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Procedure price report · Incision of pleura, thoracentesis, chest drainage

Needle drainage of fluid around the lung, no imaging

CPT 32554the billing code this page is about

A needle or catheter is passed through the chest wall to draw off fluid from the space around the lung, done without ultrasound or other imaging guidance.

Hospitals typically charge $834 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,631 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $879. Most fall between $389 and $1,588 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,631
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 2,631 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
$231$466$834$1,355$2,358

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($231 vs $2,358).

How the prices are spread

$161 – $216: 105 hospitals$161$216 – $290: 116 hospitals$290 – $390: 175 hospitals$290$390 – $524: 226 hospitals$524 – $704: 334 hospitals$524$704 – $947: 385 hospitals$947 – $1,272: 384 hospitals$947$1,272 – $1,710: 316 hospitals$1,710 – $2,299: 183 hospitals$1,710$2,299 – $3,090: 145 hospitals$2,299median $834price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,369 of 2,631 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$161$216105
$216$290116
$290$390175
$390$524226
$524$704334
$704$947385
$947$1,272384
$1,272$1,710316
$1,710$2,299183
$2,299$3,090145

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$641
Median cash price$834
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.30×

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 $834.

Alaska: median $1,408 across 17 hospitalsAK$1,408Maine: median $618 across 21 hospitalsME$618Vermont: median $447 across 11 hospitalsVT$447New Hampshire: median $355 across 17 hospitalsNH$355Washington: median $964 across 72 hospitalsWA$964Idaho: median $1,014 across 20 hospitalsID$1,014Montana: median $306 across 26 hospitalsMT$306North Dakota: median $676 across 18 hospitalsND$676Minnesota: median $715 across 83 hospitalsMN$715Illinois: median $910 across 112 hospitalsIL$910Wisconsin: median $619 across 98 hospitalsWI$619Michigan: median $863 across 76 hospitalsMI$863New York: median $763 across 91 hospitalsNY$763Massachusetts: median $1,190 across 44 hospitalsMA$1,190Oregon: median $664 across 52 hospitalsOR$664Nevada: median $1,245 across 19 hospitalsNV$1,245Wyoming: median $389 across 14 hospitalsWY$389South Dakota: median $702 across 25 hospitalsSD$702Iowa: median $613 across 69 hospitalsIA$613Indiana: median $569 across 66 hospitalsIN$569Ohio: median $1,289 across 124 hospitalsOH$1,289Pennsylvania: median $961 across 114 hospitalsPA$961New Jersey: median $825 across 51 hospitalsNJ$825Connecticut: median $773 across 19 hospitalsCT$773Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,648 across 176 hospitalsCA$1,648Utah: median $1,014 across 31 hospitalsUT$1,014Colorado: median $941 across 55 hospitalsCO$941Nebraska: median $552 across 58 hospitalsNE$552Missouri: median $774 across 66 hospitalsMO$774Kentucky: median $752 across 46 hospitalsKY$752West Virginia: median $835 across 35 hospitalsWV$835Virginia: median $968 across 58 hospitalsVA$968Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,490 across 35 hospitalsAZ$1,490New Mexico: median $927 across 24 hospitalsNM$927Kansas: median $475 across 70 hospitalsKS$475Arkansas: median $486 across 33 hospitalsAR$486Tennessee: median $471 across 44 hospitalsTN$471North Carolina: median $436 across 59 hospitalsNC$436South Carolina: median $857 across 42 hospitalsSC$857Oklahoma: median $575 across 58 hospitalsOK$575Louisiana: median $646 across 43 hospitalsLA$646Mississippi: median $476 across 45 hospitalsMS$476Alabama: median $1,010 across 28 hospitalsAL$1,010Georgia: median $789 across 74 hospitalsGA$789Hawaii: median $1,319 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,319Texas: median $1,188 across 164 hospitalsTX$1,188Florida: median $1,078 across 95 hospitalsFL$1,078
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $834. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA176$1,648+98%$718 – $2,875
Arizona AZ35$1,490+79%$536 – $5,489
Alaska AK17$1,408+69%$804 – $1,942
Hawaii HI17$1,319+58%$911 – $2,028
Ohio OH124$1,289+55%$748 – $2,236
Nevada NV19$1,245+49%$682 – $1,919
Massachusetts MA44$1,190+43%$564 – $2,193
Texas TX164$1,188+42%$627 – $1,694
Florida FL95$1,078+29%$642 – $2,160
Idaho ID20$1,014+22%$202 – $1,672
Utah UT31$1,014+22%$921 – $1,127
Alabama AL28$1,010+21%$451 – $2,283
Virginia VA58$968+16%$564 – $1,298
Washington WA72$964+16%$359 – $1,344
Pennsylvania PA114$961+15%$467 – $1,944
Colorado CO55$941+13%$333 – $1,138
New Mexico NM24$927+11%$577 – $1,717
Illinois IL112$910+9%$479 – $1,903
Michigan MI76$863+3%$172 – $1,244
South Carolina SC42$857+3%$770 – $1,236
West Virginia WV35$8350%$609 – $1,334
New Jersey NJ51$825−1%$684 – $4,411
Georgia GA74$789−5%$435 – $2,423
Missouri MO66$774−7%$397 – $1,607
Connecticut CT19$773−7%$460 – $1,373
New York NY91$763−8%$272 – $1,624
Kentucky KY46$752−10%$463 – $1,295
Minnesota MN83$715−14%$353 – $1,134
South Dakota SD25$702−16%$493 – $910
North Dakota ND18$676−19%$274 – $1,282
Oregon OR52$664−20%$328 – $1,244
Louisiana LA43$646−22%$432 – $1,104
Wisconsin WI98$619−26%$349 – $1,087
Maine ME21$618−26%$332 – $912
Iowa IA69$613−27%$250 – $1,077
Oklahoma OK58$575−31%$328 – $933
Indiana IN66$569−32%$429 – $1,112
Nebraska NE58$552−34%$275 – $928
Arkansas AR33$486−42%$330 – $833
Mississippi MS45$476−43%$180 – $653
Kansas KS70$475−43%$226 – $868
Tennessee TN44$471−44%$326 – $764
Vermont VT11$447−46%$267 – $1,279
North Carolina NC59$436−48%$266 – $1,000
Wyoming WY14$389−53%$115 – $1,420
New Hampshire NH17$355−57%$107 – $928
Montana MT26$306−63%$136 – $706
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not 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 $834.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,856$933$473 – $1,807
Children’s53$1,470$732 – $2,759
Critical access715$581$248 – $1,087
Ownership
For-profit254$1,030$550 – $2,328
Government502$643$268 – $1,279
Non-profit1,868$864$429 – $1,573
System affiliation
Part of a system2,117$889$431 – $1,659
Independent514$688$246 – $1,283

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,511
Median cash price$834
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

1,978 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $920 and the average of the middle 60% is $955; most fall between $441 and $1,648.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,978 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
$266$525$920$1,421$2,339

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($266 vs $2,339).

Of the 2,121 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,978 gave a usable cash price; 48 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 94 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,631 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (67%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,823 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,631
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here83
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded105
Hospitals that filed this code2,823

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 July 20, 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 Incision of pleura, thoracentesis, chest drainage family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Thoracentesis Needle/Cath Pleura W/O Imaging.

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, “Needle drainage of fluid around the lung, no imaging (CPT 32554) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-32554-needle-drainage-of-fluid-around-the-lung-no-imaging