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Procedure price report · Arthrocentesis

Fluid removal or injection, mid-size joint, no imaging

CPT 20605the billing code this page is about

Draining fluid from or injecting medication into a medium joint or fluid sac such as the wrist, elbow or ankle, done without ultrasound guidance.

Hospitals typically charge $327 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,075 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $353. Most fall between $120 and $681 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,075
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 3,075 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
$75$145$327$608$1,029

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($75 vs $1,029).

How the prices are spread

$52 – $73: 137 hospitals$52$73 – $101: 205 hospitals$101 – $140: 244 hospitals$101$140 – $195: 220 hospitals$195 – $270: 296 hospitals$195$270 – $376: 464 hospitals$376 – $522: 404 hospitals$376$522 – $724: 389 hospitals$724 – $1,006: 230 hospitals$724$1,006 – $1,397: 180 hospitals$1,006median $327price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,769 of 3,075 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$52$73137
$73$101205
$101$140244
$140$195220
$195$270296
$270$376464
$376$522404
$522$724389
$724$1,006230
$1,006$1,397180

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$314
Median cash price$327
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 $327.

Alaska: median $332 across 17 hospitalsAK$332Maine: median $182 across 23 hospitalsME$182Vermont: median $151 across 13 hospitalsVT$151New Hampshire: median $81 across 20 hospitalsNH$81Washington: median $280 across 71 hospitalsWA$280Idaho: median $311 across 23 hospitalsID$311Montana: median $102 across 33 hospitalsMT$102North Dakota: median $174 across 26 hospitalsND$174Minnesota: median $298 across 105 hospitalsMN$298Illinois: median $355 across 131 hospitalsIL$355Wisconsin: median $293 across 104 hospitalsWI$293Michigan: median $318 across 91 hospitalsMI$318New York: median $354 across 112 hospitalsNY$354Massachusetts: median $510 across 47 hospitalsMA$510Oregon: median $106 across 54 hospitalsOR$106Nevada: median $250 across 20 hospitalsNV$250Wyoming: median $132 across 16 hospitalsWY$132South Dakota: median $197 across 31 hospitalsSD$197Iowa: median $165 across 89 hospitalsIA$165Indiana: median $281 across 75 hospitalsIN$281Ohio: median $609 across 142 hospitalsOH$609Pennsylvania: median $325 across 127 hospitalsPA$325New Jersey: median $397 across 57 hospitalsNJ$397Connecticut: median $354 across 20 hospitalsCT$354Rhode Island: median $419 across 10 hospitalsRI$419California: median $608 across 188 hospitalsCA$608Utah: median $425 across 34 hospitalsUT$425Colorado: median $322 across 66 hospitalsCO$322Nebraska: median $139 across 78 hospitalsNE$139Missouri: median $245 across 78 hospitalsMO$245Kentucky: median $253 across 50 hospitalsKY$253West Virginia: median $344 across 40 hospitalsWV$344Virginia: median $396 across 59 hospitalsVA$396Maryland: median $233 across 12 hospitalsMD$233Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $348 across 48 hospitalsAZ$348New Mexico: median $350 across 29 hospitalsNM$350Kansas: median $132 across 84 hospitalsKS$132Arkansas: median $173 across 34 hospitalsAR$173Tennessee: median $267 across 61 hospitalsTN$267North Carolina: median $322 across 73 hospitalsNC$322South Carolina: median $577 across 45 hospitalsSC$577Oklahoma: median $227 across 67 hospitalsOK$227Louisiana: median $258 across 49 hospitalsLA$258Mississippi: median $165 across 51 hospitalsMS$165Alabama: median $336 across 41 hospitalsAL$336Georgia: median $677 across 96 hospitalsGA$677Hawaii: median $523 across 19 hospitalsHI$523Texas: median $589 across 201 hospitalsTX$589Florida: median $564 across 108 hospitalsFL$564
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $327. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA96$677+107%$201 – $901
Ohio OH142$609+86%$269 – $883
California CA188$608+86%$288 – $1,057
Texas TX201$589+80%$197 – $926
South Carolina SC45$577+77%$233 – $1,118
Florida FL108$564+72%$230 – $1,104
Hawaii HI19$523+60%$392 – $715
Massachusetts MA47$510+56%$174 – $626
Utah UT34$425+30%$295 – $500
Rhode Island RI10$419+28%$114 – $1,480
New Jersey NJ57$397+21%$327 – $3,986
Virginia VA59$396+21%$255 – $478
Illinois IL131$355+8%$165 – $712
Connecticut CT20$354+8%$186 – $566
New York NY112$354+8%$122 – $1,079
New Mexico NM29$350+7%$134 – $528
Arizona AZ48$348+6%$147 – $1,384
West Virginia WV40$344+5%$105 – $508
Alabama AL41$336+3%$128 – $506
Alaska AK17$332+2%$230 – $531
Pennsylvania PA127$325−1%$158 – $561
Colorado CO66$322−2%$188 – $646
North Carolina NC73$322−2%$181 – $557
Michigan MI91$318−3%$208 – $570
Idaho ID23$311−5%$71 – $672
Minnesota MN105$298−9%$89 – $489
Wisconsin WI104$293−11%$136 – $620
Indiana IN75$281−14%$120 – $600
Washington WA71$280−14%$90 – $678
Tennessee TN61$267−18%$186 – $388
Louisiana LA49$258−21%$92 – $538
Kentucky KY50$253−23%$107 – $639
Nevada NV20$250−24%$152 – $356
Missouri MO78$245−25%$100 – $575
Maryland MD12$233−29%$167 – $826
Oklahoma OK67$227−30%$63 – $425
South Dakota SD31$197−40%$154 – $478
Maine ME23$182−44%$65 – $423
North Dakota ND26$174−47%$97 – $407
Arkansas AR34$173−47%$97 – $501
Mississippi MS51$165−49%$74 – $295
Iowa IA89$165−50%$83 – $483
Vermont VT13$151−54%$88 – $528
Nebraska NE78$139−57%$102 – $258
Kansas KS84$132−60%$69 – $335
Wyoming WY16$132−60%$96 – $262
Oregon OR54$106−68%$73 – $309
Montana MT33$102−69%$49 – $217
New Hampshire NH20$81−75%$43 – $292
Delaware DE7not 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 $327.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,105$395$186 – $826
Children’s63$524$238 – $1,282
Critical access898$155$78 – $425
Ownership
For-profit321$463$235 – $926
Government610$192$84 – $474
Non-profit2,135$348$136 – $706
System affiliation
Part of a system2,455$351$138 – $739
Independent620$223$80 – $520

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$615
Median cash price$327
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

2,287 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $394 and the average of the middle 60% is $410; most fall between $155 and $753.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,287 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$201$394$660$1,034

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($83 vs $1,034).

Of the 2,458 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,287 gave a usable cash price; 62 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,075 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (78%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,310 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,075
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here105
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded10
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code3,310

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 July 20, 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 Arthrocentesis family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arthrocentesis Aspir&/Inj Interm Jt/Burs W/O US.

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, “Fluid removal or injection, mid-size joint, no imaging (CPT 20605) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20605-fluid-removal-or-injection-mid-size-joint-no-imaging