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Procedure price report · Appendectomy

Unlisted keyhole procedure on the appendix

CPT 44979the billing code this page is about

Used for a camera-assisted appendix operation that has no specific billing code of its own; the hospital describes the actual work performed.

Hospitals typically charge $3,081 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 301 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $4,406. Most fall between $838 and $10,994 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
301
States
45
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 301 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
$487$1,184$3,081$8,722$19,765

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 41× what the cheapest tenth charges ($487 vs $19,765).

How the prices are spread

$337 – $529: 36 hospitals$337$529 – $828: 9 hospitals$828 – $1,298: 22 hospitals$828$1,298 – $2,034: 24 hospitals$2,034 – $3,187: 45 hospitals$2,034$3,187 – $4,995: 17 hospitals$4,995 – $7,827: 49 hospitals$4,995$7,827 – $12,265: 28 hospitals$12,265 – $19,219: 24 hospitals$12,265$19,219 – $30,116: 17 hospitals$19,219median $3,081price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (271 of 301 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$337$52936
$529$8289
$828$1,29822
$1,298$2,03424
$2,034$3,18745
$3,187$4,99517
$4,995$7,82749
$7,827$12,26528
$12,265$19,21924
$19,219$30,11617

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$6,176
Median cash price$3,081
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.50×

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 $3,081.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,231 across 12 hospitalsWA$1,231Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $2,625 across 11 hospitalsIL$2,625Wisconsin: median $8,874 across 11 hospitalsWI$8,874Michigan: median $8,313 across 10 hospitalsMI$8,313New York: median $6,904 across 24 hospitalsNY$6,904Massachusetts: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,542 across 13 hospitalsIA$1,542Indiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $9,864 across 14 hospitalsPA$9,864New Jersey: median $6,458 across 29 hospitalsNJ$6,458Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $487 across 28 hospitalsCA$487Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $2,832 across 12 hospitalsMO$2,832Kentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $825 across 11 hospitalsWV$825Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $2,890 across 32 hospitalsTX$2,890Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,081. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Pennsylvania PA14$9,864+220%$4,043 – $12,564
Wisconsin WI11$8,874+188%$1,639 – $8,874
Michigan MI10$8,313+170%$1,193 – $9,003
New York NY24$6,904+124%$3,500 – $7,547
New Jersey NJ29$6,458+110%$4,881 – $7,786
Texas TX32$2,890−6%$2,627 – $2,890
Missouri MO12$2,832−8%$1,652 – $24,781
Illinois IL11$2,625−15%$451 – $33,884
Iowa IA13$1,542−50%$1,184 – $2,341
Washington WA12$1,231−60%$838 – $6,749
West Virginia WV11$825−73%$825 – $2,110
California CA28$487−84%$487 – $2,242
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN1not 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 $3,081.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care243$5,188$712 – $13,573
Children’s3fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access55$1,636$953 – $3,081
Ownership
For-profit35$5,837$2,890 – $17,443
Government46$2,653$1,218 – $11,181
Non-profit220$2,890$487 – $9,003
System affiliation
Part of a system236$4,584$825 – $11,895
Independent65$2,242$954 – $9,505

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$4,375
Median cash price$3,081
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

121 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,732 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,755; most fall between $487 and $2,890.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 121 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
$223$487$1,732$2,890$6,749

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 30× what the cheapest tenth charges ($223 vs $6,749).

Of the 136 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 121 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 5 a list price only.

How complete is this

301 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 342 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted301
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here24
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded14
Hospitals that filed this code342

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 Appendectomy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Unlisted Laparoscopy Procedure Appendix.

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, “Unlisted keyhole procedure on the appendix (CPT 44979) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-44979-unlisted-keyhole-procedure-on-the-appendix