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Procedure price report · Arthrocentesis

Fluid removal or injection, large joint, no imaging guidance

CPT 20610the billing code this page is about

Draining fluid from or injecting medication into a large joint or fluid sac such as the knee, hip or shoulder, done without ultrasound guidance.

Hospitals typically charge $370 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,187 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $403. Most fall between $140 and $810 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,187
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 3,187 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
$85$172$370$695$1,233

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($85 vs $1,233).

How the prices are spread

$58 – $82: 140 hospitals$58$82 – $115: 185 hospitals$115 – $162: 245 hospitals$115$162 – $227: 303 hospitals$227 – $320: 352 hospitals$227$320 – $450: 457 hospitals$450 – $633: 415 hospitals$450$633 – $891: 377 hospitals$891 – $1,253: 245 hospitals$891$1,253 – $1,763: 151 hospitals$1,253median $370price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,870 of 3,187 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$58$82140
$82$115185
$115$162245
$162$227303
$227$320352
$320$450457
$450$633415
$633$891377
$891$1,253245
$1,253$1,763151

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$314
Median cash price$370
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.18×

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 $370.

Alaska: median $371 across 17 hospitalsAK$371Maine: median $132 across 23 hospitalsME$132Vermont: median $537 across 13 hospitalsVT$537New Hampshire: median $97 across 20 hospitalsNH$97Washington: median $198 across 72 hospitalsWA$198Idaho: median $280 across 24 hospitalsID$280Montana: median $143 across 33 hospitalsMT$143North Dakota: median $188 across 33 hospitalsND$188Minnesota: median $295 across 108 hospitalsMN$295Illinois: median $450 across 135 hospitalsIL$450Wisconsin: median $266 across 106 hospitalsWI$266Michigan: median $345 across 93 hospitalsMI$345New York: median $418 across 113 hospitalsNY$418Massachusetts: median $500 across 49 hospitalsMA$500Oregon: median $119 across 55 hospitalsOR$119Nevada: median $309 across 21 hospitalsNV$309Wyoming: median $145 across 15 hospitalsWY$145South Dakota: median $224 across 40 hospitalsSD$224Iowa: median $230 across 94 hospitalsIA$230Indiana: median $348 across 85 hospitalsIN$348Ohio: median $574 across 144 hospitalsOH$574Pennsylvania: median $389 across 128 hospitalsPA$389New Jersey: median $397 across 57 hospitalsNJ$397Connecticut: median $396 across 21 hospitalsCT$396Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $860 across 193 hospitalsCA$860Utah: median $590 across 34 hospitalsUT$590Colorado: median $380 across 66 hospitalsCO$380Nebraska: median $166 across 80 hospitalsNE$166Missouri: median $207 across 78 hospitalsMO$207Kentucky: median $412 across 59 hospitalsKY$412West Virginia: median $294 across 42 hospitalsWV$294Virginia: median $387 across 61 hospitalsVA$387Maryland: median $289 across 12 hospitalsMD$289Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $505 across 48 hospitalsAZ$505New Mexico: median $311 across 30 hospitalsNM$311Kansas: median $155 across 86 hospitalsKS$155Arkansas: median $187 across 36 hospitalsAR$187Tennessee: median $309 across 66 hospitalsTN$309North Carolina: median $356 across 80 hospitalsNC$356South Carolina: median $710 across 46 hospitalsSC$710Oklahoma: median $259 across 69 hospitalsOK$259Louisiana: median $318 across 51 hospitalsLA$318Mississippi: median $176 across 52 hospitalsMS$176Alabama: median $411 across 42 hospitalsAL$411Georgia: median $680 across 101 hospitalsGA$680Hawaii: median $597 across 19 hospitalsHI$597Texas: median $592 across 207 hospitalsTX$592Florida: median $659 across 115 hospitalsFL$659
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $370. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA193$860+132%$308 – $1,353
South Carolina SC46$710+92%$416 – $1,174
Georgia GA101$680+84%$186 – $1,031
Florida FL115$659+78%$278 – $1,185
Hawaii HI19$597+61%$383 – $780
Texas TX207$592+60%$227 – $1,080
Utah UT34$590+59%$289 – $694
Ohio OH144$574+55%$276 – $883
Vermont VT13$537+45%$124 – $702
Arizona AZ48$505+36%$198 – $2,599
Massachusetts MA49$500+35%$250 – $667
Illinois IL135$450+22%$176 – $789
New York NY113$418+13%$162 – $1,092
Kentucky KY59$412+11%$109 – $1,105
Alabama AL42$411+11%$177 – $1,315
New Jersey NJ57$397+7%$327 – $3,786
Connecticut CT21$396+7%$245 – $629
Pennsylvania PA128$389+5%$220 – $856
Virginia VA61$387+5%$186 – $523
Colorado CO66$380+3%$144 – $658
Alaska AK17$3710%$216 – $506
North Carolina NC80$356−4%$211 – $620
Indiana IN85$348−6%$133 – $863
Michigan MI93$345−7%$211 – $568
Louisiana LA51$318−14%$124 – $639
New Mexico NM30$311−16%$158 – $738
Tennessee TN66$309−17%$72 – $524
Nevada NV21$309−17%$211 – $430
Minnesota MN108$295−20%$110 – $479
West Virginia WV42$294−21%$130 – $535
Maryland MD12$289−22%$183 – $909
Idaho ID24$280−24%$86 – $672
Wisconsin WI106$266−28%$162 – $540
Oklahoma OK69$259−30%$88 – $785
Iowa IA94$230−38%$102 – $575
South Dakota SD40$224−39%$119 – $550
Missouri MO78$207−44%$104 – $758
Washington WA72$198−47%$87 – $712
North Dakota ND33$188−49%$138 – $536
Arkansas AR36$187−50%$126 – $468
Mississippi MS52$176−52%$108 – $410
Nebraska NE80$166−55%$100 – $300
Kansas KS86$155−58%$98 – $341
Wyoming WY15$145−61%$102 – $321
Montana MT33$143−61%$53 – $276
Maine ME23$132−64%$59 – $489
Oregon OR55$119−68%$86 – $244
New Hampshire NH20$97−74%$38 – $336
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $370.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,171$454$203 – $952
Children’s67$589$227 – $1,282
Critical access940$189$94 – $480
Ownership
For-profit340$584$246 – $1,311
Government624$223$104 – $544
Non-profit2,214$393$162 – $855
System affiliation
Part of a system2,553$407$168 – $883
Independent634$230$99 – $562

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$687
Median cash price$370
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

2,384 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $443 and the average of the middle 60% is $463; most fall between $180 and $859.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,384 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
$102$224$443$729$1,187

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($102 vs $1,187).

Of the 2,557 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,384 gave a usable cash price; 62 carried a plausibility flag, 2 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 109 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,187 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,428 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,187
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here107
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,428

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 Major Jt/Bursa 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, large joint, no imaging guidance (CPT 20610) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20610-fluid-removal-or-injection-large-joint-no-imaging-guidance