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Procedure price report · Excision of skin lesion

Removal of tumor under skin of back or flank, 3 cm+

CPT 21931the billing code this page is about

Surgical removal of a soft tissue growth in the fatty layer beneath the skin of the back or side, measuring 3 cm or larger.

Hospitals typically charge $1,960 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,398 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,339. Most fall between $887 and $4,991 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,398
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 1,398 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
$614$1,003$1,960$4,523$7,651

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($614 vs $7,651).

How the prices are spread

$477 – $657: 82 hospitals$477$657 – $906: 136 hospitals$906 – $1,249: 182 hospitals$906$1,249 – $1,722: 159 hospitals$1,722 – $2,373: 142 hospitals$1,722$2,373 – $3,271: 151 hospitals$3,271 – $4,508: 121 hospitals$3,271$4,508 – $6,213: 147 hospitals$6,213 – $8,564: 91 hospitals$6,213$8,564 – $11,804: 49 hospitals$8,564median $1,960price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,260 of 1,398 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$477$65782
$657$906136
$906$1,249182
$1,249$1,722159
$1,722$2,373142
$2,373$3,271151
$3,271$4,508121
$4,508$6,213147
$6,213$8,56491
$8,564$11,80449

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,960
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.16×

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 $1,960.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $784 across 12 hospitalsME$784Vermont: median $905 across 11 hospitalsVT$905New Hampshire: median $597 across 13 hospitalsNH$597Washington: median $1,722 across 39 hospitalsWA$1,722Idaho: median $1,326 across 17 hospitalsID$1,326Montana: median $806 across 17 hospitalsMT$806North Dakota: median $1,664 across 11 hospitalsND$1,664Minnesota: median $1,817 across 52 hospitalsMN$1,817Illinois: median $1,777 across 56 hospitalsIL$1,777Wisconsin: median $2,254 across 60 hospitalsWI$2,254Michigan: median $917 across 52 hospitalsMI$917New York: median $1,917 across 76 hospitalsNY$1,917Massachusetts: median $4,380 across 32 hospitalsMA$4,380Oregon: median $981 across 32 hospitalsOR$981Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,150 across 62 hospitalsIA$1,150Indiana: median $2,947 across 47 hospitalsIN$2,947Ohio: median $3,256 across 71 hospitalsOH$3,256Pennsylvania: median $1,949 across 58 hospitalsPA$1,949New Jersey: median $2,137 across 37 hospitalsNJ$2,137Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,650 across 78 hospitalsCA$3,650Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $2,485 across 29 hospitalsCO$2,485Nebraska: median $1,467 across 34 hospitalsNE$1,467Missouri: median $1,206 across 30 hospitalsMO$1,206Kentucky: median $929 across 18 hospitalsKY$929West Virginia: median $1,904 across 29 hospitalsWV$1,904Virginia: median $5,758 across 38 hospitalsVA$5,758Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $6,589 across 12 hospitalsAZ$6,589New Mexico: median $1,928 across 10 hospitalsNM$1,928Kansas: median $1,074 across 41 hospitalsKS$1,074Arkansas: median $2,973 across 16 hospitalsAR$2,973Tennessee: median $3,302 across 21 hospitalsTN$3,302North Carolina: median $1,643 across 24 hospitalsNC$1,643South Carolina: median $4,978 across 15 hospitalsSC$4,978Oklahoma: median $986 across 19 hospitalsOK$986Louisiana: median $2,562 across 25 hospitalsLA$2,562Mississippi: median $1,185 across 23 hospitalsMS$1,185Alabama: median $1,700 across 17 hospitalsAL$1,700Georgia: median $7,768 across 17 hospitalsGA$7,768Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,787 across 54 hospitalsTX$3,787Florida: median $4,323 across 29 hospitalsFL$4,323
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,960. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA17$7,768+296%$2,497 – $13,791
Arizona AZ12$6,589+236%$1,305 – $14,230
Virginia VA38$5,758+194%$2,320 – $10,870
South Carolina SC15$4,978+154%$550 – $10,938
Massachusetts MA32$4,380+123%$1,533 – $7,800
Florida FL29$4,323+121%$2,305 – $6,197
Texas TX54$3,787+93%$1,408 – $5,068
California CA78$3,650+86%$1,542 – $6,546
Tennessee TN21$3,302+68%$586 – $4,991
Ohio OH71$3,256+66%$1,174 – $9,118
Arkansas AR16$2,973+52%$1,166 – $4,682
Indiana IN47$2,947+50%$879 – $4,762
Louisiana LA25$2,562+31%$916 – $3,330
Colorado CO29$2,485+27%$1,030 – $6,103
Wisconsin WI60$2,254+15%$1,220 – $3,102
New Jersey NJ37$2,137+9%$1,793 – $5,419
Pennsylvania PA58$1,949−1%$823 – $9,008
New Mexico NM10$1,928−2%$584 – $8,619
New York NY76$1,917−2%$934 – $4,595
West Virginia WV29$1,904−3%$850 – $6,095
Minnesota MN52$1,817−7%$809 – $2,376
Illinois IL56$1,777−9%$841 – $4,381
Washington WA39$1,722−12%$993 – $4,574
Alabama AL17$1,700−13%$1,320 – $7,889
North Dakota ND11$1,664−15%$822 – $2,961
North Carolina NC24$1,643−16%$1,014 – $7,730
Nebraska NE34$1,467−25%$736 – $2,300
Idaho ID17$1,326−32%$1,077 – $3,570
Missouri MO30$1,206−38%$705 – $2,980
Mississippi MS23$1,185−40%$732 – $3,086
Iowa IA62$1,150−41%$894 – $2,272
Kansas KS41$1,074−45%$763 – $1,911
Oklahoma OK19$986−50%$986 – $4,513
Oregon OR32$981−50%$725 – $1,551
Kentucky KY18$929−53%$684 – $5,403
Michigan MI52$917−53%$586 – $2,860
Vermont VT11$905−54%$464 – $3,107
Montana MT17$806−59%$520 – $1,450
Maine ME12$784−60%$398 – $1,928
New Hampshire NH13$597−70%$433 – $1,577
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not 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 $1,960.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care951$2,562$1,056 – $6,095
Children’s14fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access431$1,186$726 – $2,670
Ownership
For-profit141$3,916$1,408 – $9,083
Government295$1,416$828 – $3,454
Non-profit960$2,128$880 – $4,861
System affiliation
Part of a system1,072$2,305$926 – $5,719
Independent326$1,415$823 – $3,004

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,004
Median cash price$1,960
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

724 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,700 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,007; most fall between $768 and $4,420.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 724 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
$548$905$1,700$3,650$5,998

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($548 vs $5,998).

Of the 803 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 724 gave a usable cash price; 34 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 45 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,398 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (35%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,530 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,398
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here71
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded52
Hospitals that filed this code1,530

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 PR Excision Tumor Soft Tis Back/Flank Subq 3 Cm/>.

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 back or flank, 3 cm+ (CPT 21931) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-21931-removal-of-tumor-under-skin-of-back-or-flank-3-cm