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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on respiratory system

Removal of a voice box growth through a scope

CPT 31540the billing code this page is about

A rigid scope is placed into the throat in the operating room to cut out or laser away a growth or lesion of the voice box, including the vocal cords.

Hospitals typically charge $2,567 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 504 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,761. Most fall between $459 and $6,305 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
504
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 504 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
$385$563$2,567$5,237$9,800

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 25× what the cheapest tenth charges ($385 vs $9,800).

How the prices are spread

$278 – $403: 43 hospitals$278$403 – $586: 62 hospitals$586 – $850: 44 hospitals$586$850 – $1,234: 28 hospitals$1,234 – $1,791: 19 hospitals$1,234$1,791 – $2,600: 33 hospitals$2,600 – $3,774: 31 hospitals$2,600$3,774 – $5,479: 97 hospitals$5,479 – $7,953: 53 hospitals$5,479$7,953 – $11,545: 44 hospitals$7,953median $2,567price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (454 of 504 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$278$40343
$403$58662
$586$85044
$850$1,23428
$1,234$1,79119
$1,791$2,60033
$2,600$3,77431
$3,774$5,47997
$5,479$7,95353
$7,953$11,54544

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,809
Median cash price$2,567
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.67×

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 $2,567.

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: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: median $9,904 across 10 hospitalsID$9,904Montana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $2,080 across 19 hospitalsMN$2,080Illinois: median $461 across 17 hospitalsIL$461Wisconsin: median $1,917 across 31 hospitalsWI$1,917Michigan: median $1,177 across 22 hospitalsMI$1,177New York: median $2,021 across 34 hospitalsNY$2,021Massachusetts: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $453 across 12 hospitalsOR$453Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 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 $598 across 20 hospitalsIA$598Indiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $7,290 across 26 hospitalsOH$7,290Pennsylvania: median $475 across 19 hospitalsPA$475New Jersey: median $4,627 across 30 hospitalsNJ$4,627Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $5,138 across 47 hospitalsCA$5,138Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $505 across 12 hospitalsMO$505Kentucky: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 4 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: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $6,116 across 17 hospitalsSC$6,116Oklahoma: median $396 across 14 hospitalsOK$396Louisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $7,565 across 10 hospitalsGA$7,565Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,177 across 24 hospitalsTX$3,177Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,567. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Idaho ID10$9,904+286%$3,608 – $9,904
Georgia GA10$7,565+195%$4,561 – $7,565
Ohio OH26$7,290+184%$601 – $7,290
South Carolina SC17$6,116+138%$4,981 – $6,116
California CA47$5,138+100%$1,592 – $9,800
New Jersey NJ30$4,627+80%$4,081 – $5,339
Texas TX24$3,177+24%$1,800 – $3,618
Minnesota MN19$2,080−19%$537 – $2,334
New York NY34$2,021−21%$579 – $4,363
Wisconsin WI31$1,917−25%$1,177 – $3,863
Michigan MI22$1,177−54%$367 – $5,127
Iowa IA20$598−77%$598 – $1,257
Missouri MO12$505−80%$386 – $15,102
Pennsylvania PA19$475−81%$111 – $6,233
Illinois IL17$461−82%$426 – $5,968
Oregon OR12$453−82%$439 – $453
Oklahoma OK14$396−85%$396 – $2,377
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not 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 $2,567.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care408$3,564$483 – $7,068
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access83$1,079$453 – $3,177
Ownership
For-profit54$4,981$656 – $10,105
Government77$1,257$428 – $4,467
Non-profit372$2,519$461 – $6,116
System affiliation
Part of a system406$3,177$459 – $7,290
Independent98$896$456 – $4,631

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,364
Median cash price$2,567
Cash as a share of list, median hospital61%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 39%. 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

307 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,177 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,062; most fall between $396 and $6,116.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 307 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
$302$459$1,177$5,138$8,460

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 28× what the cheapest tenth charges ($302 vs $8,460).

Of the 326 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 307 gave a usable cash price; 12 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 7 a list price only.

How complete is this

504 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (13%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 551 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted504
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here34
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded11
Hospitals that filed this code551

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 Exc Tum&/Stripping Cords/Epiglott.

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 voice box growth through a scope (CPT 31540) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31540-removal-of-a-voice-box-growth-through-a-scope