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Procedure price report · Tracheostomy, temporary and permanent

Emergency airway opening through the cricothyroid membrane

CPT 31605the billing code this page is about

An urgent incision through the membrane below the Adam's apple to open the airway and allow breathing.

Hospitals typically charge $827 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,659 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $894. Most fall between $393 and $1,682 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,659
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 1,659 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$458$827$1,495$2,248

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($273 vs $2,248).

How the prices are spread

$227 – $297: 134 hospitals$227$297 – $389: 114 hospitals$389 – $510: 137 hospitals$389$510 – $668: 192 hospitals$668 – $875: 224 hospitals$668$875 – $1,147: 198 hospitals$1,147 – $1,503: 182 hospitals$1,147$1,503 – $1,970: 175 hospitals$1,970 – $2,581: 92 hospitals$1,970$2,581 – $3,382: 58 hospitals$2,581median $827price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,506 of 1,659 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$227$297134
$297$389114
$389$510137
$510$668192
$668$875224
$875$1,147198
$1,147$1,503182
$1,503$1,970175
$1,970$2,58192
$2,581$3,38258

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$242
Median cash price$827
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.4×

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 $827.

Alaska: median $1,660 across 12 hospitalsAK$1,660Maine: median $312 across 14 hospitalsME$312Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $231 across 10 hospitalsNH$231Washington: median $1,009 across 52 hospitalsWA$1,009Idaho: median $649 across 12 hospitalsID$649Montana: median $429 across 10 hospitalsMT$429North Dakota: median $698 across 12 hospitalsND$698Minnesota: median $681 across 40 hospitalsMN$681Illinois: median $1,173 across 79 hospitalsIL$1,173Wisconsin: median $909 across 60 hospitalsWI$909Michigan: median $708 across 54 hospitalsMI$708New York: median $613 across 75 hospitalsNY$613Massachusetts: median $1,354 across 31 hospitalsMA$1,354Oregon: median $612 across 38 hospitalsOR$612Nevada: median $992 across 11 hospitalsNV$992Wyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $833 across 35 hospitalsIA$833Indiana: median $809 across 37 hospitalsIN$809Ohio: median $592 across 76 hospitalsOH$592Pennsylvania: median $588 across 70 hospitalsPA$588New Jersey: median $2,315 across 37 hospitalsNJ$2,315Connecticut: median $969 across 15 hospitalsCT$969Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,498 across 123 hospitalsCA$1,498Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,030 across 37 hospitalsCO$1,030Nebraska: median $745 across 22 hospitalsNE$745Missouri: median $497 across 39 hospitalsMO$497Kentucky: median $1,009 across 36 hospitalsKY$1,009West Virginia: median $380 across 22 hospitalsWV$380Virginia: median $1,056 across 46 hospitalsVA$1,056Maryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $7,726 across 17 hospitalsAZ$7,726New Mexico: median $586 across 13 hospitalsNM$586Kansas: median $518 across 27 hospitalsKS$518Arkansas: median $421 across 13 hospitalsAR$421Tennessee: median $235 across 24 hospitalsTN$235North Carolina: median $688 across 42 hospitalsNC$688South Carolina: median $1,321 across 41 hospitalsSC$1,321Oklahoma: median $683 across 43 hospitalsOK$683Louisiana: median $741 across 27 hospitalsLA$741Mississippi: median $401 across 29 hospitalsMS$401Alabama: median $764 across 17 hospitalsAL$764Georgia: median $786 across 63 hospitalsGA$786Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,591 across 88 hospitalsTX$1,591Florida: median $868 across 63 hospitalsFL$868
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $827. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ17$7,726+834%$545 – $7,726
New Jersey NJ37$2,315+180%$273 – $5,110
Alaska AK12$1,660+101%$1,003 – $3,508
Texas TX88$1,591+92%$540 – $2,117
California CA123$1,498+81%$410 – $3,382
Massachusetts MA31$1,354+64%$700 – $1,856
South Carolina SC41$1,321+60%$917 – $2,195
Illinois IL79$1,173+42%$479 – $1,807
Virginia VA46$1,056+28%$231 – $1,483
Colorado CO37$1,030+25%$481 – $2,261
Washington WA52$1,009+22%$632 – $1,788
Kentucky KY36$1,009+22%$752 – $1,258
Nevada NV11$992+20%$335 – $1,365
Connecticut CT15$969+17%$503 – $1,730
Wisconsin WI60$909+10%$441 – $1,382
Florida FL63$868+5%$624 – $1,057
Iowa IA35$833+1%$439 – $1,192
Indiana IN37$809−2%$439 – $1,176
Georgia GA63$786−5%$454 – $1,970
Alabama AL17$764−8%$258 – $1,058
Nebraska NE22$745−10%$605 – $1,033
Louisiana LA27$741−10%$453 – $1,085
Michigan MI54$708−14%$514 – $1,533
North Dakota ND12$698−16%$314 – $1,701
North Carolina NC42$688−17%$541 – $1,347
Oklahoma OK43$683−17%$511 – $882
Minnesota MN40$681−18%$557 – $802
Idaho ID12$649−22%$649 – $1,094
New York NY75$613−26%$275 – $1,628
Oregon OR38$612−26%$566 – $931
Ohio OH76$592−28%$272 – $1,312
Pennsylvania PA70$588−29%$242 – $1,285
New Mexico NM13$586−29%$376 – $1,652
Kansas KS27$518−37%$279 – $992
Missouri MO39$497−40%$300 – $1,010
Montana MT10$429−48%$261 – $629
Arkansas AR13$421−49%$214 – $638
Mississippi MS29$401−52%$227 – $703
West Virginia WV22$380−54%$332 – $673
Maine ME14$312−62%$233 – $1,849
Tennessee TN24$235−72%$182 – $528
New Hampshire NH10$231−72%$134 – $602
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not 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 $827.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,258$882$397 – $1,787
Children’s19fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access377$662$385 – $1,215
Ownership
For-profit149$986$428 – $2,117
Government301$756$383 – $1,347
Non-profit1,204$839$392 – $1,701
System affiliation
Part of a system1,343$863$409 – $1,701
Independent316$716$349 – $1,610

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,472
Median cash price$827
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

1,296 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $878 and the average of the middle 60% is $959; most fall between $430 and $1,788.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,296 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
$279$514$878$1,570$2,450

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($279 vs $2,450).

Of the 1,379 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,296 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 50 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,659 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (42%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,775 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,659
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here59
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 — excluded56
Hospitals that filed this code1,775

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 Tracheostomy, temporary and permanent family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Tracheostomy Emergency Cricothyroid Membrane.

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, “Emergency airway opening through the cricothyroid membrane (CPT 31605) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31605-emergency-airway-opening-through-the-cricothyroid-membrane