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Procedure price report · Nonoperative removal of foreign body

Removal of a swallowed or stuck object from the throat

CPT 42809the billing code this page is about

Taking a foreign object out of the throat without open surgery.

Hospitals typically charge $384 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,845 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $396. Most fall between $198 and $662 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,845
States
49
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 1,845 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
$134$234$384$597$914

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($134 vs $914).

How the prices are spread

$94 – $121: 56 hospitals$94$121 – $157: 124 hospitals$157 – $204: 108 hospitals$157$204 – $264: 183 hospitals$264 – $342: 236 hospitals$264$342 – $444: 297 hospitals$444 – $575: 252 hospitals$444$575 – $745: 197 hospitals$745 – $966: 138 hospitals$745$966 – $1,252: 70 hospitals$966median $384price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,661 of 1,845 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$94$12156
$121$157124
$157$204108
$204$264183
$264$342236
$342$444297
$444$575252
$575$745197
$745$966138
$966$1,25270

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$456
Median cash price$384
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.84×

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 $384.

Alaska: median $608 across 13 hospitalsAK$608Maine: median $309 across 17 hospitalsME$309Vermont: median $286 across 10 hospitalsVT$286New Hampshire: median $227 across 16 hospitalsNH$227Washington: median $391 across 67 hospitalsWA$391Idaho: median $490 across 15 hospitalsID$490Montana: median $297 across 17 hospitalsMT$297North Dakota: median $373 across 18 hospitalsND$373Minnesota: median $309 across 64 hospitalsMN$309Illinois: median $348 across 74 hospitalsIL$348Wisconsin: median $461 across 72 hospitalsWI$461Michigan: median $370 across 55 hospitalsMI$370New York: median $498 across 81 hospitalsNY$498Massachusetts: median $347 across 39 hospitalsMA$347Oregon: median $374 across 42 hospitalsOR$374Nevada: median $388 across 11 hospitalsNV$388Wyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $513 across 12 hospitalsSD$513Iowa: median $274 across 41 hospitalsIA$274Indiana: median $318 across 36 hospitalsIN$318Ohio: median $479 across 66 hospitalsOH$479Pennsylvania: median $362 across 76 hospitalsPA$362New Jersey: median $854 across 53 hospitalsNJ$854Connecticut: median $498 across 16 hospitalsCT$498Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $532 across 122 hospitalsCA$532Utah: median $401 across 25 hospitalsUT$401Colorado: median $456 across 36 hospitalsCO$456Nebraska: median $398 across 34 hospitalsNE$398Missouri: median $297 across 35 hospitalsMO$297Kentucky: median $212 across 22 hospitalsKY$212West Virginia: median $242 across 24 hospitalsWV$242Virginia: median $477 across 42 hospitalsVA$477Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: median $281 across 19 hospitalsNM$281Kansas: median $256 across 29 hospitalsKS$256Arkansas: median $298 across 15 hospitalsAR$298Tennessee: median $193 across 16 hospitalsTN$193North Carolina: median $326 across 47 hospitalsNC$326South Carolina: median $269 across 41 hospitalsSC$269Oklahoma: median $291 across 43 hospitalsOK$291Louisiana: median $254 across 32 hospitalsLA$254Mississippi: median $119 across 35 hospitalsMS$119Alabama: median $254 across 19 hospitalsAL$254Georgia: median $281 across 46 hospitalsGA$281Hawaii: median $526 across 14 hospitalsHI$526Texas: median $407 across 137 hospitalsTX$407Florida: median $662 across 75 hospitalsFL$662
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $384. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ53$854+123%$442 – $3,986
Florida FL75$662+73%$196 – $1,177
Alaska AK13$608+59%$231 – $975
California CA122$532+39%$400 – $764
Hawaii HI14$526+37%$242 – $1,188
South Dakota SD12$513+34%$187 – $891
Connecticut CT16$498+30%$360 – $725
New York NY81$498+30%$313 – $864
Idaho ID15$490+28%$85 – $1,025
Ohio OH66$479+25%$236 – $816
Virginia VA42$477+24%$382 – $693
Wisconsin WI72$461+20%$140 – $644
Colorado CO36$456+19%$280 – $689
Texas TX137$407+6%$258 – $502
Utah UT25$401+5%$329 – $438
Nebraska NE34$398+4%$233 – $565
Washington WA67$391+2%$244 – $676
Nevada NV11$388+1%$201 – $549
Oregon OR42$374−2%$293 – $669
North Dakota ND18$373−3%$279 – $661
Michigan MI55$370−4%$164 – $614
Pennsylvania PA76$362−6%$135 – $557
Illinois IL74$348−9%$192 – $514
Massachusetts MA39$347−10%$183 – $1,239
North Carolina NC47$326−15%$135 – $603
Indiana IN36$318−17%$198 – $571
Minnesota MN64$309−19%$213 – $429
Maine ME17$309−20%$144 – $452
Arkansas AR15$298−22%$83 – $501
Missouri MO35$297−23%$118 – $767
Montana MT17$297−23%$152 – $536
Oklahoma OK43$291−24%$127 – $563
Vermont VT10$286−25%$215 – $580
New Mexico NM19$281−27%$112 – $674
Georgia GA46$281−27%$200 – $412
Iowa IA41$274−29%$175 – $469
South Carolina SC41$269−30%$225 – $302
Kansas KS29$256−33%$120 – $373
Louisiana LA32$254−34%$100 – $412
Alabama AL19$254−34%$144 – $564
West Virginia WV24$242−37%$132 – $592
New Hampshire NH16$227−41%$117 – $432
Kentucky KY22$212−45%$191 – $438
Tennessee TN16$193−50%$98 – $313
Mississippi MS35$119−69%$89 – $244
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not 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 $384.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,355$407$208 – $689
Children’s34$349$234 – $918
Critical access455$338$175 – $604
Ownership
For-profit170$423$207 – $747
Government334$329$165 – $572
Non-profit1,340$400$210 – $672
System affiliation
Part of a system1,476$401$209 – $669
Independent369$339$180 – $632

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$632
Median cash price$384
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

1,409 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $382 and the average of the middle 60% is $398; most fall between $207 and $669.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,409 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
$136$236$382$598$918

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($136 vs $918).

Of the 1,511 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,409 gave a usable cash price; 37 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 65 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,845 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (47%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,981 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,845
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here62
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded73
Hospitals that filed this code1,981

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 Nonoperative removal of foreign body family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Removal Foreign Body Pharynx.

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 a swallowed or stuck object from the throat (CPT 42809) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-42809-removal-of-a-swallowed-or-stuck-object-from-the-throat