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Procedure price report · Endoscopic retrograde cannulation of pancreas (ERCP)

Bile duct scope exam with destruction of a growth

CPT 43278the billing code this page is about

During a scope exam of the bile and pancreatic ducts, a tumor, polyp or other abnormal tissue is destroyed with heat or similar energy, including any dilation and guidewire passage.

Hospitals typically charge $3,792 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 694 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,651. Most fall between $1,262 and $6,220 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
694
States
49
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 694 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
$775$1,640$3,792$5,419$8,586

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($775 vs $8,586).

How the prices are spread

$556 – $750: 25 hospitals$556$750 – $1,013: 57 hospitals$1,013 – $1,367: 30 hospitals$1,013$1,367 – $1,845: 47 hospitals$1,845 – $2,491: 66 hospitals$1,845$2,491 – $3,363: 42 hospitals$3,363 – $4,540: 127 hospitals$3,363$4,540 – $6,129: 126 hospitals$6,129 – $8,274: 68 hospitals$6,129$8,274 – $11,170: 39 hospitals$8,274median $3,792price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (627 of 694 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$556$75025
$750$1,01357
$1,013$1,36730
$1,367$1,84547
$1,845$2,49166
$2,491$3,36342
$3,363$4,540127
$4,540$6,129126
$6,129$8,27468
$8,274$11,17039

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,939
Median cash price$3,792
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.96×

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 $3,792.

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: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $3,754 across 10 hospitalsWA$3,754Idaho: 7 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: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $2,279 across 29 hospitalsIL$2,279Wisconsin: median $4,547 across 35 hospitalsWI$4,547Michigan: median $818 across 30 hospitalsMI$818New York: median $4,502 across 32 hospitalsNY$4,502Massachusetts: median $7,616 across 12 hospitalsMA$7,616Oregon: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIAIndiana: median $2,277 across 20 hospitalsIN$2,277Ohio: median $6,020 across 46 hospitalsOH$6,020Pennsylvania: median $4,555 across 34 hospitalsPA$4,555New Jersey: median $4,991 across 36 hospitalsNJ$4,991Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $4,432 across 71 hospitalsCA$4,432Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $3,047 across 15 hospitalsCO$3,047Nebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $2,674 across 14 hospitalsMO$2,674Kentucky: median $5,085 across 10 hospitalsKY$5,085West Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $2,300 across 17 hospitalsTN$2,300North Carolina: median $3,406 across 10 hospitalsNC$3,406South Carolina: median $4,514 across 19 hospitalsSC$4,514Oklahoma: median $902 across 15 hospitalsOK$902Louisiana: median $2,428 across 17 hospitalsLA$2,428Mississippi: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,640 across 23 hospitalsGA$1,640Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,283 across 52 hospitalsTX$2,283Florida: median $4,943 across 32 hospitalsFL$4,943
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,792. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA12$7,616+101%$2,915 – $9,966
Ohio OH46$6,020+59%$4,640 – $7,526
Kentucky KY10$5,085+34%$625 – $15,277
New Jersey NJ36$4,991+32%$4,215 – $7,943
Florida FL32$4,943+30%$2,332 – $7,219
Pennsylvania PA34$4,555+20%$2,312 – $7,782
Wisconsin WI35$4,547+20%$4,003 – $4,870
South Carolina SC19$4,514+19%$2,930 – $4,668
New York NY32$4,502+19%$752 – $4,576
California CA71$4,432+17%$2,873 – $6,470
Washington WA10$3,754−1%$772 – $5,785
North Carolina NC10$3,406−10%$1,440 – $3,406
Colorado CO15$3,047−20%$995 – $4,542
Missouri MO14$2,674−29%$900 – $9,410
Louisiana LA17$2,428−36%$1,478 – $3,448
Tennessee TN17$2,300−39%$519 – $5,718
Texas TX52$2,283−40%$1,523 – $3,730
Illinois IL29$2,279−40%$729 – $6,371
Indiana IN20$2,277−40%$625 – $3,078
Georgia GA23$1,640−57%$1,262 – $5,289
Oklahoma OK15$902−76%$902 – $5,686
Michigan MI30$818−78%$537 – $4,003
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Iowa IA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $3,792.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care599$3,763$1,328 – $5,948
Children’s15fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access76$4,003$818 – $6,991
Ownership
For-profit70$3,666$1,209 – $5,718
Government100$3,158$1,155 – $5,819
Non-profit520$3,929$1,314 – $6,371
System affiliation
Part of a system606$4,003$1,523 – $6,371
Independent88$2,024$767 – $5,355

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$6,159
Median cash price$3,792
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

486 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $3,730 and the average of the middle 60% is $3,325; most fall between $1,092 and $5,887.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 486 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
$752$1,464$3,730$5,096$8,077

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($752 vs $8,077).

Of the 527 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 486 gave a usable cash price; 23 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

694 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (18%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 758 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted694
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here48
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 — excluded15
Hospitals that filed this code758

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 Endoscopic retrograde cannulation of pancreas (ERCP) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Ercp Tumor/Polyp/Lesion Ablation W/Dilation&Wire.

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, “Bile duct scope exam with destruction of a growth (CPT 43278) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43278-bile-duct-scope-exam-with-destruction-of-a-growth