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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on respiratory system

Repeat bronchoscopy to suction out the airways

CPT 31646the billing code this page is about

A follow-up airway exam with a scope to again suction secretions from the windpipe and lung airways, billed for each later session after the first clearing.

Hospitals typically charge $774 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 845 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $874. Most fall between $400 and $1,946 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
845
States
49
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 845 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
$311$450$774$1,471$2,512

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($311 vs $2,512).

How the prices are spread

$231 – $298: 35 hospitals$231$298 – $386: 76 hospitals$386 – $499: 114 hospitals$386$499 – $646: 85 hospitals$646 – $835: 85 hospitals$646$835 – $1,080: 84 hospitals$1,080 – $1,397: 96 hospitals$1,080$1,397 – $1,808: 49 hospitals$1,808 – $2,338: 88 hospitals$1,808$2,338 – $3,024: 49 hospitals$2,338median $774price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (761 of 845 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$231$29835
$298$38676
$386$499114
$499$64685
$646$83585
$835$1,08084
$1,080$1,39796
$1,397$1,80849
$1,808$2,33888
$2,338$3,02449

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$400
Median cash price$774
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.94×

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 $774.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,695 across 17 hospitalsWA$1,695Idaho: median $1,087 across 10 hospitalsID$1,087Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $530 across 12 hospitalsMN$530Illinois: median $623 across 31 hospitalsIL$623Wisconsin: median $682 across 40 hospitalsWI$682Michigan: median $538 across 30 hospitalsMI$538New York: median $464 across 39 hospitalsNY$464Massachusetts: median $1,893 across 23 hospitalsMA$1,893Oregon: median $255 across 12 hospitalsOR$255Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $518 across 21 hospitalsIA$518Indiana: median $497 across 22 hospitalsIN$497Ohio: median $751 across 57 hospitalsOH$751Pennsylvania: median $656 across 41 hospitalsPA$656New Jersey: median $1,402 across 31 hospitalsNJ$1,402Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,127 across 89 hospitalsCA$2,127Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $700 across 24 hospitalsCO$700Nebraska: median $386 across 12 hospitalsNE$386Missouri: median $411 across 16 hospitalsMO$411Kentucky: median $366 across 13 hospitalsKY$366West Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,678 across 17 hospitalsVA$1,678Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $1,344 across 26 hospitalsSC$1,344Oklahoma: median $349 across 18 hospitalsOK$349Louisiana: median $501 across 11 hospitalsLA$501Mississippi: median $852 across 11 hospitalsMS$852Alabama: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $868 across 42 hospitalsGA$868Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $859 across 25 hospitalsTX$859Florida: median $1,451 across 42 hospitalsFL$1,451
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $774. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA89$2,127+175%$711 – $2,302
Massachusetts MA23$1,893+144%$945 – $2,497
Washington WA17$1,695+119%$1,060 – $2,236
Virginia VA17$1,678+117%$785 – $2,512
Florida FL42$1,451+87%$653 – $2,595
New Jersey NJ31$1,402+81%$430 – $5,339
South Carolina SC26$1,344+74%$860 – $1,946
Idaho ID10$1,087+40%$481 – $1,334
Georgia GA42$868+12%$799 – $1,576
Texas TX25$859+11%$528 – $2,179
Mississippi MS11$852+10%$302 – $1,149
Ohio OH57$751−3%$437 – $1,161
Colorado CO24$700−10%$653 – $1,125
Wisconsin WI40$682−12%$516 – $1,270
Pennsylvania PA41$656−15%$106 – $1,326
Illinois IL31$623−20%$366 – $1,953
Michigan MI30$538−31%$278 – $565
Minnesota MN12$530−32%$243 – $1,434
Iowa IA21$518−33%$518 – $728
Louisiana LA11$501−35%$329 – $662
Indiana IN22$497−36%$366 – $760
New York NY39$464−40%$400 – $1,216
Missouri MO16$411−47%$315 – $1,207
Nebraska NE12$386−50%$386 – $854
Kentucky KY13$366−53%$280 – $462
Oklahoma OK18$349−55%$349 – $981
Oregon OR12$255−67%$255 – $1,040
Alabama AL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not 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 $774.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care720$815$400 – $2,013
Children’s17fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access103$682$375 – $1,270
Ownership
For-profit70$668$366 – $1,707
Government110$653$304 – $1,309
Non-profit660$848$420 – $2,127
System affiliation
Part of a system713$859$430 – $2,013
Independent132$506$278 – $1,334

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,700
Median cash price$774
Cash as a share of list, median hospital57%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 43%. 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

635 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $871 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,008; most fall between $405 and $2,127.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 635 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
$314$464$871$1,678$2,489

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($314 vs $2,489).

Of the 677 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 635 gave a usable cash price; 24 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

845 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (21%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 906 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted845
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here45
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 — excluded15
Hospitals that filed this code906

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 Bronchoscopy W/Ther Aspir Trachbrncl Tree Sbsq.

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, “Repeat bronchoscopy to suction out the airways (CPT 31646) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31646-repeat-bronchoscopy-to-suction-out-the-airways