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Procedure price report · Excision of skin lesion

Removal of tumor under skin of neck or chest, under 3 cm

CPT 21555the billing code this page is about

Surgical removal of a soft tissue growth located in the fatty layer beneath the skin of the neck or front of the chest, measuring less than 3 cm.

Hospitals typically charge $1,555 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,302 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,905. Most fall between $692 and $4,382 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,302
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 1,302 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
$445$794$1,555$3,749$6,614

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($445 vs $6,614).

How the prices are spread

$312 – $435: 57 hospitals$312$435 – $607: 98 hospitals$607 – $846: 131 hospitals$607$846 – $1,179: 159 hospitals$1,179 – $1,644: 176 hospitals$1,179$1,644 – $2,292: 131 hospitals$2,292 – $3,195: 101 hospitals$2,292$3,195 – $4,453: 129 hospitals$4,453 – $6,208: 114 hospitals$4,453$6,208 – $8,655: 76 hospitals$6,208median $1,555price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,172 of 1,302 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$312$43557
$435$60798
$607$846131
$846$1,179159
$1,179$1,644176
$1,644$2,292131
$2,292$3,195101
$3,195$4,453129
$4,453$6,208114
$6,208$8,65576

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,555
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.92×

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 $1,555.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $634 across 12 hospitalsME$634Vermont: median $657 across 10 hospitalsVT$657New Hampshire: median $492 across 12 hospitalsNH$492Washington: median $1,404 across 34 hospitalsWA$1,404Idaho: median $2,060 across 15 hospitalsID$2,060Montana: median $568 across 15 hospitalsMT$568North Dakota: median $856 across 11 hospitalsND$856Minnesota: median $1,173 across 51 hospitalsMN$1,173Illinois: median $1,522 across 58 hospitalsIL$1,522Wisconsin: median $1,450 across 58 hospitalsWI$1,450Michigan: median $799 across 50 hospitalsMI$799New York: median $1,917 across 70 hospitalsNY$1,917Massachusetts: median $3,720 across 25 hospitalsMA$3,720Oregon: median $794 across 34 hospitalsOR$794Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $1,196 across 10 hospitalsSD$1,196Iowa: median $977 across 50 hospitalsIA$977Indiana: median $1,738 across 35 hospitalsIN$1,738Ohio: median $4,382 across 63 hospitalsOH$4,382Pennsylvania: median $1,998 across 48 hospitalsPA$1,998New Jersey: median $2,162 across 36 hospitalsNJ$2,162Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,323 across 70 hospitalsCA$3,323Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,127 across 16 hospitalsCO$1,127Nebraska: median $1,105 across 28 hospitalsNE$1,105Missouri: median $1,150 across 32 hospitalsMO$1,150Kentucky: median $526 across 12 hospitalsKY$526West Virginia: median $1,412 across 28 hospitalsWV$1,412Virginia: median $4,358 across 32 hospitalsVA$4,358Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $2,027 across 10 hospitalsAZ$2,027New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $770 across 35 hospitalsKS$770Arkansas: median $999 across 17 hospitalsAR$999Tennessee: median $816 across 20 hospitalsTN$816North Carolina: median $1,916 across 32 hospitalsNC$1,916South Carolina: median $4,246 across 22 hospitalsSC$4,246Oklahoma: median $522 across 24 hospitalsOK$522Louisiana: median $2,319 across 29 hospitalsLA$2,319Mississippi: median $851 across 26 hospitalsMS$851Alabama: median $1,914 across 15 hospitalsAL$1,914Georgia: median $3,600 across 18 hospitalsGA$3,600Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,304 across 49 hospitalsTX$3,304Florida: median $4,704 across 34 hospitalsFL$4,704
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,555. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL34$4,704+203%$1,496 – $6,055
Ohio OH63$4,382+182%$698 – $6,563
Virginia VA32$4,358+180%$1,758 – $8,126
South Carolina SC22$4,246+173%$2,916 – $7,246
Massachusetts MA25$3,720+139%$1,145 – $5,141
Georgia GA18$3,600+132%$1,203 – $4,494
California CA70$3,323+114%$1,166 – $6,614
Texas TX49$3,304+112%$1,408 – $4,602
Louisiana LA29$2,319+49%$937 – $2,760
New Jersey NJ36$2,162+39%$1,795 – $5,419
Idaho ID15$2,060+32%$871 – $3,570
Arizona AZ10$2,027+30%$449 – $11,737
Pennsylvania PA48$1,998+28%$235 – $6,803
New York NY70$1,917+23%$726 – $4,595
North Carolina NC32$1,916+23%$1,046 – $4,059
Alabama AL15$1,914+23%$1,175 – $7,366
Indiana IN35$1,738+12%$499 – $3,076
Illinois IL58$1,522−2%$860 – $4,514
Wisconsin WI58$1,450−7%$1,079 – $1,559
West Virginia WV28$1,412−9%$333 – $2,881
Washington WA34$1,404−10%$735 – $3,520
South Dakota SD10$1,196−23%$1,196 – $1,460
Minnesota MN51$1,173−25%$705 – $1,559
Missouri MO32$1,150−26%$491 – $2,550
Colorado CO16$1,127−28%$595 – $2,015
Nebraska NE28$1,105−29%$726 – $2,519
Arkansas AR17$999−36%$727 – $3,728
Iowa IA50$977−37%$628 – $1,106
North Dakota ND11$856−45%$762 – $1,664
Mississippi MS26$851−45%$583 – $1,596
Tennessee TN20$816−48%$387 – $3,488
Michigan MI50$799−49%$285 – $3,082
Oregon OR34$794−49%$560 – $5,000
Kansas KS35$770−51%$399 – $2,034
Vermont VT10$657−58%$433 – $1,884
Maine ME12$634−59%$268 – $1,295
Montana MT15$568−63%$217 – $1,240
Kentucky KY12$526−66%$434 – $826
Oklahoma OK24$522−66%$522 – $1,917
New Hampshire NH12$492−68%$250 – $940
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not 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 $1,555.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care902$2,106$842 – $5,000
Children’s18fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access381$956$552 – $1,634
Ownership
For-profit120$2,815$970 – $7,385
Government270$1,261$649 – $3,168
Non-profit911$1,559$686 – $4,382
System affiliation
Part of a system1,000$1,745$745 – $4,602
Independent302$1,150$578 – $2,559

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,230
Median cash price$1,555
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

703 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,450 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,854; most fall between $698 and $4,268.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 703 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
$465$788$1,450$3,705$5,000

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($465 vs $5,000).

Of the 771 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 703 gave a usable cash price; 31 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 37 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,302 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (33%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,414 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,302
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here65
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded44
Hospitals that filed this code1,414

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 Excision of skin lesion family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Exc Tumor Soft Tissue Neck/Ant Thorax Subq <3cm.

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, “Removal of tumor under skin of neck or chest, under 3 cm (CPT 21555) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-21555-removal-of-tumor-under-skin-of-neck-or-chest-under-3-cm