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Procedure price report · Tracheoscopy and laryngoscopy with biopsy

Airway scope exam through an existing tracheostomy opening

CPT 31615the billing code this page is about

A scope is passed through a tracheostomy opening that was made earlier to look at the windpipe and the main breathing tubes.

Hospitals typically charge $910 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,299 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $983. Most fall between $336 and $1,850 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,299
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 1,299 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
$236$421$910$1,603$2,249

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($236 vs $2,249).

How the prices are spread

$176 – $234: 63 hospitals$176$234 – $310: 91 hospitals$310 – $412: 93 hospitals$310$412 – $547: 125 hospitals$547 – $726: 123 hospitals$547$726 – $964: 110 hospitals$964 – $1,280: 123 hospitals$964$1,280 – $1,700: 216 hospitals$1,700 – $2,257: 167 hospitals$1,700$2,257 – $2,997: 62 hospitals$2,257median $910price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,173 of 1,299 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$176$23463
$234$31091
$310$41293
$412$547125
$547$726123
$726$964110
$964$1,280123
$1,280$1,700216
$1,700$2,257167
$2,257$2,99762

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$551
Median cash price$910
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.65×

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 $910.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,141 across 34 hospitalsWA$1,141Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $839 across 34 hospitalsMN$839Illinois: median $737 across 53 hospitalsIL$737Wisconsin: median $538 across 39 hospitalsWI$538Michigan: median $742 across 51 hospitalsMI$742New York: median $640 across 55 hospitalsNY$640Massachusetts: median $1,313 across 25 hospitalsMA$1,313Oregon: median $329 across 26 hospitalsOR$329Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 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 $421 across 20 hospitalsIA$421Indiana: median $1,315 across 32 hospitalsIN$1,315Ohio: median $1,523 across 75 hospitalsOH$1,523Pennsylvania: median $769 across 67 hospitalsPA$769New Jersey: median $786 across 41 hospitalsNJ$786Connecticut: median $660 across 13 hospitalsCT$660Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,450 across 106 hospitalsCA$1,450Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,241 across 27 hospitalsCO$1,241Nebraska: median $281 across 20 hospitalsNE$281Missouri: median $1,050 across 27 hospitalsMO$1,050Kentucky: median $871 across 26 hospitalsKY$871West Virginia: median $615 across 13 hospitalsWV$615Virginia: median $628 across 45 hospitalsVA$628Maryland: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $3,711 across 13 hospitalsAZ$3,711New Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $389 across 11 hospitalsKS$389Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $270 across 30 hospitalsTN$270North Carolina: median $705 across 28 hospitalsNC$705South Carolina: median $1,264 across 31 hospitalsSC$1,264Oklahoma: median $204 across 18 hospitalsOK$204Louisiana: median $709 across 27 hospitalsLA$709Mississippi: median $352 across 20 hospitalsMS$352Alabama: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,380 across 53 hospitalsGA$1,380Hawaii: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,692 across 78 hospitalsTX$1,692Florida: median $1,439 across 53 hospitalsFL$1,439
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $910. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ13$3,711+308%$662 – $3,711
Texas TX78$1,692+86%$518 – $1,998
Ohio OH75$1,523+67%$936 – $2,597
California CA106$1,450+59%$574 – $2,168
Florida FL53$1,439+58%$845 – $1,922
Georgia GA53$1,380+52%$934 – $2,003
Indiana IN32$1,315+44%$255 – $2,098
Massachusetts MA25$1,313+44%$701 – $2,041
South Carolina SC31$1,264+39%$1,264 – $1,731
Colorado CO27$1,241+36%$740 – $1,322
Washington WA34$1,141+25%$383 – $1,788
Missouri MO27$1,050+15%$374 – $1,997
Kentucky KY26$871−4%$429 – $2,425
Minnesota MN34$839−8%$325 – $1,346
New Jersey NJ41$786−14%$564 – $5,110
Pennsylvania PA67$769−16%$415 – $1,532
Michigan MI51$742−19%$118 – $1,246
Illinois IL53$737−19%$381 – $2,090
Louisiana LA27$709−22%$430 – $998
North Carolina NC28$705−23%$459 – $1,459
Connecticut CT13$660−28%$289 – $959
New York NY55$640−30%$327 – $1,628
Virginia VA45$628−31%$270 – $1,485
West Virginia WV13$615−32%$337 – $795
Wisconsin WI39$538−41%$317 – $838
Iowa IA20$421−54%$325 – $421
Kansas KS11$389−57%$175 – $650
Mississippi MS20$352−61%$305 – $538
Oregon OR26$329−64%$311 – $1,295
Nebraska NE20$281−69%$217 – $419
Tennessee TN30$270−70%$244 – $702
Oklahoma OK18$204−78%$204 – $527
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $910.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,087$1,000$372 – $1,904
Children’s41$1,294$502 – $2,516
Critical access165$538$272 – $1,342
Ownership
For-profit100$1,380$373 – $2,088
Government184$717$343 – $1,585
Non-profit1,009$905$329 – $1,812
System affiliation
Part of a system1,120$984$352 – $1,874
Independent179$668$295 – $1,495

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,681
Median cash price$910
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

1,037 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,098 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,057; most fall between $376 and $1,881.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,037 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
$268$459$1,098$1,653$2,224

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($268 vs $2,224).

Of the 1,087 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,037 gave a usable cash price; 23 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 27 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,299 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (33%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,376 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,299
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here48
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 — excluded29
Hospitals that filed this code1,376

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 Tracheobronchoscopy Thru Est Tracheostomy Inc.

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, “Airway scope exam through an existing tracheostomy opening (CPT 31615) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31615-airway-scope-exam-through-an-existing-tracheostomy-opening