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Procedure price report · Arthrocentesis

Fluid removal or injection, large joint, with ultrasound

CPT 20611the 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, guided by ultrasound with a permanent image recorded.

Hospitals typically charge $540 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,715 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $603. Most fall between $234 and $1,181 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,715
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 2,715 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
$145$280$540$1,073$1,686

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($145 vs $1,686).

How the prices are spread

$92 – $126: 91 hospitals$92$126 – $174: 132 hospitals$174 – $239: 193 hospitals$174$239 – $328: 296 hospitals$328 – $452: 326 hospitals$328$452 – $621: 323 hospitals$621 – $855: 292 hospitals$621$855 – $1,175: 370 hospitals$1,175 – $1,616: 265 hospitals$1,175$1,616 – $2,223: 160 hospitals$1,616median $540price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,448 of 2,715 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$92$12691
$126$174132
$174$239193
$239$328296
$328$452326
$452$621323
$621$855292
$855$1,175370
$1,175$1,616265
$1,616$2,223160

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$314
Median cash price$540
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.72×

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 $540.

Alaska: median $630 across 16 hospitalsAK$630Maine: median $218 across 20 hospitalsME$218Vermont: median $552 across 13 hospitalsVT$552New Hampshire: median $363 across 19 hospitalsNH$363Washington: median $406 across 64 hospitalsWA$406Idaho: median $598 across 22 hospitalsID$598Montana: median $151 across 22 hospitalsMT$151North Dakota: median $303 across 13 hospitalsND$303Minnesota: median $390 across 84 hospitalsMN$390Illinois: median $630 across 113 hospitalsIL$630Wisconsin: median $534 across 102 hospitalsWI$534Michigan: median $449 across 83 hospitalsMI$449New York: median $426 across 103 hospitalsNY$426Massachusetts: median $502 across 49 hospitalsMA$502Oregon: median $232 across 53 hospitalsOR$232Nevada: median $365 across 18 hospitalsNV$365Wyoming: median $319 across 13 hospitalsWY$319South Dakota: median $320 across 16 hospitalsSD$320Iowa: median $281 across 80 hospitalsIA$281Indiana: median $670 across 78 hospitalsIN$670Ohio: median $809 across 131 hospitalsOH$809Pennsylvania: median $562 across 123 hospitalsPA$562New Jersey: median $397 across 58 hospitalsNJ$397Connecticut: median $310 across 20 hospitalsCT$310Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,009 across 177 hospitalsCA$1,009Utah: median $1,146 across 30 hospitalsUT$1,146Colorado: median $659 across 60 hospitalsCO$659Nebraska: median $281 across 52 hospitalsNE$281Missouri: median $433 across 67 hospitalsMO$433Kentucky: median $512 across 40 hospitalsKY$512West Virginia: median $353 across 32 hospitalsWV$353Virginia: median $460 across 53 hospitalsVA$460Maryland: median $413 across 11 hospitalsMD$413Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $428 across 46 hospitalsAZ$428New Mexico: median $448 across 22 hospitalsNM$448Kansas: median $280 across 70 hospitalsKS$280Arkansas: median $225 across 22 hospitalsAR$225Tennessee: median $259 across 56 hospitalsTN$259North Carolina: median $517 across 64 hospitalsNC$517South Carolina: median $1,359 across 43 hospitalsSC$1,359Oklahoma: median $240 across 52 hospitalsOK$240Louisiana: median $430 across 38 hospitalsLA$430Mississippi: median $381 across 44 hospitalsMS$381Alabama: median $591 across 35 hospitalsAL$591Georgia: median $1,156 across 75 hospitalsGA$1,156Hawaii: median $609 across 18 hospitalsHI$609Texas: median $925 across 172 hospitalsTX$925Florida: median $911 across 109 hospitalsFL$911
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $540. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Carolina SC43$1,359+151%$498 – $1,929
Georgia GA75$1,156+114%$396 – $1,227
Utah UT30$1,146+112%$425 – $1,348
California CA177$1,009+87%$416 – $1,696
Texas TX172$925+71%$441 – $1,800
Florida FL109$911+69%$406 – $1,191
Ohio OH131$809+50%$500 – $1,743
Indiana IN78$670+24%$286 – $1,216
Colorado CO60$659+22%$209 – $1,105
Illinois IL113$630+17%$276 – $1,399
Alaska AK16$630+17%$378 – $1,049
Hawaii HI18$609+13%$281 – $1,066
Idaho ID22$598+11%$109 – $717
Alabama AL35$591+9%$273 – $1,317
Pennsylvania PA123$562+4%$249 – $950
Vermont VT13$552+2%$123 – $776
Wisconsin WI102$534−1%$248 – $1,020
North Carolina NC64$517−4%$331 – $1,180
Kentucky KY40$512−5%$266 – $1,185
Massachusetts MA49$502−7%$229 – $926
Virginia VA53$460−15%$246 – $657
Michigan MI83$449−17%$211 – $875
New Mexico NM22$448−17%$76 – $1,041
Missouri MO67$433−20%$173 – $1,373
Louisiana LA38$430−20%$237 – $1,025
Arizona AZ46$428−21%$303 – $1,546
New York NY103$426−21%$188 – $1,456
Maryland MD11$413−24%$140 – $1,200
Washington WA64$406−25%$132 – $867
New Jersey NJ58$397−27%$327 – $3,986
Minnesota MN84$390−28%$169 – $769
Mississippi MS44$381−29%$264 – $880
Nevada NV18$365−32%$274 – $691
New Hampshire NH19$363−33%$66 – $515
West Virginia WV32$353−35%$294 – $652
South Dakota SD16$320−41%$227 – $671
Wyoming WY13$319−41%$169 – $733
Connecticut CT20$310−43%$230 – $631
North Dakota ND13$303−44%$125 – $618
Iowa IA80$281−48%$137 – $762
Nebraska NE52$281−48%$152 – $557
Kansas KS70$280−48%$135 – $649
Tennessee TN56$259−52%$191 – $578
Oklahoma OK52$240−56%$171 – $886
Oregon OR53$232−57%$158 – $961
Arkansas AR22$225−58%$194 – $528
Maine ME20$218−60%$86 – $538
Montana MT22$151−72%$86 – $249
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 $540.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,982$611$293 – $1,259
Children’s60$1,053$335 – $1,622
Critical access664$315$143 – $769
Ownership
For-profit265$759$306 – $1,361
Government490$373$171 – $900
Non-profit1,951$562$246 – $1,210
System affiliation
Part of a system2,208$591$259 – $1,227
Independent507$377$150 – $766

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$998
Median cash price$540
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

1,997 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $639 and the average of the middle 60% is $689; most fall between $276 and $1,240.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,997 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
$176$327$639$1,146$1,699

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($176 vs $1,699).

Of the 2,144 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,997 gave a usable cash price; 48 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 99 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,715 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (69%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,914 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,715
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here86
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded5
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded108
Hospitals that filed this code2,914

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 Arthrocentesis family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arthrocentesis Aspir&/Inj Major Jt/Bursa W/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, with ultrasound (CPT 20611) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20611-fluid-removal-or-injection-large-joint-with-ultrasound