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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on respiratory system

Removal of a stuck object from the voice box

CPT 31530the billing code this page is about

A rigid scope is placed into the throat in the operating room to find and remove a foreign object lodged in the voice box area.

Hospitals typically charge $2,018 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,069 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,050. Most fall between $548 and $4,067 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,069
States
48
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 1,069 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
$328$663$2,018$3,654$5,338

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($328 vs $5,338).

How the prices are spread

$246 – $341: 63 hospitals$246$341 – $473: 74 hospitals$473 – $656: 76 hospitals$473$656 – $910: 49 hospitals$910 – $1,262: 81 hospitals$910$1,262 – $1,750: 74 hospitals$1,750 – $2,428: 167 hospitals$1,750$2,428 – $3,367: 121 hospitals$3,367 – $4,670: 145 hospitals$3,367$4,670 – $6,476: 115 hospitals$4,670median $2,018price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (965 of 1,069 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$246$34163
$341$47374
$473$65676
$656$91049
$910$1,26281
$1,262$1,75074
$1,750$2,428167
$2,428$3,367121
$3,367$4,670145
$4,670$6,476115

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,818
Median cash price$2,018
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.11×

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 $2,018.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,911 across 31 hospitalsWA$1,911Idaho: median $3,043 across 10 hospitalsID$3,043Montana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,287 across 19 hospitalsMN$1,287Illinois: median $1,310 across 26 hospitalsIL$1,310Wisconsin: median $969 across 41 hospitalsWI$969Michigan: median $410 across 45 hospitalsMI$410New York: median $2,142 across 58 hospitalsNY$2,142Massachusetts: median $2,400 across 30 hospitalsMA$2,400Oregon: median $477 across 34 hospitalsOR$477Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $652 across 29 hospitalsIA$652Indiana: median $719 across 30 hospitalsIN$719Ohio: median $2,018 across 33 hospitalsOH$2,018Pennsylvania: median $3,054 across 36 hospitalsPA$3,054New Jersey: median $2,301 across 35 hospitalsNJ$2,301Connecticut: median $1,828 across 12 hospitalsCT$1,828Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,497 across 97 hospitalsCA$3,497Utah: median $903 across 15 hospitalsUT$903Colorado: median $2,454 across 17 hospitalsCO$2,454Nebraska: median $698 across 18 hospitalsNE$698Missouri: median $682 across 20 hospitalsMO$682Kentucky: median $519 across 10 hospitalsKY$519West Virginia: median $1,540 across 17 hospitalsWV$1,540Virginia: median $2,111 across 25 hospitalsVA$2,111Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $599 across 18 hospitalsTN$599North Carolina: median $2,289 across 31 hospitalsNC$2,289South Carolina: median $2,633 across 30 hospitalsSC$2,633Oklahoma: median $328 across 26 hospitalsOK$328Louisiana: median $2,253 across 17 hospitalsLA$2,253Mississippi: median $2,646 across 11 hospitalsMS$2,646Alabama: median $1,295 across 10 hospitalsAL$1,295Georgia: median $3,081 across 24 hospitalsGA$3,081Hawaii: median $3,408 across 10 hospitalsHI$3,408Texas: median $2,175 across 83 hospitalsTX$2,175Florida: median $2,504 across 35 hospitalsFL$2,504
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,018. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA97$3,497+73%$1,769 – $5,561
Hawaii HI10$3,408+69%$2,408 – $4,118
Georgia GA24$3,081+53%$621 – $4,802
Pennsylvania PA36$3,054+51%$1,819 – $3,714
Idaho ID10$3,043+51%$903 – $4,755
Mississippi MS11$2,646+31%$1,255 – $3,895
South Carolina SC30$2,633+30%$1,166 – $4,981
Florida FL35$2,504+24%$2,064 – $6,445
Colorado CO17$2,454+22%$1,444 – $6,317
Massachusetts MA30$2,400+19%$1,105 – $4,259
New Jersey NJ35$2,301+14%$1,909 – $5,339
North Carolina NC31$2,289+13%$1,018 – $5,338
Louisiana LA17$2,253+12%$1,190 – $2,847
Texas TX83$2,175+8%$689 – $3,814
New York NY58$2,142+6%$1,037 – $4,620
Virginia VA25$2,111+5%$599 – $2,822
Ohio OH33$2,0180%$894 – $2,499
Washington WA31$1,911−5%$466 – $3,693
Connecticut CT12$1,828−9%$912 – $4,804
West Virginia WV17$1,540−24%$208 – $2,478
Illinois IL26$1,310−35%$371 – $4,388
Alabama AL10$1,295−36%$621 – $3,088
Minnesota MN19$1,287−36%$338 – $4,012
Wisconsin WI41$969−52%$932 – $2,270
Utah UT15$903−55%$831 – $1,003
Indiana IN30$719−64%$517 – $2,328
Nebraska NE18$698−65%$403 – $1,963
Missouri MO20$682−66%$315 – $1,779
Iowa IA29$652−68%$438 – $3,305
Tennessee TN18$599−70%$246 – $599
Kentucky KY10$519−74%$201 – $1,848
Oregon OR34$477−76%$362 – $1,433
Michigan MI45$410−80%$199 – $3,457
Oklahoma OK26$328−84%$328 – $2,424
Kansas KS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not 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 $2,018.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care837$2,175$692 – $4,460
Children’s17fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access213$825$372 – $2,732
Ownership
For-profit101$2,636$920 – $5,309
Government162$1,751$496 – $3,859
Non-profit804$2,018$533 – $3,953
System affiliation
Part of a system899$2,068$599 – $4,198
Independent170$1,556$384 – $3,200

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,731
Median cash price$2,018
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

788 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,175 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,269; most fall between $599 and $4,337.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 788 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
$343$831$2,175$3,814$5,338

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($343 vs $5,338).

Of the 852 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 788 gave a usable cash price; 33 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 31 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,069 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (27%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,162 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,069
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here54
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded39
Hospitals that filed this code1,162

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 respiratory system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Laryngoscopy W/Foreign Body Removal.

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, “Removal of a stuck object from the voice box (CPT 31530) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31530-removal-of-a-stuck-object-from-the-voice-box