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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, biopsy

Esophagus scope exam with injection of varices

CPT 43204the billing code this page is about

A flexible scope is passed through the mouth and medication is injected into enlarged esophageal veins to seal them off.

Hospitals typically charge $1,240 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 450 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,418. Most fall between $349 and $2,758 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
450
States
48
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 450 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
$244$546$1,240$2,581$4,239

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($244 vs $4,239).

How the prices are spread

$187 – $261: 30 hospitals$187$261 – $365: 40 hospitals$365 – $510: 20 hospitals$365$510 – $714: 28 hospitals$714 – $997: 67 hospitals$714$997 – $1,394: 22 hospitals$1,394 – $1,949: 32 hospitals$1,394$1,949 – $2,724: 98 hospitals$2,724 – $3,808: 26 hospitals$2,724$3,808 – $5,323: 46 hospitals$3,808median $1,240price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (409 of 450 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$187$26130
$261$36540
$365$51020
$510$71428
$714$99767
$997$1,39422
$1,394$1,94932
$1,949$2,72498
$2,724$3,80826
$3,808$5,32346

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,960
Median cash price$1,240
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.63×

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 $1,240.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,958 across 12 hospitalsWA$1,958Idaho: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,398 across 22 hospitalsIL$1,398Wisconsin: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $742 across 23 hospitalsMI$742New York: median $2,245 across 25 hospitalsNY$2,245Massachusetts: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 5 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 $342 across 18 hospitalsIA$342Indiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $1,968 across 40 hospitalsOH$1,968Pennsylvania: median $1,286 across 26 hospitalsPA$1,286New Jersey: median $3,986 across 26 hospitalsNJ$3,986Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,704 across 48 hospitalsCA$2,704Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $187 across 12 hospitalsOK$187Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $809 across 15 hospitalsGA$809Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $915 across 18 hospitalsTX$915Florida: median $2,281 across 15 hospitalsFL$2,281
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,240. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ26$3,986+221%$2,102 – $5,419
California CA48$2,704+118%$2,455 – $4,239
Florida FL15$2,281+84%$2,113 – $2,281
New York NY25$2,245+81%$475 – $2,245
Ohio OH40$1,968+59%$704 – $2,677
Washington WA12$1,958+58%$280 – $3,253
Illinois IL22$1,398+13%$349 – $1,724
Pennsylvania PA26$1,286+4%$86 – $3,574
Texas TX18$915−26%$915 – $1,918
Georgia GA15$809−35%$809 – $809
Michigan MI23$742−40%$742 – $1,902
Iowa IA18$342−72%$294 – $342
Oklahoma OK12$187−85%$187 – $187
Indiana IN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $1,240.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care374$1,693$397 – $2,768
Children’s10fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access64$840$313 – $2,772
Ownership
For-profit42$910$431 – $2,455
Government72$1,480$583 – $2,281
Non-profit334$1,286$342 – $3,199
System affiliation
Part of a system382$1,627$349 – $2,809
Independent68$929$390 – $2,412

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,463
Median cash price$1,240
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

306 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,143 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,480; most fall between $349 and $3,253.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 306 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
$244$427$1,143$2,704$4,239

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($244 vs $4,239).

Of the 331 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 306 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 13 a list price only.

How complete is this

450 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (11%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 484 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted450
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here20
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 — excluded13
Hospitals that filed this code484

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 Flex Transoral Injection Varices.

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 scope exam with injection of varices (CPT 43204) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43204-esophagus-scope-exam-with-injection-of-varices