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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on joints

Elbow arthroscopy with extensive cleanout of the joint

CPT 29838the billing code this page is about

Keyhole elbow surgery that trims away damaged cartilage, scar tissue, or bone spurs over a wide area inside the joint.

Hospitals typically charge $2,302 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 431 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,807. Most fall between $1,111 and $5,439 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
431
States
47
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 431 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
$863$1,414$2,302$4,841$8,718

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($863 vs $8,718).

How the prices are spread

$508 – $700: 9 hospitals$508$700 – $965: 28 hospitals$965 – $1,329: 46 hospitals$965$1,329 – $1,832: 70 hospitals$1,832 – $2,525: 51 hospitals$1,832$2,525 – $3,479: 29 hospitals$3,479 – $4,795: 62 hospitals$3,479$4,795 – $6,608: 53 hospitals$6,608 – $9,107: 22 hospitals$6,608$9,107 – $12,550: 20 hospitals$9,107median $2,302price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (390 of 431 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$508$7009
$700$96528
$965$1,32946
$1,329$1,83270
$1,832$2,52551
$2,525$3,47929
$3,479$4,79562
$4,795$6,60853
$6,608$9,10722
$9,107$12,55020

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,343
Median cash price$2,302
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.69×

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 $2,302.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,933 across 10 hospitalsWA$1,933Idaho: median $4,841 across 11 hospitalsID$4,841Montana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $4,108 across 19 hospitalsMN$4,108Illinois: median $1,458 across 17 hospitalsIL$1,458Wisconsin: median $2,744 across 15 hospitalsWI$2,744Michigan: median $1,617 across 27 hospitalsMI$1,617New York: median $3,840 across 25 hospitalsNY$3,840Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 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 $1,458 across 18 hospitalsIA$1,458Indiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $2,049 across 12 hospitalsOH$2,049Pennsylvania: median $1,058 across 20 hospitalsPA$1,058New Jersey: median $4,627 across 31 hospitalsNJ$4,627Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,810 across 40 hospitalsCA$1,810Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $1,949 across 11 hospitalsNE$1,949Missouri: median $2,713 across 10 hospitalsMO$2,713Kentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 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: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $984 across 15 hospitalsOK$984Louisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $5,439 across 22 hospitalsTX$5,439Florida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,302. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Texas TX22$5,439+136%$2,653 – $5,439
Idaho ID11$4,841+110%$1,461 – $8,372
New Jersey NJ31$4,627+101%$3,594 – $5,419
Minnesota MN19$4,108+78%$1,456 – $4,820
New York NY25$3,840+67%$998 – $3,884
Wisconsin WI15$2,744+19%$2,744 – $6,530
Missouri MO10$2,713+18%$851 – $9,295
Ohio OH12$2,049−11%$1,453 – $2,706
Nebraska NE11$1,949−15%$939 – $2,333
Washington WA10$1,933−16%$1,162 – $10,227
California CA40$1,810−21%$1,472 – $2,302
Michigan MI27$1,617−30%$1,617 – $4,499
Iowa IA18$1,458−37%$1,202 – $1,458
Illinois IL17$1,458−37%$454 – $4,332
Pennsylvania PA20$1,058−54%$298 – $5,038
Oklahoma OK15$984−57%$984 – $6,612
Georgia GA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not 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 $2,302.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care338$2,392$1,111 – $5,439
Children’s13fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access80$1,893$1,153 – $4,900
Ownership
For-profit47$4,841$1,620 – $8,718
Government64$1,933$1,100 – $3,840
Non-profit320$2,302$1,111 – $5,439
System affiliation
Part of a system340$2,455$1,243 – $5,741
Independent91$1,933$1,009 – $4,233

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,152
Median cash price$2,302
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

212 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,565 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,802; most fall between $984 and $3,855.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 212 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
$666$1,033$1,565$2,728$5,486

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($666 vs $5,486).

Of the 236 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 212 gave a usable cash price; 13 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 11 a list price only.

How complete is this

431 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (11%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 476 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted431
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here32
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded11
Hospitals that filed this code476

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 Other OR therapeutic procedures on joints family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arthroscopy Elbow Surgical Debridement Extensive.

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, “Elbow arthroscopy with extensive cleanout of the joint (CPT 29838) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-29838-elbow-arthroscopy-with-extensive-cleanout-of-the-joint