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Procedure price report · Esophageal dilatation

Upper endoscopy with guidewire stretching of the esophagus

CPT 43248the billing code this page is about

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

Hospitals typically charge $1,373 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,337 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,519. Most fall between $615 and $2,891 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,337
States
50
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 1,337 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
$377$729$1,373$2,672$4,259

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($377 vs $4,259).

How the prices are spread

$254 – $347: 49 hospitals$254$347 – $474: 86 hospitals$474 – $648: 80 hospitals$474$648 – $885: 158 hospitals$885 – $1,209: 174 hospitals$885$1,209 – $1,651: 147 hospitals$1,651 – $2,255: 151 hospitals$1,651$2,255 – $3,081: 197 hospitals$3,081 – $4,209: 91 hospitals$3,081$4,209 – $5,750: 72 hospitals$4,209median $1,373price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,205 of 1,337 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$254$34749
$347$47486
$474$64880
$648$885158
$885$1,209174
$1,209$1,651147
$1,651$2,255151
$2,255$3,081197
$3,081$4,20991
$4,209$5,75072

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$927
Median cash price$1,373
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.48×

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 $1,373.

Alaska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $950 across 10 hospitalsNH$950Washington: median $746 across 34 hospitalsWA$746Idaho: median $2,257 across 16 hospitalsID$2,257Montana: median $1,083 across 12 hospitalsMT$1,083North Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,684 across 49 hospitalsMN$1,684Illinois: median $1,091 across 49 hospitalsIL$1,091Wisconsin: median $1,400 across 42 hospitalsWI$1,400Michigan: median $729 across 45 hospitalsMI$729New York: median $1,109 across 62 hospitalsNY$1,109Massachusetts: median $2,523 across 32 hospitalsMA$2,523Oregon: median $702 across 26 hospitalsOR$702Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $955 across 35 hospitalsIA$955Indiana: median $1,001 across 26 hospitalsIN$1,001Ohio: median $2,803 across 84 hospitalsOH$2,803Pennsylvania: median $1,676 across 75 hospitalsPA$1,676New Jersey: median $1,877 across 39 hospitalsNJ$1,877Connecticut: median $2,951 across 12 hospitalsCT$2,951Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,640 across 84 hospitalsCA$2,640Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,483 across 22 hospitalsCO$1,483Nebraska: median $1,011 across 17 hospitalsNE$1,011Missouri: median $898 across 43 hospitalsMO$898Kentucky: median $549 across 21 hospitalsKY$549West Virginia: median $265 across 20 hospitalsWV$265Virginia: median $1,163 across 22 hospitalsVA$1,163Maryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 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 $1,959 across 16 hospitalsNM$1,959Kansas: median $854 across 22 hospitalsKS$854Arkansas: median $456 across 15 hospitalsAR$456Tennessee: median $1,093 across 29 hospitalsTN$1,093North Carolina: median $1,183 across 18 hospitalsNC$1,183South Carolina: median $2,808 across 26 hospitalsSC$2,808Oklahoma: median $493 across 27 hospitalsOK$493Louisiana: median $658 across 32 hospitalsLA$658Mississippi: median $1,229 across 30 hospitalsMS$1,229Alabama: median $1,844 across 21 hospitalsAL$1,844Georgia: median $1,848 across 36 hospitalsGA$1,848Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $732 across 74 hospitalsTX$732Florida: median $2,206 across 40 hospitalsFL$2,206
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,373. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Connecticut CT12$2,951+115%$1,312 – $3,758
South Carolina SC26$2,808+105%$1,671 – $3,306
Ohio OH84$2,803+104%$2,347 – $4,647
California CA84$2,640+92%$1,190 – $3,610
Massachusetts MA32$2,523+84%$1,690 – $4,259
Idaho ID16$2,257+64%$992 – $2,526
Florida FL40$2,206+61%$1,332 – $3,410
New Mexico NM16$1,959+43%$1,367 – $2,775
New Jersey NJ39$1,877+37%$1,051 – $5,110
Georgia GA36$1,848+35%$1,238 – $2,616
Alabama AL21$1,844+34%$898 – $6,076
Minnesota MN49$1,684+23%$774 – $2,157
Pennsylvania PA75$1,676+22%$838 – $3,526
Colorado CO22$1,483+8%$776 – $2,343
Wisconsin WI42$1,400+2%$1,396 – $2,461
Mississippi MS30$1,229−10%$565 – $1,989
North Carolina NC18$1,183−14%$813 – $2,254
Virginia VA22$1,163−15%$660 – $2,775
New York NY62$1,109−19%$472 – $2,245
Tennessee TN29$1,093−20%$212 – $1,563
Illinois IL49$1,091−20%$683 – $2,557
Montana MT12$1,083−21%$320 – $1,784
Nebraska NE17$1,011−26%$714 – $1,381
Indiana IN26$1,001−27%$390 – $3,765
Iowa IA35$955−30%$589 – $999
New Hampshire NH10$950−31%$183 – $1,501
Missouri MO43$898−35%$596 – $3,089
Kansas KS22$854−38%$567 – $1,377
Washington WA34$746−46%$366 – $2,128
Texas TX74$732−47%$697 – $2,193
Michigan MI45$729−47%$559 – $1,396
Oregon OR26$702−49%$299 – $1,502
Louisiana LA32$658−52%$397 – $1,164
Kentucky KY21$549−60%$386 – $3,765
Oklahoma OK27$493−64%$493 – $2,617
Arkansas AR15$456−67%$347 – $1,467
West Virginia WV20$265−81%$169 – $998
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not 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 $1,373.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,020$1,467$698 – $3,089
Children’s17fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access295$973$406 – $2,157
Ownership
For-profit154$1,445$732 – $3,617
Government230$1,109$526 – $2,411
Non-profit948$1,396$657 – $3,018
System affiliation
Part of a system1,075$1,425$683 – $3,018
Independent262$1,053$412 – $2,262

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,548
Median cash price$1,373
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

814 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,396 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,533; most fall between $559 and $2,803.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 814 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
$361$697$1,396$2,648$3,410

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($361 vs $3,410).

Of the 884 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 814 gave a usable cash price; 25 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 45 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,337 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (34%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,437 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,337
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here45
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded10
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded45
Hospitals that filed this code1,437

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 Esophageal dilatation family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Egd Insert Guide Wire Dilator Passage Esophagus.

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, “Upper endoscopy with guidewire stretching of the esophagus (CPT 43248) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43248-upper-endoscopy-with-guidewire-stretching-of-the-esophagus