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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, biopsy

Esophagus scope exam with banding of varices

CPT 43205the billing code this page is about

A flexible scope is passed through the mouth and rubber bands are placed on enlarged veins in the esophagus to close them.

Hospitals typically charge $1,771 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 585 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,739. Most fall between $482 and $3,386 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
585
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 585 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
$278$704$1,771$2,867$4,900

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($278 vs $4,900).

How the prices are spread

$195 – $273: 32 hospitals$195$273 – $383: 40 hospitals$383 – $535: 28 hospitals$383$535 – $749: 35 hospitals$749 – $1,049: 66 hospitals$749$1,049 – $1,467: 31 hospitals$1,467 – $2,054: 70 hospitals$1,467$2,054 – $2,874: 113 hospitals$2,874 – $4,022: 58 hospitals$2,874$4,022 – $5,629: 61 hospitals$4,022median $1,771price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (534 of 585 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$195$27332
$273$38340
$383$53528
$535$74935
$749$1,04966
$1,049$1,46731
$1,467$2,05470
$2,054$2,874113
$2,874$4,02258
$4,022$5,62961

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,960
Median cash price$1,771
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.90×

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 $1,771.

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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,958 across 14 hospitalsWA$1,958Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,398 across 21 hospitalsIL$1,398Wisconsin: median $1,559 across 28 hospitalsWI$1,559Michigan: median $715 across 30 hospitalsMI$715New York: median $1,960 across 28 hospitalsNY$1,960Massachusetts: median $5,323 across 15 hospitalsMA$5,323Oregon: median $389 across 13 hospitalsOR$389Nevada: 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 $357 across 20 hospitalsIA$357Indiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $2,772 across 45 hospitalsOH$2,772Pennsylvania: median $2,086 across 31 hospitalsPA$2,086New Jersey: median $2,531 across 37 hospitalsNJ$2,531Connecticut: 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 $2,455 across 55 hospitalsCA$2,455Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $1,894 across 13 hospitalsMO$1,894Kentucky: median $5,233 across 10 hospitalsKY$5,233West Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,457 across 10 hospitalsVA$1,457Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 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: 1 hospital 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $195 across 12 hospitalsOK$195Louisiana: median $908 across 11 hospitalsLA$908Mississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $809 across 21 hospitalsGA$809Hawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $917 across 34 hospitalsTX$917Florida: median $2,509 across 24 hospitalsFL$2,509
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,771. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA15$5,323+201%$1,266 – $5,629
Kentucky KY10$5,233+196%$373 – $7,617
Ohio OH45$2,772+56%$1,627 – $3,386
New Jersey NJ37$2,531+43%$2,201 – $5,419
Florida FL24$2,509+42%$1,627 – $3,322
California CA55$2,455+39%$1,778 – $4,900
Pennsylvania PA31$2,086+18%$105 – $4,024
New York NY28$1,960+11%$463 – $2,245
Washington WA14$1,958+11%$291 – $3,798
Missouri MO13$1,894+7%$278 – $1,912
Wisconsin WI28$1,559−12%$1,559 – $3,639
Virginia VA10$1,457−18%$94 – $2,353
Illinois IL21$1,398−21%$373 – $3,165
Texas TX34$917−48%$915 – $1,918
Louisiana LA11$908−49%$593 – $1,316
Georgia GA21$809−54%$809 – $2,742
Michigan MI30$715−60%$630 – $1,559
Oregon OR13$389−78%$254 – $547
Iowa IA20$357−80%$257 – $357
Oklahoma OK12$195−89%$195 – $195
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not 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 $1,771.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care484$1,904$623 – $3,386
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access85$1,559$373 – $3,438
Ownership
For-profit54$1,712$623 – $3,534
Government84$1,628$592 – $2,726
Non-profit443$1,778$408 – $3,639
System affiliation
Part of a system504$1,915$592 – $3,639
Independent81$1,001$396 – $2,355

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,786
Median cash price$1,771
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

402 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,559 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,736; most fall between $445 and $3,438.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 402 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
$278$719$1,559$3,253$4,900

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($278 vs $4,900).

Of the 428 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 402 gave a usable cash price; 10 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 16 a list price only.

How complete is this

585 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (15%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 619 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted585
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here18
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded16
Hospitals that filed this code619

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 Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, biopsy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Esophagoscopy,Ligatn 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 banding of varices (CPT 43205) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43205-esophagus-scope-exam-with-banding-of-varices