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Procedure price report · Spinal fusion

Lower back spine fusion through a side approach

CPT 22533the billing code this page is about

Fusion of one lower-back spinal segment reached from the side of the trunk, including limited removal of disc material to prepare the space; covers one segment.

Hospitals typically charge $4,989 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 157 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $5,150. Most fall between $2,485 and $12,662 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
157
States
38
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 23, 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 157 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
$1,714$2,732$4,989$8,104$21,887

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,714 vs $21,887).

How the prices are spread

$1,296 – $1,737: 11 hospitals$1,296$1,737 – $2,326: 8 hospitals$2,326 – $3,116: 29 hospitals$2,326$3,116 – $4,174: 16 hospitals$4,174 – $5,591: 23 hospitals$4,174$5,591 – $7,489: 19 hospitals$7,489 – $10,031: 9 hospitals$7,489$10,031 – $13,437: 6 hospitals$13,437 – $17,999: 10 hospitals$13,437$17,999 – $24,110: 16 hospitals$17,999median $4,989price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (147 of 157 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$1,296$1,73711
$1,737$2,3268
$2,326$3,11629
$3,116$4,17416
$4,174$5,59123
$5,591$7,48919
$7,489$10,0319
$10,031$13,4376
$13,437$17,99910
$17,999$24,11016

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$17,914
Median cash price$4,989
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.28×

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 $4,989.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $4,989 across 12 hospitalsMI$4,989New York: median $17,914 across 15 hospitalsNY$17,914Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIAIndiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: median $6,162 across 10 hospitalsOH$6,162Pennsylvania: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figurePANew Jersey: median $5,419 across 15 hospitalsNJ$5,419Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCAUtah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $2,732 across 11 hospitalsOK$2,732Louisiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $4,989. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New York NY15$17,914+259%$4,206 – $20,812
Ohio OH10$6,162+24%$2,534 – $6,445
New Jersey NJ15$5,419+9%$4,350 – $6,839
Michigan MI12$4,9890%$3,246 – $24,110
Oklahoma OK11$2,732−45%$2,732 – $2,732
Pennsylvania PA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Iowa IA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
California CA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not 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 $4,989.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care133$5,026$2,732 – $15,394
Children’s6fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access17fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit25$4,989$1,296 – $22,741
Government24$3,448$2,776 – $16,063
Non-profit107$5,026$2,475 – $11,100
System affiliation
Part of a system116$4,989$2,732 – $12,662
Independent41$4,114$2,424 – $11,096

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$5,393
Median cash price$4,989
Cash as a share of list, median hospital70%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 30%. 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.

How complete is this

157 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (4%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 198 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted157
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here30
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded10
Hospitals that filed this code198

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 23, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Spinal fusion family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arthrodesis Lateral Extracavitary Lumbar.

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, “Lower back spine fusion through a side approach (CPT 22533) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-22533-lower-back-spine-fusion-through-a-side-approach