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Procedure price report · Traction, splints, and other wound care

Adding a walking heel to a cast already in place

CPT 29440the billing code this page is about

Attaching a walking heel or reinforced sole to a leg cast that was applied earlier, so the patient can bear weight; billed separately from the original casting.

Hospitals typically charge $186 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 493 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $190. Most fall between $78 and $390 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
493
States
47
Filings dated
Feb 2024 – 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 493 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
$52$89$186$316$683

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($52 vs $683).

How the prices are spread

$36 – $49: 20 hospitals$36$49 – $66: 35 hospitals$66 – $90: 46 hospitals$66$90 – $122: 42 hospitals$122 – $165: 44 hospitals$122$165 – $224: 97 hospitals$224 – $304: 57 hospitals$224$304 – $412: 38 hospitals$412 – $559: 31 hospitals$412$559 – $759: 35 hospitals$559median $186price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (445 of 493 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$36$4920
$49$6635
$66$9046
$90$12242
$122$16544
$165$22497
$224$30457
$304$41238
$412$55931
$559$75935

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$166
Median cash price$186
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.12×

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 $186.

Alaska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 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: median $249 across 18 hospitalsWA$249Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $108 across 16 hospitalsIL$108Wisconsin: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $187 across 31 hospitalsNY$187Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $143 across 21 hospitalsOR$143Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $108 across 16 hospitalsIA$108Indiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $125 across 10 hospitalsOH$125Pennsylvania: median $20 across 15 hospitalsPA$20New Jersey: median $641 across 30 hospitalsNJ$641Connecticut: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $447 across 71 hospitalsCA$447Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $76 across 12 hospitalsNE$76Missouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $168 across 21 hospitalsVA$168Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $84 across 11 hospitalsKS$84Arkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $68 across 13 hospitalsTN$68North Carolina: median $187 across 15 hospitalsNC$187South Carolina: median $257 across 12 hospitalsSC$257Oklahoma: median $48 across 13 hospitalsOK$48Louisiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $186 across 15 hospitalsGA$186Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $281 across 31 hospitalsTX$281Florida: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $186. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ30$641+245%$175 – $5,110
California CA71$447+141%$295 – $683
Texas TX31$281+51%$121 – $281
South Carolina SC12$257+38%$207 – $257
Washington WA18$249+34%$100 – $336
North Carolina NC15$187+1%$120 – $187
New York NY31$187+1%$155 – $390
Georgia GA15$1860%$104 – $186
Virginia VA21$168−10%$68 – $237
Oregon OR21$143−23%$80 – $434
Ohio OH10$125−33%$83 – $221
Iowa IA16$108−42%$108 – $108
Illinois IL16$108−42%$55 – $145
Kansas KS11$84−55%$62 – $123
Nebraska NE12$76−59%$39 – $88
Tennessee TN13$68−63%$41 – $122
Oklahoma OK13$48−74%$48 – $50
Pennsylvania PA15$20−89%$17 – $195
Indiana IN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $186.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care388$188$80 – $440
Children’s16fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access89$122$63 – $232
Ownership
For-profit42$234$81 – $657
Government91$124$72 – $187
Non-profit360$187$79 – $405
System affiliation
Part of a system403$187$78 – $405
Independent90$125$67 – $285

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$351
Median cash price$186
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. 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

337 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $205 and the average of the middle 60% is $218; most fall between $80 and $419.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 337 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
$55$94$205$336$683

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($55 vs $683).

Of the 364 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 337 gave a usable cash price; 9 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

493 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (12%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 533 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted493
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here16
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 — excluded23
Hospitals that filed this code533

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 Traction, splints, and other wound care family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Addition of Walker to Cast.

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, “Adding a walking heel to a cast already in place (CPT 29440) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-29440-adding-a-walking-heel-to-a-cast-already-in-place