HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on musculoskeletal system

Placement of needles in muscle for later radiation seeds

CPT 20555the billing code this page is about

Insertion of needles or tubes into muscle or soft tissue so that radioactive material can be placed through them at a later radiation treatment.

Hospitals typically charge $3,383 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 302 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,888. Most fall between $623 and $5,668 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
302
States
39
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – 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 302 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
$486$830$3,383$4,499$7,700

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($486 vs $7,700).

How the prices are spread

$288 – $406: 13 hospitals$288$406 – $573: 22 hospitals$573 – $807: 20 hospitals$573$807 – $1,139: 31 hospitals$1,139 – $1,605: 9 hospitals$1,139$1,605 – $2,263: 4 hospitals$2,263 – $3,191: 22 hospitals$2,263$3,191 – $4,500: 93 hospitals$4,500 – $6,345: 18 hospitals$4,500$6,345 – $8,946: 40 hospitals$6,345median $3,383price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (272 of 302 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$288$40613
$406$57322
$573$80720
$807$1,13931
$1,139$1,6059
$1,605$2,2634
$2,263$3,19122
$3,191$4,50093
$4,500$6,34518
$6,345$8,94640

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,343
Median cash price$3,383
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.01×

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 $3,383.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $7,110 across 10 hospitalsWA$7,110Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $527 across 10 hospitalsIL$527Wisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $3,840 across 20 hospitalsNY$3,840Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $830 across 14 hospitalsIA$830Indiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $3,221 across 21 hospitalsOH$3,221Pennsylvania: median $1,876 across 21 hospitalsPA$1,876New Jersey: median $3,986 across 22 hospitalsNJ$3,986Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $7,700 across 41 hospitalsCA$7,700Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 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: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $555 across 12 hospitalsOK$555Louisiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $3,133 across 42 hospitalsTX$3,133Florida: median $10,006 across 15 hospitalsFL$10,006
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,383. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL15$10,006+196%$6,697 – $10,006
California CA41$7,700+128%$3,489 – $7,700
Washington WA10$7,110+110%$5,668 – $7,110
New Jersey NJ22$3,986+18%$3,591 – $5,419
New York NY20$3,840+13%$1,251 – $3,840
Ohio OH21$3,221−5%$2,978 – $3,221
Texas TX42$3,133−7%$1,134 – $3,513
Pennsylvania PA21$1,876−45%$219 – $5,486
Iowa IA14$830−75%$830 – $1,196
Oklahoma OK12$555−84%$555 – $555
Illinois IL10$527−84%$254 – $792
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not 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
Georgia GA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not 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 $3,383.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care274$3,489$656 – $6,248
Children’s9fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access18fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit31$3,383$555 – $6,361
Government38$1,134$580 – $3,840
Non-profit232$3,489$731 – $6,311
System affiliation
Part of a system256$3,489$790 – $6,311
Independent46$1,103$564 – $3,910

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$4,294
Median cash price$3,383
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

209 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $3,221 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,792; most fall between $620 and $7,008.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 209 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
$510$830$3,221$5,038$7,700

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($510 vs $7,700).

Of the 219 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 209 gave a usable cash price; 7 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 3 a list price only.

How complete is this

302 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 321 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted302
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here13
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded4
Hospitals that filed this code321

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 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other OR therapeutic procedures on musculoskeletal system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Placement Needles Muscle Subsequent Radioelement.

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, “Placement of needles in muscle for later radiation seeds (CPT 20555) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20555-placement-of-needles-in-muscle-for-later-radiation-seeds