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Procedure price report · Other OR lower GI therapeutic procedures

Placement of a drainage seton for an anal fistula

CPT 46020the billing code this page is about

A soft thread or band is passed through an anal fistula tract and left in place to keep it draining.

Hospitals typically charge $1,625 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 918 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,109. Most fall between $367 and $5,168 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
918
States
49
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 918 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
$250$426$1,625$4,595$8,143

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 33× what the cheapest tenth charges ($250 vs $8,143).

How the prices are spread

$175 – $262: 49 hospitals$175$262 – $390: 104 hospitals$390 – $582: 95 hospitals$390$582 – $869: 80 hospitals$869 – $1,297: 65 hospitals$869$1,297 – $1,934: 35 hospitals$1,934 – $2,886: 57 hospitals$1,934$2,886 – $4,306: 139 hospitals$4,306 – $6,425: 103 hospitals$4,306$6,425 – $9,586: 101 hospitals$6,425median $1,625price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (828 of 918 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$175$26249
$262$390104
$390$58295
$582$86980
$869$1,29765
$1,297$1,93435
$1,934$2,88657
$2,886$4,306139
$4,306$6,425103
$6,425$9,586101

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$2,836
Median cash price$1,625
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.57×

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 $1,625.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,579 across 29 hospitalsWA$1,579Idaho: median $3,047 across 15 hospitalsID$3,047Montana: median $465 across 11 hospitalsMT$465North Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $973 across 42 hospitalsMN$973Illinois: median $693 across 37 hospitalsIL$693Wisconsin: median $980 across 42 hospitalsWI$980Michigan: median $367 across 41 hospitalsMI$367New York: median $3,245 across 58 hospitalsNY$3,245Massachusetts: median $2,781 across 13 hospitalsMA$2,781Oregon: median $342 across 30 hospitalsOR$342Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $693 across 31 hospitalsIA$693Indiana: median $652 across 23 hospitalsIN$652Ohio: median $4,583 across 27 hospitalsOH$4,583Pennsylvania: median $673 across 28 hospitalsPA$673New Jersey: median $3,659 across 35 hospitalsNJ$3,659Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $4,160 across 77 hospitalsCA$4,160Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $579 across 15 hospitalsCO$579Nebraska: median $525 across 13 hospitalsNE$525Missouri: median $2,765 across 26 hospitalsMO$2,765Kentucky: median $533 across 14 hospitalsKY$533West Virginia: median $900 across 19 hospitalsWV$900Virginia: median $3,402 across 18 hospitalsVA$3,402Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $955 across 10 hospitalsAZ$955New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $433 across 22 hospitalsKS$433Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $459 across 10 hospitalsTN$459North Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $396 across 14 hospitalsOK$396Louisiana: median $1,992 across 14 hospitalsLA$1,992Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $3,483 across 12 hospitalsAL$3,483Georgia: median $4,281 across 28 hospitalsGA$4,281Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,426 across 38 hospitalsTX$3,426Florida: median $4,687 across 14 hospitalsFL$4,687
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,625. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL14$4,687+188%$1,617 – $10,250
Ohio OH27$4,583+182%$350 – $10,017
Georgia GA28$4,281+163%$4,281 – $6,653
California CA77$4,160+156%$1,132 – $8,910
New Jersey NJ35$3,659+125%$3,035 – $5,339
Alabama AL12$3,483+114%$782 – $8,263
Texas TX38$3,426+111%$2,733 – $5,675
Virginia VA18$3,402+109%$464 – $8,738
New York NY58$3,245+100%$401 – $4,595
Idaho ID15$3,047+87%$311 – $7,189
Massachusetts MA13$2,781+71%$2,428 – $6,552
Missouri MO26$2,765+70%$375 – $4,814
Louisiana LA14$1,992+23%$594 – $4,599
Washington WA29$1,579−3%$481 – $5,936
Wisconsin WI42$980−40%$738 – $1,148
Minnesota MN42$973−40%$451 – $2,635
Arizona AZ10$955−41%$230 – $5,699
West Virginia WV19$900−45%$127 – $3,682
Iowa IA31$693−57%$366 – $1,305
Illinois IL37$693−57%$278 – $6,758
Pennsylvania PA28$673−59%$115 – $5,168
Indiana IN23$652−60%$278 – $7,035
Colorado CO15$579−64%$237 – $2,615
Kentucky KY14$533−67%$278 – $11,012
Nebraska NE13$525−68%$269 – $2,262
Montana MT11$465−71%$185 – $597
Tennessee TN10$459−72%$247 – $3,470
Kansas KS22$433−73%$300 – $584
Oklahoma OK14$396−76%$396 – $5,355
Michigan MI41$367−77%$322 – $3,817
Oregon OR30$342−79%$215 – $6,605
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $1,625.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care653$3,215$420 – $6,552
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access252$540$278 – $1,292
Ownership
For-profit83$4,004$656 – $7,485
Government158$725$327 – $3,783
Non-profit675$1,711$367 – $5,489
System affiliation
Part of a system702$2,650$396 – $5,784
Independent216$626$300 – $3,255

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,508
Median cash price$1,625
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

475 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $980 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,630; most fall between $322 and $4,395.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 475 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
$236$396$980$4,160$6,653

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 28× what the cheapest tenth charges ($236 vs $6,653).

Of the 528 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 475 gave a usable cash price; 20 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 33 a list price only.

How complete is this

918 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (23%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,007 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted918
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here52
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded7
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded29
Hospitals that filed this code1,007

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 Other OR lower GI therapeutic procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Placement Seton.

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, “Placement of a drainage seton for an anal fistula (CPT 46020) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-46020-placement-of-a-drainage-seton-for-an-anal-fistula