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Procedure price report · Nonoperative removal of foreign body

Flexible scope exam of voice box to remove a foreign object

CPT 31577the billing code this page is about

A flexible scope is passed to the larynx to find and take out an object lodged there.

Hospitals typically charge $681 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 977 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $730. Most fall between $354 and $1,399 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
977
States
50
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 977 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
$246$421$681$1,163$2,122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($246 vs $2,122).

How the prices are spread

$179 – $238: 48 hospitals$179$238 – $315: 73 hospitals$315 – $417: 75 hospitals$315$417 – $553: 146 hospitals$553 – $733: 135 hospitals$553$733 – $972: 143 hospitals$972 – $1,288: 100 hospitals$972$1,288 – $1,708: 65 hospitals$1,708 – $2,263: 74 hospitals$1,708$2,263 – $3,000: 24 hospitals$2,263median $681price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (883 of 977 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$179$23848
$238$31573
$315$41775
$417$553146
$553$733135
$733$972143
$972$1,288100
$1,288$1,70865
$1,708$2,26374
$2,263$3,00024

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$400
Median cash price$681
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.70×

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 $681.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 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 $965 across 44 hospitalsWA$965Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $535 across 21 hospitalsMN$535Illinois: median $819 across 50 hospitalsIL$819Wisconsin: median $767 across 17 hospitalsWI$767Michigan: median $526 across 25 hospitalsMI$526New York: median $702 across 52 hospitalsNY$702Massachusetts: median $1,109 across 21 hospitalsMA$1,109Oregon: median $506 across 29 hospitalsOR$506Nevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $681 across 24 hospitalsIA$681Indiana: median $397 across 24 hospitalsIN$397Ohio: median $1,088 across 24 hospitalsOH$1,088Pennsylvania: median $603 across 41 hospitalsPA$603New Jersey: median $509 across 32 hospitalsNJ$509Connecticut: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,269 across 92 hospitalsCA$1,269Utah: median $881 across 19 hospitalsUT$881Colorado: median $1,011 across 14 hospitalsCO$1,011Nebraska: median $379 across 16 hospitalsNE$379Missouri: median $518 across 16 hospitalsMO$518Kentucky: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $385 across 15 hospitalsWV$385Virginia: median $615 across 28 hospitalsVA$615Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $594 across 12 hospitalsKS$594Arkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $675 across 19 hospitalsNC$675South Carolina: median $1,501 across 28 hospitalsSC$1,501Oklahoma: median $270 across 21 hospitalsOK$270Louisiana: median $416 across 18 hospitalsLA$416Mississippi: median $224 across 12 hospitalsMS$224Alabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $916 across 26 hospitalsGA$916Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $766 across 78 hospitalsTX$766Florida: median $758 across 50 hospitalsFL$758
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $681. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Carolina SC28$1,501+120%$658 – $2,122
California CA92$1,269+86%$576 – $2,128
Massachusetts MA21$1,109+63%$689 – $1,525
Ohio OH24$1,088+60%$472 – $1,161
Colorado CO14$1,011+48%$522 – $2,684
Washington WA44$965+42%$365 – $1,920
Georgia GA26$916+34%$446 – $2,007
Utah UT19$881+29%$94 – $1,003
Illinois IL50$819+20%$427 – $953
Wisconsin WI17$767+13%$704 – $2,264
Texas TX78$766+13%$296 – $932
Florida FL50$758+11%$620 – $1,451
New York NY52$702+3%$460 – $1,478
Iowa IA24$6810%$351 – $902
North Carolina NC19$675−1%$329 – $675
Virginia VA28$615−10%$524 – $643
Pennsylvania PA41$603−12%$101 – $2,816
Kansas KS12$594−13%$296 – $4,648
Minnesota MN21$535−21%$357 – $683
Michigan MI25$526−23%$338 – $538
Missouri MO16$518−24%$296 – $637
New Jersey NJ32$509−25%$424 – $5,339
Oregon OR29$506−26%$424 – $765
Louisiana LA18$416−39%$212 – $662
Indiana IN24$397−42%$294 – $811
West Virginia WV15$385−43%$137 – $613
Nebraska NE16$379−44%$224 – $609
Oklahoma OK21$270−60%$189 – $714
Mississippi MS12$224−67%$180 – $388
Connecticut CT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $681.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care809$709$378 – $1,468
Children’s22$619$377 – $1,899
Critical access145$578$295 – $927
Ownership
For-profit78$800$427 – $1,573
Government148$565$329 – $1,020
Non-profit750$702$354 – $1,451
System affiliation
Part of a system838$702$357 – $1,451
Independent139$582$319 – $1,167

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,217
Median cash price$681
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

745 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $736 and the average of the middle 60% is $778; most fall between $379 and $1,451.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 745 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
$264$430$736$1,258$2,122

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($264 vs $2,122).

Of the 807 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 745 gave a usable cash price; 16 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 46 a list price only.

How complete is this

977 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (25%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,065 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted977
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here38
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 — excluded50
Hospitals that filed this code1,065

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 Nonoperative removal of foreign body family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Laryngoscopy Flx Rmvl Foreign Body(S).

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, “Flexible scope exam of voice box to remove a foreign object (CPT 31577) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31577-flexible-scope-exam-of-voice-box-to-remove-a-foreign-object