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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic procedures

Steroid injection into the carpal tunnel

CPT 20526the billing code this page is about

Injection of medication into the carpal tunnel at the wrist to treat nerve compression symptoms.

Hospitals typically charge $325 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,835 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $337. Most fall between $131 and $656 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,835
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 1,835 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
$83$158$325$557$1,084

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($83 vs $1,084).

How the prices are spread

$58 – $80: 79 hospitals$58$80 – $111: 122 hospitals$111 – $154: 159 hospitals$111$154 – $214: 173 hospitals$214 – $297: 226 hospitals$214$297 – $413: 299 hospitals$413 – $573: 246 hospitals$413$573 – $797: 142 hospitals$797 – $1,106: 127 hospitals$797$1,106 – $1,537: 81 hospitals$1,106median $325price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,654 of 1,835 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$58$8079
$80$111122
$111$154159
$154$214173
$214$297226
$297$413299
$413$573246
$573$797142
$797$1,106127
$1,106$1,53781

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$314
Median cash price$325
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.04×

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 $325.

Alaska: median $326 across 11 hospitalsAK$326Maine: median $128 across 13 hospitalsME$128Vermont: median $143 across 11 hospitalsVT$143New Hampshire: median $112 across 14 hospitalsNH$112Washington: median $332 across 55 hospitalsWA$332Idaho: median $311 across 18 hospitalsID$311Montana: median $153 across 20 hospitalsMT$153North Dakota: median $233 across 18 hospitalsND$233Minnesota: median $285 across 62 hospitalsMN$285Illinois: median $276 across 72 hospitalsIL$276Wisconsin: median $261 across 65 hospitalsWI$261Michigan: median $315 across 66 hospitalsMI$315New York: median $349 across 75 hospitalsNY$349Massachusetts: median $497 across 35 hospitalsMA$497Oregon: median $152 across 41 hospitalsOR$152Nevada: median $297 across 12 hospitalsNV$297Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $222 across 18 hospitalsSD$222Iowa: median $193 across 68 hospitalsIA$193Indiana: median $357 across 42 hospitalsIN$357Ohio: median $540 across 109 hospitalsOH$540Pennsylvania: median $354 across 78 hospitalsPA$354New Jersey: median $1,188 across 45 hospitalsNJ$1,188Connecticut: median $583 across 11 hospitalsCT$583Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $572 across 92 hospitalsCA$572Utah: median $363 across 26 hospitalsUT$363Colorado: median $254 across 44 hospitalsCO$254Nebraska: median $183 across 44 hospitalsNE$183Missouri: median $307 across 63 hospitalsMO$307Kentucky: median $306 across 35 hospitalsKY$306West Virginia: median $294 across 31 hospitalsWV$294Virginia: median $303 across 34 hospitalsVA$303Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $315 across 11 hospitalsAZ$315New Mexico: median $208 across 11 hospitalsNM$208Kansas: median $155 across 59 hospitalsKS$155Arkansas: median $187 across 13 hospitalsAR$187Tennessee: median $116 across 28 hospitalsTN$116North Carolina: median $272 across 42 hospitalsNC$272South Carolina: median $480 across 36 hospitalsSC$480Oklahoma: median $107 across 32 hospitalsOK$107Louisiana: median $224 across 30 hospitalsLA$224Mississippi: median $157 across 30 hospitalsMS$157Alabama: median $384 across 19 hospitalsAL$384Georgia: median $527 across 45 hospitalsGA$527Hawaii: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $421 across 87 hospitalsTX$421Florida: median $531 across 36 hospitalsFL$531
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $325. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ45$1,188+266%$348 – $4,350
Connecticut CT11$583+80%$305 – $662
California CA92$572+76%$298 – $1,120
Ohio OH109$540+66%$223 – $883
Florida FL36$531+64%$357 – $849
Georgia GA45$527+62%$348 – $1,833
Massachusetts MA35$497+53%$207 – $917
South Carolina SC36$480+48%$396 – $1,233
Texas TX87$421+30%$244 – $686
Alabama AL19$384+18%$81 – $813
Utah UT26$363+12%$363 – $427
Indiana IN42$357+10%$115 – $680
Pennsylvania PA78$354+9%$111 – $636
New York NY75$349+8%$139 – $682
Washington WA55$332+2%$154 – $644
Alaska AK11$3260%$186 – $530
Michigan MI66$315−3%$147 – $597
Arizona AZ11$315−3%$116 – $377
Idaho ID18$311−4%$160 – $672
Missouri MO63$307−6%$110 – $579
Kentucky KY35$306−6%$94 – $628
Virginia VA34$303−7%$60 – $484
Nevada NV12$297−9%$147 – $573
West Virginia WV31$294−9%$155 – $500
Minnesota MN62$285−12%$127 – $423
Illinois IL72$276−15%$175 – $495
North Carolina NC42$272−16%$172 – $390
Wisconsin WI65$261−20%$208 – $406
Colorado CO44$254−22%$116 – $748
North Dakota ND18$233−28%$147 – $442
Louisiana LA30$224−31%$92 – $583
South Dakota SD18$222−31%$160 – $308
New Mexico NM11$208−36%$109 – $351
Iowa IA68$193−41%$112 – $519
Arkansas AR13$187−42%$125 – $1,425
Nebraska NE44$183−44%$132 – $310
Mississippi MS30$157−52%$113 – $324
Kansas KS59$155−52%$91 – $436
Montana MT20$153−53%$73 – $241
Oregon OR41$152−53%$80 – $326
Vermont VT11$143−56%$98 – $282
Maine ME13$128−61%$65 – $412
Tennessee TN28$116−64%$57 – $238
New Hampshire NH14$112−65%$59 – $201
Oklahoma OK32$107−67%$99 – $299
Hawaii HI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not 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 $325.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,251$388$175 – $791
Children’s28$604$253 – $1,516
Critical access550$188$98 – $406
Ownership
For-profit142$392$160 – $888
Government383$225$110 – $443
Non-profit1,304$345$142 – $677
System affiliation
Part of a system1,465$348$146 – $684
Independent370$219$102 – $462

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$502
Median cash price$325
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

1,200 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $363 and the average of the middle 60% is $378; most fall between $146 and $713.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,200 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
$93$185$363$597$1,020

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($93 vs $1,020).

Of the 1,292 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,200 gave a usable cash price; 34 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 58 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,835 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (46%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,968 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,835
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here71
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded58
Hospitals that filed this code1,968

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 therapeutic procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Inject Carpal Tunnel.

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, “Steroid injection into the carpal tunnel (CPT 20526) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20526-steroid-injection-into-the-carpal-tunnel