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Procedure price report · Tracheoscopy and laryngoscopy with biopsy

Direct exam of the voice box in a newborn

CPT 31520the billing code this page is about

A rigid scope is placed through the mouth of a newborn to view the voice box and windpipe for diagnosis.

Hospitals typically charge $460 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 396 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $507. Most fall between $274 and $908 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
396
States
45
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 396 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
$200$295$460$794$1,226

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($200 vs $1,226).

How the prices are spread

$124 – $157: 5 hospitals$124$157 – $200: 15 hospitals$200 – $254: 22 hospitals$200$254 – $322: 46 hospitals$322 – $410: 53 hospitals$322$410 – $521: 71 hospitals$521 – $662: 40 hospitals$521$662 – $842: 33 hospitals$842 – $1,070: 36 hospitals$842$1,070 – $1,360: 38 hospitals$1,070median $460price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (359 of 396 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$124$1575
$157$20015
$200$25422
$254$32246
$322$41053
$410$52171
$521$66240
$662$84233
$842$1,07036
$1,070$1,36038

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$400
Median cash price$460
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.15×

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 $460.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 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 $746 across 14 hospitalsWA$746Idaho: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $409 across 23 hospitalsIL$409Wisconsin: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $444 across 20 hospitalsMI$444New York: median $460 across 26 hospitalsNY$460Massachusetts: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $358 across 21 hospitalsOR$358Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $386 across 16 hospitalsIA$386Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: median $626 across 12 hospitalsOH$626Pennsylvania: median $357 across 19 hospitalsPA$357New Jersey: median $1,972 across 25 hospitalsNJ$1,972Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,014 across 55 hospitalsCA$1,014Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $459 across 19 hospitalsWV$459Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 1 hospital 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: 2 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $258 across 12 hospitalsOK$258Louisiana: median $315 across 11 hospitalsLA$315Mississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $624 across 26 hospitalsTX$624Florida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $460. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ25$1,972+329%$430 – $5,339
California CA55$1,014+121%$390 – $1,226
Washington WA14$746+62%$273 – $923
Ohio OH12$626+36%$389 – $666
Texas TX26$624+36%$619 – $727
New York NY26$4600%$400 – $488
West Virginia WV19$4590%$383 – $479
Michigan MI20$444−3%$310 – $444
Illinois IL23$409−11%$119 – $409
Iowa IA16$386−16%$386 – $386
Oregon OR21$358−22%$286 – $800
Pennsylvania PA19$357−22%$97 – $656
Louisiana LA11$315−32%$200 – $625
Oklahoma OK12$258−44%$258 – $258
Minnesota MN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $460.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care328$460$273 – $962
Children’s13fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access55$383$269 – $650
Ownership
For-profit31$538$193 – $807
Government41$439$279 – $493
Non-profit324$460$286 – $1,014
System affiliation
Part of a system335$460$286 – $981
Independent61$382$248 – $626

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$888
Median cash price$460
Cash as a share of list, median hospital58%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 42%. 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

255 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $590 and the average of the middle 60% is $603; most fall between $259 and $1,039.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 255 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
$216$292$590$1,014$1,226

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($216 vs $1,226).

Of the 274 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 255 gave a usable cash price; 8 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

396 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (10%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 425 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted396
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here13
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 — excluded15
Hospitals that filed this code425

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 Tracheoscopy and laryngoscopy with biopsy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Laryngoscopy W/WO Tracheoscopy Dx Newborn.

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, “Direct exam of the voice box in a newborn (CPT 31520) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31520-direct-exam-of-the-voice-box-in-a-newborn