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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic procedures on muscles and tendons

Lengthening or shortening of one lower leg or ankle tendon

CPT 27685the billing code this page is about

Surgery through a separate incision to lengthen or shorten a single tendon of the lower leg or ankle; this code covers one tendon.

Hospitals typically charge $2,969 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 768 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,055. Most fall between $1,084 and $6,009 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
768
States
49
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 768 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
$720$1,253$2,969$5,317$12,599

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($720 vs $12,599).

How the prices are spread

$554 – $825: 66 hospitals$554$825 – $1,228: 82 hospitals$1,228 – $1,829: 112 hospitals$1,228$1,829 – $2,723: 62 hospitals$2,723 – $4,056: 131 hospitals$2,723$4,056 – $6,040: 128 hospitals$6,040 – $8,995: 49 hospitals$6,040$8,995 – $13,396: 26 hospitals$13,396 – $19,949: 20 hospitals$13,396$19,949 – $29,710: 16 hospitals$19,949median $2,969price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (692 of 768 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$554$82566
$825$1,22882
$1,228$1,829112
$1,829$2,72362
$2,723$4,056131
$4,056$6,040128
$6,040$8,99549
$8,995$13,39626
$13,396$19,94920
$19,949$29,71016

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,343
Median cash price$2,969
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.89×

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 $2,969.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,494 across 20 hospitalsWA$1,494Idaho: median $4,223 across 14 hospitalsID$4,223Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $2,495 across 37 hospitalsMN$2,495Illinois: median $1,204 across 23 hospitalsIL$1,204Wisconsin: median $3,094 across 39 hospitalsWI$3,094Michigan: median $1,267 across 35 hospitalsMI$1,267New York: median $3,840 across 39 hospitalsNY$3,840Massachusetts: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $1,978 across 18 hospitalsOR$1,978Nevada: 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 $1,640 across 29 hospitalsIA$1,640Indiana: median $1,960 across 22 hospitalsIN$1,960Ohio: median $2,922 across 30 hospitalsOH$2,922Pennsylvania: median $4,631 across 49 hospitalsPA$4,631New Jersey: median $4,233 across 34 hospitalsNJ$4,233Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $4,003 across 56 hospitalsCA$4,003Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $2,215 across 12 hospitalsCO$2,215Nebraska: median $1,211 across 12 hospitalsNE$1,211Missouri: median $1,831 across 18 hospitalsMO$1,831Kentucky: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $1,266 across 20 hospitalsWV$1,266Virginia: median $4,204 across 17 hospitalsVA$4,204Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,235 across 12 hospitalsKS$1,235Arkansas: median $1,085 across 10 hospitalsAR$1,085Tennessee: median $1,277 across 11 hospitalsTN$1,277North Carolina: median $1,634 across 10 hospitalsNC$1,634South Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $774 across 15 hospitalsOK$774Louisiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $6,653 across 12 hospitalsGA$6,653Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $4,137 across 36 hospitalsTX$4,137Florida: median $9,424 across 14 hospitalsFL$9,424
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,969. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL14$9,424+217%$3,257 – $31,046
Georgia GA12$6,653+124%$5,428 – $6,964
Pennsylvania PA49$4,631+56%$709 – $10,278
New Jersey NJ34$4,233+43%$3,594 – $5,741
Idaho ID14$4,223+42%$1,331 – $8,372
Virginia VA17$4,204+42%$4,024 – $20,624
Texas TX36$4,137+39%$3,127 – $6,167
California CA56$4,003+35%$1,472 – $6,009
New York NY39$3,840+29%$1,284 – $4,950
Wisconsin WI39$3,094+4%$2,064 – $4,455
Ohio OH30$2,922−2%$1,136 – $28,331
Minnesota MN37$2,495−16%$1,043 – $3,452
Colorado CO12$2,215−25%$1,270 – $8,676
Oregon OR18$1,978−33%$1,201 – $3,240
Indiana IN22$1,960−34%$720 – $10,053
Missouri MO18$1,831−38%$907 – $14,785
Iowa IA29$1,640−45%$1,212 – $2,286
North Carolina NC10$1,634−45%$1,229 – $5,462
Washington WA20$1,494−50%$1,066 – $2,908
Tennessee TN11$1,277−57%$686 – $4,689
Michigan MI35$1,267−57%$1,263 – $4,499
West Virginia WV20$1,266−57%$494 – $3,399
Kansas KS12$1,235−58%$807 – $3,089
Nebraska NE12$1,211−59%$1,084 – $6,326
Illinois IL23$1,204−59%$720 – $2,710
Arkansas AR10$1,085−63%$450 – $2,196
Oklahoma OK15$774−74%$774 – $6,615
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $2,969.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care566$3,643$1,240 – $6,653
Children’s24$1,875$895 – $4,003
Critical access176$1,584$905 – $3,336
Ownership
For-profit91$4,689$1,473 – $11,325
Government120$1,851$1,017 – $4,379
Non-profit555$3,094$1,084 – $6,009
System affiliation
Part of a system589$3,400$1,201 – $6,533
Independent179$1,802$969 – $4,233

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,282
Median cash price$2,969
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

378 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,802 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,366; most fall between $851 and $5,232.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 378 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
$700$1,060$1,802$4,529$6,653

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($700 vs $6,653).

Of the 425 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 378 gave a usable cash price; 20 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 27 a list price only.

How complete is this

768 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (19%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 848 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted768
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here47
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded4
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded28
Hospitals that filed this code848

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 therapeutic procedures on muscles and tendons family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Lngth/Shrt Tendon Leg/Ankle 1 Tendon Spx.

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, “Lengthening or shortening of one lower leg or ankle tendon (CPT 27685) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-27685-lengthening-or-shortening-of-one-lower-leg-or-ankle-tendon