448
$10,964$16,16839

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$7,413
Median cash price$2,697
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.36×

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 $2,697.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $991 across 15 hospitalsIL$991Wisconsin: median $1,902 across 20 hospitalsWI$1,902Michigan: median $1,492 across 17 hospitalsMI$1,492New York: median $8,454 across 24 hospitalsNY$8,454Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: median $799 across 12 hospitalsOR$799Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 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 $1,032 across 14 hospitalsIA$1,032Indiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $328 across 18 hospitalsPA$328New Jersey: median $7,907 across 29 hospitalsNJ$7,907Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $9,286 across 39 hospitalsCA$9,286Utah: 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $2,571 across 10 hospitalsVA$2,571Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 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: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $687 across 13 hospitalsOK$687Louisiana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $3,151 across 16 hospitalsGA$3,151Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $4,580 across 22 hospitalsTX$4,580Florida: median $6,661 across 16 hospitalsFL$6,661
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,697. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA39$9,286+244%$5,210 – $12,740
New York NY24$8,454+214%$1,919 – $8,454
New Jersey NJ29$7,907+193%$5,110 – $9,532
Florida FL16$6,661+147%$1,487 – $16,168
Texas TX22$4,580+70%$2,653 – $5,887
Georgia GA16$3,151+17%$3,151 – $21,055
Virginia VA10$2,571−5%$284 – $2,571
Wisconsin WI20$1,902−29%$1,902 – $2,036
Michigan MI17$1,492−45%$931 – $9,978
Iowa IA14$1,032−62%$1,032 – $1,032
Illinois IL15$991−63%$333 – $2,715
Oregon OR12$799−70%$799 – $1,378
Oklahoma OK13$687−75%$687 – $14,175
Pennsylvania PA18$328−88%$268 – $12,077
Ohio OH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $2,697.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care304$3,786$804 – $9,388
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access42$1,902$761 – $3,151
Ownership
For-profit38$3,151$1,092 – $11,733
Government50$2,578$852 – $8,454
Non-profit265$2,571$799 – $8,613
System affiliation
Part of a system296$3,738$973 – $9,532
Independent58$1,009$701 – $4,265

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,926
Median cash price$2,697
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

215 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,919 and the average of the middle 60% is $3,093; most fall between $756 and $11,093.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 215 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$842$1,919$7,861$12,740

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 25× what the cheapest tenth charges ($502 vs $12,740).

Of the 228 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 215 gave a usable cash price; 9 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 4 a list price only.

How complete is this

354 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 384 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted354
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here24
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 — excluded5
Hospitals that filed this code384

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 23, 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 diagnostic procedures on musculoskeletal system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Open Bone Biop Vert Lumb/Cerv.

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, “Open biopsy of a spine bone in the neck or lower back (CPT 20251) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20251-open-biopsy-of-a-spine-bone-in-the-neck-or-lower-back