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Procedure price report · Esophageal dilatation

Esophagus scope exam with stretching over a guide wire

CPT 43226the billing code this page is about

A flexible scope is passed through the mouth, a guide wire is placed, and dilators are passed over the wire to widen a narrowed esophagus.

Hospitals typically charge $1,524 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 736 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,661. Most fall between $615 and $3,322 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
736
States
48
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 736 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
$303$773$1,524$2,742$4,686

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($303 vs $4,686).

How the prices are spread

$214 – $301: 43 hospitals$214$301 – $425: 38 hospitals$425 – $600: 33 hospitals$425$600 – $848: 80 hospitals$848 – $1,196: 96 hospitals$848$1,196 – $1,689: 57 hospitals$1,689 – $2,384: 121 hospitals$1,689$2,384 – $3,365: 94 hospitals$3,365 – $4,750: 72 hospitals$3,365$4,750 – $6,705: 36 hospitals$4,750median $1,524price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (670 of 736 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$214$30143
$301$42538
$425$60033
$600$84880
$848$1,19696
$1,196$1,68957
$1,689$2,384121
$2,384$3,36594
$3,365$4,75072
$4,750$6,70536

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,960
Median cash price$1,524
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.78×

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 $1,524.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,441 across 17 hospitalsWA$1,441Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,570 across 23 hospitalsMN$1,570Illinois: median $1,241 across 30 hospitalsIL$1,241Wisconsin: median $1,364 across 26 hospitalsWI$1,364Michigan: median $651 across 32 hospitalsMI$651New York: median $2,245 across 32 hospitalsNY$2,245Massachusetts: median $2,698 across 17 hospitalsMA$2,698Oregon: median $815 across 13 hospitalsOR$815Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $874 across 18 hospitalsIA$874Indiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $2,206 across 44 hospitalsOH$2,206Pennsylvania: median $2,224 across 37 hospitalsPA$2,224New Jersey: median $2,531 across 35 hospitalsNJ$2,531Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,484 across 63 hospitalsCA$3,484Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $917 across 17 hospitalsMO$917Kentucky: median $1,732 across 14 hospitalsKY$1,732West Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,346 across 14 hospitalsVA$1,346Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 4 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $423 across 13 hospitalsTN$423North Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $1,147 across 21 hospitalsSC$1,147Oklahoma: median $214 across 15 hospitalsOK$214Louisiana: median $735 across 24 hospitalsLA$735Mississippi: median $456 across 10 hospitalsMS$456Alabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $2,222 across 33 hospitalsGA$2,222Hawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,138 across 47 hospitalsTX$1,138Florida: median $2,417 across 31 hospitalsFL$2,417
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,524. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA63$3,484+129%$1,452 – $7,795
Massachusetts MA17$2,698+77%$1,876 – $5,323
New Jersey NJ35$2,531+66%$2,102 – $5,181
Florida FL31$2,417+59%$1,349 – $3,785
New York NY32$2,245+47%$380 – $2,278
Pennsylvania PA37$2,224+46%$99 – $3,414
Georgia GA33$2,222+46%$809 – $2,742
Ohio OH44$2,206+45%$1,752 – $3,088
Kentucky KY14$1,732+14%$344 – $7,617
Minnesota MN23$1,570+3%$532 – $3,383
Washington WA17$1,441−5%$435 – $3,922
Wisconsin WI26$1,364−10%$825 – $1,364
Virginia VA14$1,346−12%$87 – $2,217
Illinois IL30$1,241−19%$344 – $2,496
South Carolina SC21$1,147−25%$1,095 – $1,800
Texas TX47$1,138−25%$842 – $1,918
Missouri MO17$917−40%$604 – $2,561
Iowa IA18$874−43%$547 – $874
Oregon OR13$815−47%$238 – $1,096
Louisiana LA24$735−52%$417 – $1,252
Michigan MI32$651−57%$650 – $1,954
Mississippi MS10$456−70%$303 – $1,085
Tennessee TN13$423−72%$159 – $1,093
Oklahoma OK15$214−86%$214 – $2,513
Indiana IN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $1,524.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care609$1,838$651 – $3,383
Children’s13fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access110$926$435 – $2,222
Ownership
For-profit61$1,912$656 – $2,768
Government111$1,904$782 – $3,322
Non-profit560$1,364$582 – $3,383
System affiliation
Part of a system625$1,706$651 – $3,383
Independent111$1,220$380 – $2,768

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,695
Median cash price$1,524
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

524 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,441 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,695; most fall between $583 and $3,383.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 524 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
$270$809$1,441$2,779$5,366

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($270 vs $5,366).

Of the 571 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 524 gave a usable cash price; 13 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 34 a list price only.

How complete is this

736 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (19%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 796 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted736
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here31
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 — excluded29
Hospitals that filed this code796

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 Esophageal dilatation family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Esophagoscopy Flexible Guide Wire Dilation.

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 stretching over a guide wire (CPT 43226) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43226-esophagus-scope-exam-with-stretching-over-a-guide-wire