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Procedure price report · Other non-OR therapeutic procedures on respiratory system

Suctioning of the airway through the nose

CPT 31720the billing code this page is about

A catheter is passed through the nose into the windpipe to suction out mucus and secretions; billed when done as a stand-alone service.

Hospitals typically charge $211 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,891 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $219. Most fall between $102 and $388 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,891
States
50
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 1,891 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
$69$119$211$350$518

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($69 vs $518).

How the prices are spread

$50 – $64: 69 hospitals$50$64 – $84: 104 hospitals$84 – $109: 148 hospitals$84$109 – $142: 194 hospitals$142 – $184: 240 hospitals$142$184 – $239: 218 hospitals$239 – $311: 273 hospitals$239$311 – $405: 225 hospitals$405 – $526: 144 hospitals$405$526 – $685: 88 hospitals$526median $211price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,703 of 1,891 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$50$6469
$64$84104
$84$109148
$109$142194
$142$184240
$184$239218
$239$311273
$311$405225
$405$526144
$526$68588

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$224
Median cash price$211
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.94×

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 $211.

Alaska: median $243 across 12 hospitalsAK$243Maine: median $150 across 16 hospitalsME$150Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $127 across 14 hospitalsNH$127Washington: median $287 across 51 hospitalsWA$287Idaho: median $329 across 17 hospitalsID$329Montana: median $264 across 11 hospitalsMT$264North Dakota: median $256 across 10 hospitalsND$256Minnesota: median $280 across 49 hospitalsMN$280Illinois: median $182 across 64 hospitalsIL$182Wisconsin: median $138 across 77 hospitalsWI$138Michigan: median $228 across 69 hospitalsMI$228New York: median $260 across 63 hospitalsNY$260Massachusetts: median $500 across 27 hospitalsMA$500Oregon: median $275 across 40 hospitalsOR$275Nevada: median $200 across 11 hospitalsNV$200Wyoming: median $187 across 11 hospitalsWY$187South Dakota: median $381 across 11 hospitalsSD$381Iowa: median $150 across 41 hospitalsIA$150Indiana: median $164 across 34 hospitalsIN$164Ohio: median $240 across 77 hospitalsOH$240Pennsylvania: median $295 across 66 hospitalsPA$295New Jersey: median $283 across 45 hospitalsNJ$283Connecticut: median $214 across 18 hospitalsCT$214Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $382 across 139 hospitalsCA$382Utah: median $97 across 15 hospitalsUT$97Colorado: median $193 across 29 hospitalsCO$193Nebraska: median $163 across 37 hospitalsNE$163Missouri: median $196 across 41 hospitalsMO$196Kentucky: median $145 across 29 hospitalsKY$145West Virginia: median $262 across 16 hospitalsWV$262Virginia: median $208 across 30 hospitalsVA$208Maryland: median $56 across 29 hospitalsMD$56Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $463 across 21 hospitalsAZ$463New Mexico: median $158 across 20 hospitalsNM$158Kansas: median $332 across 52 hospitalsKS$332Arkansas: median $144 across 22 hospitalsAR$144Tennessee: median $118 across 35 hospitalsTN$118North Carolina: median $110 across 74 hospitalsNC$110South Carolina: median $217 across 40 hospitalsSC$217Oklahoma: median $141 across 49 hospitalsOK$141Louisiana: median $116 across 43 hospitalsLA$116Mississippi: median $127 across 41 hospitalsMS$127Alabama: median $167 across 25 hospitalsAL$167Georgia: median $173 across 53 hospitalsGA$173Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $203 across 129 hospitalsTX$203Florida: median $172 across 59 hospitalsFL$172
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $211. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA27$500+137%$242 – $1,437
Arizona AZ21$463+120%$269 – $469
California CA139$382+81%$177 – $419
South Dakota SD11$381+81%$214 – $463
Kansas KS52$332+58%$126 – $757
Idaho ID17$329+56%$157 – $563
Pennsylvania PA66$295+40%$175 – $489
Washington WA51$287+36%$128 – $428
New Jersey NJ45$283+34%$225 – $4,500
Minnesota MN49$280+33%$145 – $340
Oregon OR40$275+31%$122 – $509
Montana MT11$264+25%$218 – $309
West Virginia WV16$262+24%$145 – $587
New York NY63$260+23%$150 – $411
North Dakota ND10$256+21%$85 – $338
Alaska AK12$243+15%$226 – $374
Ohio OH77$240+14%$158 – $608
Michigan MI69$228+8%$114 – $350
South Carolina SC40$217+3%$85 – $481
Connecticut CT18$214+1%$129 – $346
Virginia VA30$208−1%$148 – $264
Texas TX129$203−3%$110 – $278
Nevada NV11$200−5%$111 – $238
Missouri MO41$196−7%$122 – $244
Colorado CO29$193−9%$103 – $331
Wyoming WY11$187−11%$144 – $234
Illinois IL64$182−14%$88 – $398
Georgia GA53$173−18%$103 – $363
Florida FL59$172−18%$45 – $439
Alabama AL25$167−21%$76 – $344
Indiana IN34$164−22%$84 – $296
Nebraska NE37$163−22%$90 – $293
New Mexico NM20$158−25%$100 – $267
Iowa IA41$150−29%$86 – $228
Maine ME16$150−29%$103 – $439
Kentucky KY29$145−31%$59 – $262
Arkansas AR22$144−32%$116 – $309
Oklahoma OK49$141−33%$92 – $320
Wisconsin WI77$138−35%$75 – $272
Mississippi MS41$127−40%$60 – $197
New Hampshire NH14$127−40%$67 – $226
Tennessee TN35$118−44%$49 – $238
Louisiana LA43$116−45%$63 – $244
North Carolina NC74$110−48%$68 – $171
Utah UT15$97−54%$97 – $181
Maryland MD29$56−73%$48 – $76
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $211.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,398$213$103 – $403
Children’s35$234$84 – $314
Critical access453$205$94 – $370
Ownership
For-profit214$203$88 – $374
Government328$192$90 – $350
Non-profit1,344$217$110 – $399
System affiliation
Part of a system1,540$208$99 – $383
Independent351$216$108 – $429

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$344
Median cash price$211
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

1,455 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $211 and the average of the middle 60% is $225; most fall between $109 and $399.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,455 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
$70$127$211$355$523

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($70 vs $523).

Of the 1,562 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,455 gave a usable cash price; 53 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 53 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,891 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (48%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,020 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,891
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here71
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded56
Hospitals that filed this code2,020

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 non-OR therapeutic procedures on respiratory system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Catheter Aspiration Nasotracheal Spx.

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, “Suctioning of the airway through the nose (CPT 31720) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-31720-suctioning-of-the-airway-through-the-nose