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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on bone

Applying a single-plane external bone fixator

CPT 20690the billing code this page is about

Placement of an external frame attached to bone by pins or wires in one plane on one side of the limb to hold bone fragments in position.

Hospitals typically charge $2,283 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 716 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,225. Most fall between $976 and $8,099 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
716
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 716 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
$681$1,093$2,283$6,361$12,760

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($681 vs $12,760).

How the prices are spread

$554 – $774: 57 hospitals$554$774 – $1,082: 83 hospitals$1,082 – $1,513: 99 hospitals$1,082$1,513 – $2,116: 72 hospitals$2,116 – $2,959: 45 hospitals$2,116$2,959 – $4,137: 45 hospitals$4,137 – $5,785: 56 hospitals$4,137$5,785 – $8,089: 79 hospitals$8,089 – $11,311: 59 hospitals$8,089$11,311 – $15,816: 52 hospitals$11,311median $2,283price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (647 of 716 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$554$77457
$774$1,08283
$1,082$1,51399
$1,513$2,11672
$2,116$2,95945
$2,959$4,13745
$4,137$5,78556
$5,785$8,08979
$8,089$11,31159
$11,311$15,81652

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$7,413
Median cash price$2,283
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.31×

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 $2,283.

Alaska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: median $807 across 10 hospitalsVT$807New Hampshire: median $789 across 10 hospitalsNH$789Washington: median $1,369 across 15 hospitalsWA$1,369Idaho: median $4,581 across 16 hospitalsID$4,581Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $2,135 across 28 hospitalsMN$2,135Illinois: median $1,870 across 32 hospitalsIL$1,870Wisconsin: median $3,120 across 37 hospitalsWI$3,120Michigan: median $1,329 across 27 hospitalsMI$1,329New York: median $1,919 across 42 hospitalsNY$1,919Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $1,346 across 21 hospitalsOR$1,346Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,470 across 34 hospitalsIA$1,470Indiana: median $1,187 across 15 hospitalsIN$1,187Ohio: median $2,283 across 17 hospitalsOH$2,283Pennsylvania: median $5,050 across 30 hospitalsPA$5,050New Jersey: median $7,907 across 33 hospitalsNJ$7,907Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $5,964 across 51 hospitalsCA$5,964Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,442 across 13 hospitalsCO$1,442Nebraska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $4,987 across 24 hospitalsMO$4,987Kentucky: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $1,491 across 19 hospitalsWV$1,491Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $977 across 11 hospitalsKS$977Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $1,771 across 12 hospitalsTN$1,771North Carolina: median $1,133 across 10 hospitalsNC$1,133South Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $1,253 across 17 hospitalsOK$1,253Louisiana: median $11,775 across 10 hospitalsLA$11,775Mississippi: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $4,987 across 11 hospitalsAL$4,987Georgia: median $5,810 across 14 hospitalsGA$5,810Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $4,934 across 28 hospitalsTX$4,934Florida: median $6,090 across 16 hospitalsFL$6,090
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,283. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Louisiana LA10$11,775+416%$4,690 – $18,449
New Jersey NJ33$7,907+246%$4,881 – $9,532
Florida FL16$6,090+167%$2,283 – $12,760
California CA51$5,964+161%$1,594 – $15,019
Georgia GA14$5,810+155%$5,704 – $15,885
Pennsylvania PA30$5,050+121%$389 – $13,304
Alabama AL11$4,987+118%$1,687 – $6,980
Missouri MO24$4,987+118%$927 – $10,959
Texas TX28$4,934+116%$1,889 – $5,887
Idaho ID16$4,581+101%$1,200 – $12,106
Wisconsin WI37$3,120+37%$2,943 – $3,141
Ohio OH17$2,2830%$1,195 – $7,700
Minnesota MN28$2,135−6%$1,022 – $3,250
New York NY42$1,919−16%$972 – $8,454
Illinois IL32$1,870−18%$590 – $5,861
Tennessee TN12$1,771−22%$951 – $8,848
West Virginia WV19$1,491−35%$635 – $5,801
Iowa IA34$1,470−36%$1,129 – $1,625
Colorado CO13$1,442−37%$1,054 – $10,510
Washington WA15$1,369−40%$1,073 – $2,199
Oregon OR21$1,346−41%$1,107 – $1,973
Michigan MI27$1,329−42%$845 – $9,978
Oklahoma OK17$1,253−45%$696 – $1,253
Indiana IN15$1,187−48%$590 – $7,639
North Carolina NC10$1,133−50%$1,002 – $4,821
Kansas KS11$977−57%$700 – $4,485
Vermont VT10$807−65%$593 – $1,517
New Hampshire NH10$789−65%$554 – $1,383
Kentucky KY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $2,283.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care511$4,350$1,024 – $9,058
Children’s16fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access188$1,440$878 – $2,943
Ownership
For-profit69$5,334$994 – $11,012
Government136$1,670$999 – $7,946
Non-profit510$2,295$968 – $7,907
System affiliation
Part of a system540$2,993$977 – $8,454
Independent176$1,605$968 – $5,861

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,453
Median cash price$2,283
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

388 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,891 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,811; most fall between $910 and $7,700.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 388 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
$671$1,003$1,891$5,964$12,760

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($671 vs $12,760).

Of the 433 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 388 gave a usable cash price; 24 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 21 a list price only.

How complete is this

716 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (18%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 810 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted716
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here57
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 — excluded33
Hospitals that filed this code810

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 OR therapeutic procedures on bone family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Application Uniplane External Fixation System.

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, “Applying a single-plane external bone fixator (CPT 20690) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-20690-applying-a-single-plane-external-bone-fixator