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Procedure price report · Other OR therapeutic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx

Draining an abscess beside the tonsil

CPT 42700the billing code this page is about

Cutting into and draining a pocket of pus in the tissue next to a tonsil.

Hospitals typically charge $452 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,142 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $480. Most fall between $257 and $867 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,142
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 2,142 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
$199$280$452$747$1,454

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($199 vs $1,454).

How the prices are spread

$142 – $183: 75 hospitals$142$183 – $238: 187 hospitals$238 – $308: 277 hospitals$238$308 – $400: 311 hospitals$400 – $518: 253 hospitals$400$518 – $671: 295 hospitals$671 – $870: 214 hospitals$671$870 – $1,128: 130 hospitals$1,128 – $1,463: 87 hospitals$1,128$1,463 – $1,896: 99 hospitals$1,463median $452price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,928 of 2,142 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$142$18375
$183$238187
$238$308277
$308$400311
$400$518253
$518$671295
$671$870214
$870$1,128130
$1,128$1,46387
$1,463$1,89699

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$242
Median cash price$452
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.87×

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 $452.

Alaska: median $481 across 14 hospitalsAK$481Maine: median $327 across 19 hospitalsME$327Vermont: median $400 across 12 hospitalsVT$400New Hampshire: median $297 across 17 hospitalsNH$297Washington: median $544 across 65 hospitalsWA$544Idaho: median $442 across 19 hospitalsID$442Montana: median $309 across 19 hospitalsMT$309North Dakota: median $357 across 14 hospitalsND$357Minnesota: median $414 across 68 hospitalsMN$414Illinois: median $451 across 93 hospitalsIL$451Wisconsin: median $482 across 81 hospitalsWI$482Michigan: median $321 across 70 hospitalsMI$321New York: median $442 across 91 hospitalsNY$442Massachusetts: median $684 across 46 hospitalsMA$684Oregon: median $522 across 42 hospitalsOR$522Nevada: median $628 across 15 hospitalsNV$628Wyoming: median $514 across 11 hospitalsWY$514South Dakota: median $521 across 18 hospitalsSD$521Iowa: median $347 across 44 hospitalsIA$347Indiana: median $436 across 48 hospitalsIN$436Ohio: median $560 across 94 hospitalsOH$560Pennsylvania: median $527 across 99 hospitalsPA$527New Jersey: median $701 across 53 hospitalsNJ$701Connecticut: median $539 across 17 hospitalsCT$539Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $784 across 132 hospitalsCA$784Utah: median $416 across 26 hospitalsUT$416Colorado: median $474 across 41 hospitalsCO$474Nebraska: median $329 across 37 hospitalsNE$329Missouri: median $363 across 40 hospitalsMO$363Kentucky: median $301 across 29 hospitalsKY$301West Virginia: median $326 across 30 hospitalsWV$326Virginia: median $461 across 49 hospitalsVA$461Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,393 across 23 hospitalsAZ$1,393New Mexico: median $397 across 22 hospitalsNM$397Kansas: median $314 across 29 hospitalsKS$314Arkansas: median $309 across 19 hospitalsAR$309Tennessee: median $228 across 39 hospitalsTN$228North Carolina: median $325 across 49 hospitalsNC$325South Carolina: median $586 across 44 hospitalsSC$586Oklahoma: median $301 across 47 hospitalsOK$301Louisiana: median $278 across 40 hospitalsLA$278Mississippi: median $231 across 37 hospitalsMS$231Alabama: median $350 across 21 hospitalsAL$350Georgia: median $530 across 70 hospitalsGA$530Hawaii: median $911 across 15 hospitalsHI$911Texas: median $545 across 140 hospitalsTX$545Florida: median $612 across 79 hospitalsFL$612
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $452. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ23$1,393+208%$570 – $4,351
Hawaii HI15$911+102%$437 – $1,086
California CA132$784+73%$362 – $1,710
New Jersey NJ53$701+55%$257 – $3,986
Massachusetts MA46$684+51%$383 – $1,637
Nevada NV15$628+39%$257 – $710
Florida FL79$612+35%$507 – $1,383
South Carolina SC44$586+30%$365 – $914
Ohio OH94$560+24%$342 – $766
Texas TX140$545+21%$271 – $1,454
Washington WA65$544+20%$293 – $687
Connecticut CT17$539+19%$338 – $735
Georgia GA70$530+17%$248 – $1,291
Pennsylvania PA99$527+17%$242 – $1,326
Oregon OR42$522+15%$351 – $616
South Dakota SD18$521+15%$404 – $648
Wyoming WY11$514+14%$272 – $580
Wisconsin WI81$482+7%$270 – $583
Alaska AK14$481+6%$338 – $1,603
Colorado CO41$474+5%$321 – $792
Virginia VA49$461+2%$228 – $1,133
Illinois IL93$4510%$244 – $777
New York NY91$442−2%$237 – $743
Idaho ID19$442−2%$242 – $649
Indiana IN48$436−4%$295 – $747
Utah UT26$416−8%$363 – $442
Minnesota MN68$414−8%$293 – $594
Vermont VT12$400−12%$230 – $458
New Mexico NM22$397−12%$351 – $1,820
Missouri MO40$363−20%$261 – $795
North Dakota ND14$357−21%$238 – $590
Alabama AL21$350−23%$196 – $618
Iowa IA44$347−23%$249 – $544
Nebraska NE37$329−27%$239 – $463
Maine ME19$327−28%$181 – $514
West Virginia WV30$326−28%$257 – $631
North Carolina NC49$325−28%$189 – $441
Michigan MI70$321−29%$233 – $580
Kansas KS29$314−31%$223 – $574
Arkansas AR19$309−32%$157 – $599
Montana MT19$309−32%$162 – $446
Kentucky KY29$301−33%$207 – $787
Oklahoma OK47$301−33%$236 – $507
New Hampshire NH17$297−34%$151 – $518
Louisiana LA40$278−38%$138 – $516
Mississippi MS37$231−49%$128 – $360
Tennessee TN39$228−50%$182 – $362
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not 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 $452.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,586$489$260 – $952
Children’s49$946$344 – $1,291
Critical access501$389$239 – $581
Ownership
For-profit218$632$274 – $1,746
Government376$375$233 – $612
Non-profit1,542$460$257 – $859
System affiliation
Part of a system1,725$482$263 – $920
Independent417$388$227 – $643

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$764
Median cash price$452
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

1,609 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $478 and the average of the middle 60% is $503; most fall between $265 and $889.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,609 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
$202$299$478$774$1,454

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($202 vs $1,454).

Of the 1,728 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,609 gave a usable cash price; 40 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 79 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,142 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (54%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,300 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,142
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here63
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded92
Hospitals that filed this code2,300

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 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 OR therapeutic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Inc/Drain Peritonsil Abscess.

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, “Draining an abscess beside the tonsil (CPT 42700) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-42700-draining-an-abscess-beside-the-tonsil