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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic procedures on lung and bronchus

Open chest surgery with biopsy of the chest lining

CPT 32098the billing code this page is about

Surgical opening of the chest to take a tissue sample from the pleura, the membrane lining the lung and chest wall.

Hospitals typically charge $1,454 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 220 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,839. Most fall between $966 and $3,498 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
220
States
39
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 23, 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 220 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
$676$1,000$1,454$3,357$3,954

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($676 vs $3,954).

How the prices are spread

$379 – $491: 3 hospitals$379$491 – $637: 6 hospitals$637 – $827: 14 hospitals$637$827 – $1,073: 23 hospitals$1,073 – $1,393: 39 hospitals$1,073$1,393 – $1,807: 27 hospitals$1,807 – $2,345: 21 hospitals$1,807$2,345 – $3,043: 16 hospitals$3,043 – $3,949: 20 hospitals$3,043$3,949 – $5,125: 30 hospitals$3,949median $1,454price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (199 of 220 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$379$4913
$491$6376
$637$82714
$827$1,07323
$1,073$1,39339
$1,393$1,80727
$1,807$2,34521
$2,345$3,04316
$3,043$3,94920
$3,949$5,12530

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $1,454.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,372 across 11 hospitalsIL$1,372Wisconsin: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $1,454 across 24 hospitalsMI$1,454New York: median $1,239 across 10 hospitalsNY$1,239Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $1,385 across 11 hospitalsOR$1,385Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $1,852 across 15 hospitalsIA$1,852Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $2,800 across 11 hospitalsOH$2,800Pennsylvania: median $393 across 15 hospitalsPA$393New Jersey: median $5,110 across 13 hospitalsNJ$5,110Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $3,954 across 24 hospitalsCA$3,954Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 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: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSCOklahoma: median $1,235 across 10 hospitalsOK$1,235Louisiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,454. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ13$5,110+251%$3,986 – $5,855
California CA24$3,954+172%$2,022 – $3,954
Ohio OH11$2,800+93%$1,164 – $3,357
Iowa IA15$1,852+27%$1,852 – $1,852
Michigan MI24$1,4540%$1,083 – $1,482
Oregon OR11$1,385−5%$1,370 – $1,385
Illinois IL11$1,372−6%$1,000 – $1,409
New York NY10$1,239−15%$681 – $2,225
Oklahoma OK10$1,235−15%$1,235 – $1,235
Pennsylvania PA15$393−73%$333 – $3,556
Wisconsin WI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN1not 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 $1,454.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care190$1,464$927 – $3,954
Children’s4fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access25$1,385$1,000 – $2,649
Ownership
For-profit15fewer than 20 hospitals
Government22$1,464$832 – $2,521
Non-profit182$1,482$1,000 – $3,861
System affiliation
Part of a system177$1,454$1,000 – $3,861
Independent43$1,495$898 – $2,649

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,295
Median cash price$1,454
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

146 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,370 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,625; most fall between $874 and $2,967.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 146 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
$506$1,000$1,370$2,656$3,954

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($506 vs $3,954).

Of the 165 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 146 gave a usable cash price; 15 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 4 a list price only.

How complete is this

220 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (6%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 255 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted220
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here21
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 — excluded13
Hospitals that filed this code255

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 23, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other diagnostic procedures on lung and bronchus family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Thoracotomy W/Biopsy of Pleura.

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, “Open chest surgery with biopsy of the chest lining (CPT 32098) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-32098-open-chest-surgery-with-biopsy-of-the-chest-lining