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Procedure price report · Other non-OR therapeutic cardiovascular procedures

Removing a balloon heart pump placed through the skin

CPT 33968the billing code this page is about

Taking out an intra-aortic balloon pump that was inserted through a needle puncture in the groin, without an open surgical repair.

Hospitals typically charge $859 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,280 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,091. Most fall between $162 and $2,963 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,280
States
50
Filings dated
Jun 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 1,280 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
$88$206$859$2,393$4,715

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 54× what the cheapest tenth charges ($88 vs $4,715).

How the prices are spread

$62 – $101: 93 hospitals$62$101 – $165: 111 hospitals$165 – $271: 84 hospitals$165$271 – $443: 101 hospitals$443 – $726: 134 hospitals$443$726 – $1,190: 158 hospitals$1,190 – $1,949: 129 hospitals$1,190$1,949 – $3,193: 177 hospitals$3,193 – $5,230: 113 hospitals$3,193$5,230 – $8,567: 53 hospitals$5,230median $859price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,153 of 1,280 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$62$10193
$101$165111
$165$27184
$271$443101
$443$726134
$726$1,190158
$1,190$1,949129
$1,949$3,193177
$3,193$5,230113
$5,230$8,56753

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $859.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 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: median $606 across 34 hospitalsWA$606Idaho: median $163 across 12 hospitalsID$163Montana: 4 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 $482 across 26 hospitalsMN$482Illinois: median $670 across 68 hospitalsIL$670Wisconsin: median $469 across 46 hospitalsWI$469Michigan: median $139 across 54 hospitalsMI$139New York: median $149 across 33 hospitalsNY$149Massachusetts: median $341 across 13 hospitalsMA$341Oregon: median $306 across 29 hospitalsOR$306Nevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,024 across 20 hospitalsIA$1,024Indiana: median $942 across 41 hospitalsIN$942Ohio: median $902 across 92 hospitalsOH$902Pennsylvania: median $1,296 across 50 hospitalsPA$1,296New Jersey: median $3,273 across 25 hospitalsNJ$3,273Connecticut: median $606 across 12 hospitalsCT$606Rhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $785 across 87 hospitalsCA$785Utah: median $1,658 across 23 hospitalsUT$1,658Colorado: median $452 across 30 hospitalsCO$452Nebraska: median $287 across 16 hospitalsNE$287Missouri: median $969 across 36 hospitalsMO$969Kentucky: median $865 across 29 hospitalsKY$865West Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,278 across 32 hospitalsVA$1,278Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,342 across 22 hospitalsAZ$1,342New Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $150 across 10 hospitalsKS$150Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $785 across 23 hospitalsTN$785North Carolina: median $1,507 across 35 hospitalsNC$1,507South Carolina: median $901 across 20 hospitalsSC$901Oklahoma: median $1,078 across 27 hospitalsOK$1,078Louisiana: median $441 across 26 hospitalsLA$441Mississippi: median $822 across 16 hospitalsMS$822Alabama: median $1,679 across 12 hospitalsAL$1,679Georgia: median $559 across 47 hospitalsGA$559Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,167 across 100 hospitalsTX$1,167Florida: median $2,393 across 64 hospitalsFL$2,393
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $859. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ25$3,273+281%$615 – $5,339
Florida FL64$2,393+179%$1,243 – $11,772
Alabama AL12$1,679+95%$845 – $4,365
Utah UT23$1,658+93%$1,658 – $1,658
North Carolina NC35$1,507+75%$206 – $2,224
Arizona AZ22$1,342+56%$916 – $18,877
Pennsylvania PA50$1,296+51%$243 – $5,503
Virginia VA32$1,278+49%$327 – $2,188
Texas TX100$1,167+36%$202 – $2,542
Oklahoma OK27$1,078+25%$152 – $3,873
Iowa IA20$1,024+19%$84 – $2,360
Missouri MO36$969+13%$58 – $3,309
Indiana IN41$942+10%$206 – $1,915
Ohio OH92$902+5%$168 – $2,962
South Carolina SC20$901+5%$710 – $3,848
Kentucky KY29$865+1%$93 – $4,245
Mississippi MS16$822−4%$630 – $5,160
California CA87$785−9%$146 – $3,167
Tennessee TN23$785−9%$623 – $5,520
Illinois IL68$670−22%$169 – $2,963
Washington WA34$606−29%$418 – $2,312
Connecticut CT12$606−29%$370 – $2,355
Georgia GA47$559−35%$334 – $6,173
Minnesota MN26$482−44%$89 – $3,585
Wisconsin WI46$469−45%$189 – $2,076
Colorado CO30$452−47%$163 – $1,442
Louisiana LA26$441−49%$117 – $1,524
Massachusetts MA13$341−60%$62 – $1,500
Oregon OR29$306−64%$78 – $5,247
Nebraska NE16$287−67%$66 – $428
Idaho ID12$163−81%$99 – $1,658
Kansas KS10$150−83%$89 – $899
New York NY33$149−83%$83 – $1,483
Michigan MI54$139−84%$68 – $469
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $859.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,146$901$171 – $3,053
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access116$388$88 – $1,880
Ownership
For-profit106$846$151 – $4,137
Government140$1,045$162 – $2,234
Non-profit1,027$846$163 – $2,998
System affiliation
Part of a system1,133$876$169 – $2,963
Independent147$857$93 – $2,971

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,734
Median cash price$859
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

1,060 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $785 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,026; most fall between $160 and $2,676.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,060 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
$84$202$785$2,323$4,365

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 52× what the cheapest tenth charges ($84 vs $4,365).

Of the 1,149 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,060 gave a usable cash price; 39 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 50 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,280 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (32%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,455 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,280
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here86
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 — excluded89
Hospitals that filed this code1,455

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 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 cardiovascular procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Removal Intra-Aortic Balloon Assist Device Prq.

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, “Removing a balloon heart pump placed through the skin (CPT 33968) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-33968-removing-a-balloon-heart-pump-placed-through-the-skin