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Procedure price report · Tracheoscopy and laryngoscopy with biopsy

Voice box scope with tissue sample, using microscope

CPT 31536the billing code this page is about

A rigid scope is placed into the throat and a tissue sample is taken from the voice box, with an operating microscope or telescope used for magnified viewing.

Hospitals typically charge $3,441 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 712 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,204. Most fall between $521 and $7,008 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
712
States
49
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 712 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
$382$693$3,441$5,774$12,796

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 33× what the cheapest tenth charges ($382 vs $12,796).

How the prices are spread

$313 – $470: 81 hospitals$313$470 – $705: 64 hospitals$705 – $1,058: 69 hospitals$705$1,058 – $1,587: 17 hospitals$1,587 – $2,382: 22 hospitals$1,587$2,382 – $3,574: 75 hospitals$3,574 – $5,363: 156 hospitals$3,574$5,363 – $8,048: 68 hospitals$8,048 – $12,076: 48 hospitals$8,048$12,076 – $18,122: 60 hospitals$12,076median $3,441price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (660 of 712 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$313$47081
$470$70564
$705$1,05869
$1,058$1,58717
$1,587$2,38222
$2,382$3,57475
$3,574$5,363156
$5,363$8,04868
$8,048$12,07648
$12,076$18,12260

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,809
Median cash price$3,441
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.90×

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 $3,441.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $3,134 across 11 hospitalsWA$3,134Idaho: median $9,904 across 11 hospitalsID$9,904Montana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $2,458 across 23 hospitalsMN$2,458Illinois: median $955 across 32 hospitalsIL$955Wisconsin: median $1,726 across 34 hospitalsWI$1,726Michigan: median $783 across 38 hospitalsMI$783New York: median $4,363 across 60 hospitalsNY$4,363Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $476 across 14 hospitalsOR$476Nevada: 5 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 $521 across 27 hospitalsIA$521Indiana: median $3,480 across 31 hospitalsIN$3,480Ohio: median $7,756 across 32 hospitalsOH$7,756Pennsylvania: median $5,725 across 18 hospitalsPA$5,725New Jersey: median $4,641 across 33 hospitalsNJ$4,641Connecticut: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $5,138 across 54 hospitalsCA$5,138Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $4,125 across 19 hospitalsMO$4,125Kentucky: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $1,206 across 10 hospitalsWV$1,206Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $3,701 across 11 hospitalsTN$3,701North Carolina: median $3,983 across 11 hospitalsNC$3,983South Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $442 across 16 hospitalsOK$442Louisiana: median $2,646 across 17 hospitalsLA$2,646Mississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $3,800 across 11 hospitalsAL$3,800Georgia: median $3,358 across 19 hospitalsGA$3,358Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,237 across 44 hospitalsTX$3,237Florida: median $5,511 across 14 hospitalsFL$5,511
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,441. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Idaho ID11$9,904+188%$3,610 – $9,904
Ohio OH32$7,756+125%$763 – $13,443
Pennsylvania PA18$5,725+66%$2,022 – $7,940
Florida FL14$5,511+60%$923 – $9,992
California CA54$5,138+49%$2,937 – $18,122
New Jersey NJ33$4,641+35%$4,081 – $5,419
New York NY60$4,363+27%$605 – $4,595
Missouri MO19$4,125+20%$337 – $10,088
North Carolina NC11$3,983+16%$693 – $5,591
Alabama AL11$3,800+10%$878 – $8,984
Tennessee TN11$3,701+8%$264 – $4,158
Indiana IN31$3,480+1%$449 – $5,453
Georgia GA19$3,358−2%$477 – $5,774
Texas TX44$3,237−6%$3,020 – $5,819
Washington WA11$3,134−9%$353 – $9,318
Louisiana LA17$2,646−23%$1,463 – $6,305
Minnesota MN23$2,458−29%$508 – $3,551
Wisconsin WI34$1,726−50%$976 – $4,786
West Virginia WV10$1,206−65%$587 – $4,423
Illinois IL32$955−72%$401 – $6,774
Michigan MI38$783−77%$761 – $5,127
Iowa IA27$521−85%$521 – $5,532
Oregon OR14$476−86%$382 – $619
Oklahoma OK16$442−87%$442 – $5,641
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $3,441.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care584$4,081$625 – $8,144
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access115$976$416 – $4,153
Ownership
For-profit92$4,981$2,486 – $9,748
Government104$1,605$416 – $5,453
Non-profit514$3,237$521 – $7,364
System affiliation
Part of a system568$3,800$604 – $7,756
Independent144$1,323$416 – $5,857

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$4,800
Median cash price$3,441
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

354 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $850 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,826; most fall between $401 and $5,138.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 354 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
$273$440$850$4,249$7,756

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 28× what the cheapest tenth charges ($273 vs $7,756).

Of the 389 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 354 gave a usable cash price; 17 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

712 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (18%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 800 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted712
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 — excluded6
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded24
Hospitals that filed this code800

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 Tracheoscopy and laryngoscopy with biopsy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Laryngoscopy W/Biopsy Microscope/Telescope.

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, “Voice box scope with tissue sample, using microscope (CPT 31536) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31536-voice-box-scope-with-tissue-sample-using-microscope