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

Dye injection during surgery to find the sentinel lymph node

CPT 38900the billing code this page is about

Injection of a visible dye during an operation to identify the first draining lymph node; billed in addition to the main surgery done at the same time.

Hospitals typically charge $628 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 861 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,261. Most fall between $260 and $4,822 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
861
States
49
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 861 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
$186$285$628$3,680$19,619

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 105× what the cheapest tenth charges ($186 vs $19,619).

How the prices are spread

$146 – $246: 111 hospitals$146$246 – $414: 177 hospitals$414 – $695: 125 hospitals$414$695 – $1,168: 59 hospitals$1,168 – $1,964: 68 hospitals$1,168$1,964 – $3,300: 41 hospitals$3,300 – $5,546: 75 hospitals$3,300$5,546 – $9,322: 22 hospitals$9,322 – $15,666: 31 hospitals$9,322$15,666 – $26,330: 66 hospitals$15,666median $628price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (775 of 861 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$146$246111
$246$414177
$414$695125
$695$1,16859
$1,168$1,96468
$1,964$3,30041
$3,300$5,54675
$5,546$9,32222
$9,322$15,66631
$15,666$26,33066

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $628.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: median $285 across 10 hospitalsVT$285New Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $484 across 21 hospitalsWA$484Idaho: median $1,329 across 11 hospitalsID$1,329Montana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $422 across 50 hospitalsMN$422Illinois: median $504 across 36 hospitalsIL$504Wisconsin: median $779 across 46 hospitalsWI$779Michigan: median $266 across 38 hospitalsMI$266New York: median $420 across 43 hospitalsNY$420Massachusetts: median $774 across 13 hospitalsMA$774Oregon: median $321 across 25 hospitalsOR$321Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $338 across 38 hospitalsIA$338Indiana: median $994 across 25 hospitalsIN$994Ohio: median $1,595 across 42 hospitalsOH$1,595Pennsylvania: median $499 across 31 hospitalsPA$499New Jersey: median $5,339 across 22 hospitalsNJ$5,339Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $2,918 across 60 hospitalsCA$2,918Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $361 across 11 hospitalsCO$361Nebraska: median $352 across 12 hospitalsNE$352Missouri: median $311 across 26 hospitalsMO$311Kentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $1,008 across 18 hospitalsWV$1,008Virginia: median $11,164 across 23 hospitalsVA$11,164Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $406 across 18 hospitalsKS$406Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $1,170 across 14 hospitalsTN$1,170North Carolina: median $490 across 11 hospitalsNC$490South Carolina: median $334 across 10 hospitalsSC$334Oklahoma: median $675 across 15 hospitalsOK$675Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $6,075 across 13 hospitalsAL$6,075Georgia: median $2,250 across 14 hospitalsGA$2,250Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $468 across 47 hospitalsTX$468Florida: median $5,283 across 18 hospitalsFL$5,283
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $628. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Virginia VA23$11,164+1678%$628 – $22,020
Alabama AL13$6,075+867%$390 – $21,467
New Jersey NJ22$5,339+750%$3,786 – $8,830
Florida FL18$5,283+741%$265 – $19,012
California CA60$2,918+365%$439 – $3,598
Georgia GA14$2,250+258%$311 – $4,815
Ohio OH42$1,595+154%$301 – $30,540
Idaho ID11$1,329+112%$974 – $3,046
Tennessee TN14$1,170+86%$146 – $9,935
West Virginia WV18$1,008+61%$187 – $3,300
Indiana IN25$994+58%$158 – $16,598
Wisconsin WI46$779+24%$332 – $1,336
Massachusetts MA13$774+23%$263 – $24,987
Oklahoma OK15$675+8%$594 – $1,272
Illinois IL36$504−20%$213 – $4,822
Pennsylvania PA31$499−21%$92 – $3,475
North Carolina NC11$490−22%$221 – $4,525
Washington WA21$484−23%$251 – $2,709
Texas TX47$468−25%$459 – $1,354
Minnesota MN50$422−33%$289 – $952
New York NY43$420−33%$225 – $4,595
Kansas KS18$406−35%$209 – $1,855
Colorado CO11$361−43%$274 – $418
Nebraska NE12$352−44%$209 – $3,316
Iowa IA38$338−46%$305 – $579
South Carolina SC10$334−47%$157 – $22,329
Oregon OR25$321−49%$250 – $694
Missouri MO26$311−50%$172 – $18,206
Vermont VT10$285−55%$191 – $538
Michigan MI38$266−58%$236 – $9,445
Arizona AZ8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $628.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care658$808$265 – $9,994
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access194$387$234 – $1,055
Ownership
For-profit85$1,792$418 – $16,582
Government136$384$237 – $1,903
Non-profit638$632$261 – $4,815
System affiliation
Part of a system672$725$265 – $7,652
Independent189$404$237 – $1,765

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$812
Median cash price$628
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

455 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $418 and the average of the middle 60% is $536; most fall between $210 and $1,336.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 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
$146$238$418$988$2,918

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($146 vs $2,918).

Of the 514 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 455 gave a usable cash price; 23 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 36 a list price only.

How complete is this

861 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (22%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 986 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted861
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here55
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded8
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded60
Hospitals that filed this code986

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 therapeutic procedures, hemic and lymphatic system family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Intraop Sentinel Lymph Node ID W/Dye Injection.

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, “Dye injection during surgery to find the sentinel lymph node (CPT 38900) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-38900-dye-injection-during-surgery-to-find-the-sentinel-lymph-node