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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, biopsy

Esophagus exam with a rigid scope through the mouth

CPT 43191the billing code this page is about

A rigid scope is passed through the mouth to look at the esophagus, and cells may be collected by brushing or washing the lining.

Hospitals typically charge $1,568 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 542 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,590. Most fall between $297 and $3,322 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
542
States
49
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 542 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
$184$371$1,568$2,768$5,073

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 28× what the cheapest tenth charges ($184 vs $5,073).

How the prices are spread

$147 – $216: 42 hospitals$147$216 – $317: 51 hospitals$317 – $466: 57 hospitals$317$466 – $684: 23 hospitals$684 – $1,003: 21 hospitals$684$1,003 – $1,473: 51 hospitals$1,473 – $2,162: 51 hospitals$1,473$2,162 – $3,174: 109 hospitals$3,174 – $4,659: 54 hospitals$3,174$4,659 – $6,839: 35 hospitals$4,659median $1,568price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (494 of 542 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$147$21642
$216$31751
$317$46657
$466$68423
$684$1,00321
$1,003$1,47351
$1,473$2,16251
$2,162$3,174109
$3,174$4,65954
$4,659$6,83935

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,960
Median cash price$1,568
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.80×

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 $1,568.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 9 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $695 across 17 hospitalsMN$695Illinois: median $452 across 25 hospitalsIL$452Wisconsin: median $1,696 across 14 hospitalsWI$1,696Michigan: median $199 across 26 hospitalsMI$199New York: median $2,245 across 38 hospitalsNY$2,245Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 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: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $384 across 20 hospitalsIA$384Indiana: median $1,182 across 21 hospitalsIN$1,182Ohio: median $2,690 across 35 hospitalsOH$2,690Pennsylvania: median $2,768 across 20 hospitalsPA$2,768New Jersey: median $2,531 across 30 hospitalsNJ$2,531Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $2,660 across 51 hospitalsCA$2,660Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $3,391 across 12 hospitalsMO$3,391Kentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $2,353 across 10 hospitalsVA$2,353Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $538 across 11 hospitalsTN$538North Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $1,232 across 15 hospitalsSC$1,232Oklahoma: median $256 across 15 hospitalsOK$256Louisiana: median $970 across 14 hospitalsLA$970Mississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,766 across 19 hospitalsGA$1,766Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,493 across 10 hospitalsTX$2,493Florida: median $3,322 across 15 hospitalsFL$3,322
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,568. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Missouri MO12$3,391+116%$1,487 – $11,958
Florida FL15$3,322+112%$1,904 – $5,945
Pennsylvania PA20$2,768+77%$96 – $4,085
Ohio OH35$2,690+72%$647 – $6,705
California CA51$2,660+70%$1,272 – $2,704
New Jersey NJ30$2,531+61%$2,102 – $5,110
Texas TX10$2,493+59%$386 – $3,717
Virginia VA10$2,353+50%$2,353 – $6,613
New York NY38$2,245+43%$922 – $4,595
Georgia GA19$1,766+13%$1,359 – $1,766
Wisconsin WI14$1,696+8%$919 – $2,848
South Carolina SC15$1,232−21%$1,232 – $1,232
Indiana IN21$1,182−25%$184 – $1,681
Louisiana LA14$970−38%$585 – $2,346
Minnesota MN17$695−56%$387 – $1,100
Tennessee TN11$538−66%$117 – $2,399
Illinois IL25$452−71%$184 – $3,994
Iowa IA20$384−76%$340 – $409
Oklahoma OK15$256−84%$256 – $2,514
Michigan MI26$199−87%$147 – $331
Nebraska NE9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $1,568.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care456$1,766$315 – $3,541
Children’s10fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access75$695$267 – $2,848
Ownership
For-profit56$2,035$547 – $4,686
Government81$1,100$321 – $2,882
Non-profit404$1,487$285 – $3,570
System affiliation
Part of a system445$1,766$333 – $3,570
Independent97$477$267 – $2,768

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,941
Median cash price$1,568
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

315 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,114 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,267; most fall between $267 and $2,704.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 315 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
$184$313$1,114$2,660$3,880

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 21× what the cheapest tenth charges ($184 vs $3,880).

Of the 353 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 315 gave a usable cash price; 18 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 20 a list price only.

How complete is this

542 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (14%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 595 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted542
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here38
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded13
Hospitals that filed this code595

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 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, biopsy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Esophagoscopy Rigid Transoral Diagnostic Brush.

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, “Esophagus exam with a rigid scope through the mouth (CPT 43191) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43191-esophagus-exam-with-a-rigid-scope-through-the-mouth