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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic procedures, hemic and lymphatic system

Removal of lymph nodes under the jaw and upper neck

CPT 38700the billing code this page is about

Open operation to remove the group of lymph nodes lying just above the hyoid bone in the upper neck.

Hospitals typically charge $3,320 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 320 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $4,092. Most fall between $1,397 and $8,302 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
320
States
42
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 320 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
$1,171$1,676$3,320$7,680$9,579

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,171 vs $9,579).

How the prices are spread

$874 – $1,177: 23 hospitals$874$1,177 – $1,584: 34 hospitals$1,584 – $2,132: 52 hospitals$1,584$2,132 – $2,870: 16 hospitals$2,870 – $3,864: 33 hospitals$2,870$3,864 – $5,201: 19 hospitals$5,201 – $7,002: 27 hospitals$5,201$7,002 – $9,425: 49 hospitals$9,425 – $12,688: 29 hospitals$9,425$12,688 – $17,079: 9 hospitals$12,688median $3,320price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (291 of 320 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$874$1,17723
$1,177$1,58434
$1,584$2,13252
$2,132$2,87016
$2,870$3,86433
$3,864$5,20119
$5,201$7,00227
$7,002$9,42549
$9,425$12,68829
$12,688$17,0799

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$6,784
Median cash price$3,320
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.49×

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 $3,320.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,359 across 11 hospitalsIL$1,359Wisconsin: median $3,320 across 21 hospitalsWI$3,320Michigan: median $1,724 across 27 hospitalsMI$1,724New York: median $7,717 across 25 hospitalsNY$7,717Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 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 $1,995 across 17 hospitalsIA$1,995Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $3,331 across 14 hospitalsOH$3,331Pennsylvania: median $10,127 across 11 hospitalsPA$10,127New Jersey: median $7,127 across 30 hospitalsNJ$7,127Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $9,475 across 29 hospitalsCA$9,475Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $1,333 across 12 hospitalsOK$1,333Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $6,244 across 19 hospitalsTX$6,244Florida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,320. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Pennsylvania PA11$10,127+205%$4,490 – $12,453
California CA29$9,475+185%$3,952 – $9,475
New York NY25$7,717+132%$1,596 – $7,717
New Jersey NJ30$7,127+115%$4,881 – $7,680
Texas TX19$6,244+88%$6,244 – $6,244
Ohio OH14$3,3310%$1,694 – $6,945
Wisconsin WI21$3,3200%$3,320 – $7,040
Iowa IA17$1,995−40%$1,995 – $1,995
Michigan MI27$1,724−48%$1,203 – $3,320
Illinois IL11$1,359−59%$1,171 – $1,995
Oklahoma OK12$1,333−60%$1,333 – $1,333
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not 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
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA1not 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 $3,320.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care268$3,952$1,398 – $8,967
Children’s8fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access43$3,320$1,476 – $7,040
Ownership
For-profit35$4,120$1,171 – $9,579
Government46$2,116$1,398 – $7,717
Non-profit238$3,331$1,596 – $8,591
System affiliation
Part of a system264$3,825$1,596 – $8,702
Independent56$2,096$1,343 – $6,546

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,345
Median cash price$3,320
Cash as a share of list, median hospital61%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 39%. 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

184 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,116 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,836; most fall between $1,203 and $6,959.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 184 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
$941$1,333$2,116$6,244$9,475

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($941 vs $9,475).

Of the 200 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 184 gave a usable cash price; 12 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

320 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 359 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted320
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here33
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 — excluded5
Hospitals that filed this code359

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 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 therapeutic procedures, hemic and lymphatic system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Suprahyoid Lymphadenectomy.

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, “Removal of lymph nodes under the jaw and upper neck (CPT 38700) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-38700-removal-of-lymph-nodes-under-the-jaw-and-upper-neck