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Procedure price report · Diagnostic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx

Diagnostic nasal endoscopy, both sides

CPT 31231the billing code this page is about

A lighted scope is passed into the nose to examine the nasal passages for diagnosis; the code covers examining one or both sides in one visit.

Hospitals typically charge $328 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,577 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $344. Most fall between $163 and $589 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,577
States
50
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 1,577 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
$109$190$328$542$1,090

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($109 vs $1,090).

How the prices are spread

$78 – $113: 90 hospitals$78$113 – $163: 152 hospitals$163 – $237: 277 hospitals$163$237 – $342: 226 hospitals$342 – $496: 280 hospitals$342$496 – $718: 237 hospitals$718 – $1,039: 74 hospitals$718$1,039 – $1,504: 30 hospitals$1,504 – $2,177: 40 hospitals$1,504$2,177 – $3,151: 19 hospitals$2,177median $328price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,425 of 1,577 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$78$11390
$113$163152
$163$237277
$237$342226
$342$496280
$496$718237
$718$1,03974
$1,039$1,50430
$1,504$2,17740
$2,177$3,15119

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$204
Median cash price$328
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.61×

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 $328.

Alaska: median $520 across 11 hospitalsAK$520Maine: median $196 across 14 hospitalsME$196Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $99 across 11 hospitalsNH$99Washington: median $352 across 51 hospitalsWA$352Idaho: median $421 across 12 hospitalsID$421Montana: median $219 across 11 hospitalsMT$219North Dakota: median $241 across 11 hospitalsND$241Minnesota: median $239 across 58 hospitalsMN$239Illinois: median $340 across 70 hospitalsIL$340Wisconsin: median $366 across 64 hospitalsWI$366Michigan: median $209 across 60 hospitalsMI$209New York: median $457 across 81 hospitalsNY$457Massachusetts: median $543 across 33 hospitalsMA$543Oregon: median $287 across 38 hospitalsOR$287Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $485 across 13 hospitalsSD$485Iowa: median $262 across 42 hospitalsIA$262Indiana: median $422 across 36 hospitalsIN$422Ohio: median $532 across 83 hospitalsOH$532Pennsylvania: median $307 across 73 hospitalsPA$307New Jersey: median $337 across 45 hospitalsNJ$337Connecticut: median $317 across 13 hospitalsCT$317Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $541 across 98 hospitalsCA$541Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $276 across 22 hospitalsCO$276Nebraska: median $150 across 47 hospitalsNE$150Missouri: median $315 across 38 hospitalsMO$315Kentucky: median $268 across 20 hospitalsKY$268West Virginia: median $210 across 27 hospitalsWV$210Virginia: median $154 across 40 hospitalsVA$154Maryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $2,073 across 15 hospitalsAZ$2,073New Mexico: median $199 across 11 hospitalsNM$199Kansas: median $363 across 21 hospitalsKS$363Arkansas: median $234 across 10 hospitalsAR$234Tennessee: median $211 across 23 hospitalsTN$211North Carolina: median $184 across 34 hospitalsNC$184South Carolina: median $324 across 35 hospitalsSC$324Oklahoma: median $219 across 24 hospitalsOK$219Louisiana: median $242 across 29 hospitalsLA$242Mississippi: median $104 across 28 hospitalsMS$104Alabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $228 across 31 hospitalsGA$228Hawaii: median $269 across 10 hospitalsHI$269Texas: median $354 across 88 hospitalsTX$354Florida: median $604 across 55 hospitalsFL$604
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $328. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ15$2,073+532%$245 – $2,073
Florida FL55$604+84%$100 – $1,827
Massachusetts MA33$543+66%$261 – $687
California CA98$541+65%$255 – $631
Ohio OH83$532+62%$286 – $600
Alaska AK11$520+59%$240 – $1,585
South Dakota SD13$485+48%$195 – $485
New York NY81$457+39%$224 – $1,544
Indiana IN36$422+29%$228 – $771
Idaho ID12$421+28%$224 – $543
Wisconsin WI64$366+12%$315 – $512
Kansas KS21$363+11%$173 – $1,040
Texas TX88$354+8%$153 – $526
Washington WA51$352+7%$219 – $470
Illinois IL70$340+4%$196 – $855
New Jersey NJ45$337+3%$215 – $4,627
South Carolina SC35$324−1%$222 – $506
Connecticut CT13$317−3%$252 – $382
Missouri MO38$315−4%$186 – $440
Pennsylvania PA73$307−6%$151 – $1,614
Oregon OR38$287−13%$193 – $426
Colorado CO22$276−16%$208 – $510
Hawaii HI10$269−18%$223 – $414
Kentucky KY20$268−18%$124 – $356
Iowa IA42$262−20%$121 – $471
Louisiana LA29$242−26%$132 – $348
North Dakota ND11$241−26%$176 – $415
Minnesota MN58$239−27%$154 – $519
Arkansas AR10$234−29%$82 – $468
Georgia GA31$228−30%$200 – $712
Oklahoma OK24$219−33%$139 – $396
Montana MT11$219−33%$124 – $383
Tennessee TN23$211−36%$74 – $250
West Virginia WV27$210−36%$113 – $442
Michigan MI60$209−36%$78 – $542
New Mexico NM11$199−39%$123 – $428
Maine ME14$196−40%$141 – $355
North Carolina NC34$184−44%$148 – $276
Virginia VA40$154−53%$94 – $264
Nebraska NE47$150−54%$108 – $390
Mississippi MS28$104−68%$55 – $238
New Hampshire NH11$99−70%$29 – $316
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $328.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,184$342$180 – $662
Children’s51$470$294 – $712
Critical access337$250$129 – $449
Ownership
For-profit132$379$209 – $1,645
Government258$230$146 – $475
Non-profit1,182$340$178 – $590
System affiliation
Part of a system1,314$330$162 – $582
Independent263$313$165 – $649

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$531
Median cash price$328
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

1,134 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $331 and the average of the middle 60% is $348; most fall between $165 and $582.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,134 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
$114$191$331$541$791

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($114 vs $791).

Of the 1,200 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,134 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 36 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,577 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (40%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,682 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,577
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here61
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded4
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded40
Hospitals that filed this code1,682

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 Diagnostic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Nasal Endoscopy Diagnostic Uni/Bi 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, “Diagnostic nasal endoscopy, both sides (CPT 31231) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31231-diagnostic-nasal-endoscopy-both-sides