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Procedure price report · Esophageal dilatation

Stretching of the esophagus with a dilator, no guide wire

CPT 43450the billing code this page is about

The narrowed esophagus is widened by passing a weighted dilator or sound through the mouth, in one or more passes, without a guide wire.

Hospitals typically charge $1,103 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,281 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,213. Most fall between $341 and $2,705 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,281
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 1,281 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
$199$421$1,103$2,305$4,005

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($199 vs $4,005).

How the prices are spread

$145 – $206: 73 hospitals$145$206 – $295: 96 hospitals$295 – $421: 92 hospitals$295$421 – $602: 103 hospitals$602 – $859: 112 hospitals$602$859 – $1,227: 164 hospitals$1,227 – $1,753: 144 hospitals$1,227$1,753 – $2,504: 148 hospitals$2,504 – $3,577: 137 hospitals$2,504$3,577 – $5,110: 84 hospitals$3,577median $1,103price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,153 of 1,281 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$145$20673
$206$29596
$295$42192
$421$602103
$602$859112
$859$1,227164
$1,227$1,753144
$1,753$2,504148
$2,504$3,577137
$3,577$5,11084

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$927
Median cash price$1,103
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.19×

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 $1,103.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $786 across 10 hospitalsNH$786Washington: median $333 across 20 hospitalsWA$333Idaho: median $2,526 across 12 hospitalsID$2,526Montana: median $279 across 12 hospitalsMT$279North Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $732 across 45 hospitalsMN$732Illinois: median $343 across 35 hospitalsIL$343Wisconsin: median $718 across 42 hospitalsWI$718Michigan: median $270 across 38 hospitalsMI$270New York: median $1,109 across 54 hospitalsNY$1,109Massachusetts: median $1,784 across 30 hospitalsMA$1,784Oregon: median $426 across 22 hospitalsOR$426Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $2,006 across 10 hospitalsSD$2,006Iowa: median $421 across 39 hospitalsIA$421Indiana: median $227 across 33 hospitalsIN$227Ohio: median $2,314 across 82 hospitalsOH$2,314Pennsylvania: median $1,373 across 53 hospitalsPA$1,373New Jersey: median $1,877 across 39 hospitalsNJ$1,877Connecticut: median $1,892 across 12 hospitalsCT$1,892Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,768 across 77 hospitalsCA$1,768Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $2,308 across 15 hospitalsCO$2,308Nebraska: median $449 across 27 hospitalsNE$449Missouri: median $1,047 across 39 hospitalsMO$1,047Kentucky: median $247 across 16 hospitalsKY$247West Virginia: median $239 across 19 hospitalsWV$239Virginia: median $1,163 across 22 hospitalsVA$1,163Maryland: 4 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 $2,220 across 13 hospitalsNM$2,220Kansas: median $633 across 35 hospitalsKS$633Arkansas: median $349 across 15 hospitalsAR$349Tennessee: median $841 across 30 hospitalsTN$841North Carolina: median $873 across 18 hospitalsNC$873South Carolina: median $2,313 across 32 hospitalsSC$2,313Oklahoma: median $834 across 33 hospitalsOK$834Louisiana: median $577 across 30 hospitalsLA$577Mississippi: median $737 across 21 hospitalsMS$737Alabama: median $1,434 across 20 hospitalsAL$1,434Georgia: median $3,554 across 34 hospitalsGA$3,554Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,484 across 102 hospitalsTX$1,484Florida: median $2,566 across 35 hospitalsFL$2,566
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,103. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA34$3,554+222%$1,319 – $3,823
Florida FL35$2,566+133%$754 – $5,049
Idaho ID12$2,526+129%$1,719 – $4,611
Ohio OH82$2,314+110%$1,352 – $4,587
South Carolina SC32$2,313+110%$1,422 – $2,313
Colorado CO15$2,308+109%$494 – $2,406
New Mexico NM13$2,220+101%$894 – $3,046
South Dakota SD10$2,006+82%$1,075 – $2,006
Connecticut CT12$1,892+72%$1,312 – $3,288
New Jersey NJ39$1,877+70%$1,038 – $4,881
Massachusetts MA30$1,784+62%$653 – $2,725
California CA77$1,768+60%$694 – $2,878
Texas TX102$1,484+35%$563 – $2,987
Alabama AL20$1,434+30%$226 – $3,566
Pennsylvania PA53$1,373+24%$927 – $3,236
Virginia VA22$1,163+5%$937 – $3,926
New York NY54$1,109+1%$230 – $2,066
Missouri MO39$1,047−5%$257 – $1,773
North Carolina NC18$873−21%$563 – $1,724
Tennessee TN30$841−24%$385 – $1,248
Oklahoma OK33$834−24%$131 – $1,912
New Hampshire NH10$786−29%$81 – $1,019
Mississippi MS21$737−33%$190 – $1,123
Minnesota MN45$732−34%$381 – $863
Wisconsin WI42$718−35%$513 – $923
Kansas KS35$633−43%$253 – $1,020
Louisiana LA30$577−48%$390 – $1,376
Nebraska NE27$449−59%$279 – $1,134
Oregon OR22$426−61%$341 – $2,136
Iowa IA39$421−62%$261 – $825
Arkansas AR15$349−68%$260 – $1,206
Illinois IL35$343−69%$174 – $1,918
Washington WA20$333−70%$183 – $1,606
Montana MT12$279−75%$121 – $828
Michigan MI38$270−75%$212 – $1,247
Kentucky KY16$247−78%$174 – $3,765
West Virginia WV19$239−78%$86 – $1,156
Indiana IN33$227−79%$159 – $3,210
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not 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 $1,103.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care973$1,312$437 – $2,878
Children’s18fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access286$513$213 – $1,403
Ownership
For-profit152$1,376$577 – $3,554
Government198$832$294 – $2,192
Non-profit927$1,107$341 – $2,736
System affiliation
Part of a system1,057$1,168$381 – $2,803
Independent224$610$218 – $1,608

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,947
Median cash price$1,103
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

817 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,107 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,231; most fall between $346 and $2,526.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 817 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
$178$440$1,107$2,301$3,353

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 19× what the cheapest tenth charges ($178 vs $3,353).

Of the 894 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 817 gave a usable cash price; 32 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

1,281 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (32%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,402 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,281
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here67
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded45
Hospitals that filed this code1,402

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 Dilation Esoph Unguided Sound/Bougie 1/Mult Pass.

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, “Stretching of the esophagus with a dilator, no guide wire (CPT 43450) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-43450-stretching-of-the-esophagus-with-a-dilator-no-guide-wire