HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on joints

Knee arthroscopy to remove a loose fragment or foreign body

CPT 29874the billing code this page is about

Keyhole knee surgery to take out a loose piece of bone or cartilage, or an object that does not belong in the joint.

Hospitals typically charge $2,276 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 780 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,720. Most fall between $1,036 and $6,069 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
780
States
49
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 780 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
$731$1,170$2,276$5,188$10,018

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($731 vs $10,018).

How the prices are spread

$530 – $734: 40 hospitals$530$734 – $1,019: 74 hospitals$1,019 – $1,413: 100 hospitals$1,019$1,413 – $1,960: 113 hospitals$1,960 – $2,719: 64 hospitals$1,960$2,719 – $3,771: 69 hospitals$3,771 – $5,231: 87 hospitals$3,771$5,231 – $7,256: 79 hospitals$7,256 – $10,065: 44 hospitals$7,256$10,065 – $13,961: 33 hospitals$10,065median $2,276price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (703 of 780 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$530$73440
$734$1,01974
$1,019$1,413100
$1,413$1,960113
$1,960$2,71964
$2,719$3,77169
$3,771$5,23187
$5,231$7,25679
$7,256$10,06544
$10,065$13,96133

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,343
Median cash price$2,276
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.68×

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 $2,276.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $772 across 11 hospitalsME$772Vermont: median $1,116 across 10 hospitalsVT$1,116New Hampshire: median $688 across 10 hospitalsNH$688Washington: median $1,774 across 23 hospitalsWA$1,774Idaho: median $3,641 across 16 hospitalsID$3,641Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $2,276 across 32 hospitalsMN$2,276Illinois: median $2,220 across 34 hospitalsIL$2,220Wisconsin: median $2,822 across 40 hospitalsWI$2,822Michigan: median $1,525 across 39 hospitalsMI$1,525New York: median $1,616 across 42 hospitalsNY$1,616Massachusetts: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $1,489 across 26 hospitalsOR$1,489Nevada: 5 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 $1,322 across 42 hospitalsIA$1,322Indiana: median $1,036 across 20 hospitalsIN$1,036Ohio: median $2,057 across 23 hospitalsOH$2,057Pennsylvania: median $1,046 across 22 hospitalsPA$1,046New Jersey: median $4,330 across 33 hospitalsNJ$4,330Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,647 across 54 hospitalsCA$1,647Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $1,458 across 17 hospitalsNE$1,458Missouri: median $4,601 across 19 hospitalsMO$4,601Kentucky: median $928 across 10 hospitalsKY$928West Virginia: median $1,331 across 14 hospitalsWV$1,331Virginia: median $2,073 across 10 hospitalsVA$2,073Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 6 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 $1,286 across 21 hospitalsKS$1,286Arkansas: median $2,599 across 12 hospitalsAR$2,599Tennessee: median $1,514 across 13 hospitalsTN$1,514North Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $1,126 across 19 hospitalsOK$1,126Louisiana: median $4,792 across 11 hospitalsLA$4,792Mississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $2,920 across 13 hospitalsAL$2,920Georgia: median $8,718 across 11 hospitalsGA$8,718Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $5,060 across 39 hospitalsTX$5,060Florida: median $7,181 across 16 hospitalsFL$7,181
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,276. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA11$8,718+283%$8,718 – $11,629
Florida FL16$7,181+215%$2,057 – $13,179
Texas TX39$5,060+122%$1,802 – $7,279
Louisiana LA11$4,792+111%$3,499 – $8,387
Missouri MO19$4,601+102%$960 – $11,603
New Jersey NJ33$4,330+90%$3,594 – $5,741
Idaho ID16$3,641+60%$1,090 – $6,877
Alabama AL13$2,920+28%$1,228 – $12,684
Wisconsin WI40$2,822+24%$2,667 – $5,563
Arkansas AR12$2,599+14%$1,064 – $4,714
Minnesota MN32$2,2760%$1,324 – $3,884
Illinois IL34$2,220−2%$928 – $5,455
Virginia VA10$2,073−9%$361 – $10,212
Ohio OH23$2,057−10%$1,328 – $13,961
Washington WA23$1,774−22%$1,135 – $5,532
California CA54$1,647−28%$1,472 – $10,018
New York NY42$1,616−29%$874 – $3,840
Michigan MI39$1,525−33%$984 – $4,499
Tennessee TN13$1,514−33%$704 – $5,515
Oregon OR26$1,489−35%$1,000 – $2,598
Nebraska NE17$1,458−36%$457 – $2,144
West Virginia WV14$1,331−42%$569 – $5,188
Iowa IA42$1,322−42%$1,145 – $1,753
Kansas KS21$1,286−44%$880 – $4,462
Oklahoma OK19$1,126−51%$1,126 – $6,660
Vermont VT10$1,116−51%$344 – $1,960
Pennsylvania PA22$1,046−54%$350 – $5,038
Indiana IN20$1,036−54%$683 – $11,156
Kentucky KY10$928−59%$689 – $1,567
Maine ME11$772−66%$384 – $1,174
New Hampshire NH10$688−70%$453 – $1,257
Colorado CO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $2,276.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care515$3,261$1,152 – $7,656
Children’s19fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access245$1,552$908 – $2,823
Ownership
For-profit83$5,303$1,567 – $12,684
Government158$1,701$982 – $4,523
Non-profit538$2,217$1,016 – $5,783
System affiliation
Part of a system579$2,611$1,116 – $6,839
Independent201$1,740$982 – $4,462

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,830
Median cash price$2,276
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

378 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,567 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,074; most fall between $928 and $5,486.

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
$676$1,000$1,567$4,207$8,372

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($676 vs $8,372).

Of the 422 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 378 gave a usable cash price; 19 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 25 a list price only.

How complete is this

780 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (20%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 872 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted780
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here57
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 — excluded30
Hospitals that filed this code872

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 OR therapeutic procedures on joints family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arthroscopy Knee Removal Loose/Foreign Body.

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, “Knee arthroscopy to remove a loose fragment or foreign body (CPT 29874) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-29874-knee-arthroscopy-to-remove-a-loose-fragment-or-foreign-body