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Procedure price report · Abdominal paracentesis

Abdominal fluid drainage by needle, with imaging

CPT 49083the billing code this page is about

A needle or catheter is placed through the abdominal wall to withdraw fluid from the abdominal cavity, using ultrasound or other imaging to guide placement.

Hospitals typically charge $1,145 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,966 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,180. Most fall between $521 and $2,010 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,966
States
50
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 2,966 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
$297$617$1,145$1,836$2,737

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($297 vs $2,737).

How the prices are spread

$198 – $266: 112 hospitals$198$266 – $356: 121 hospitals$356 – $477: 145 hospitals$356$477 – $640: 244 hospitals$640 – $858: 300 hospitals$640$858 – $1,151: 424 hospitals$1,151 – $1,544: 466 hospitals$1,151$1,544 – $2,070: 442 hospitals$2,070 – $2,776: 283 hospitals$2,070$2,776 – $3,722: 136 hospitals$2,776median $1,145price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,673 of 2,966 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$198$266112
$266$356121
$356$477145
$477$640244
$640$858300
$858$1,151424
$1,151$1,544466
$1,544$2,070442
$2,070$2,776283
$2,776$3,722136

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$927
Median cash price$1,145
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.24×

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 $1,145.

Alaska: median $1,268 across 17 hospitalsAK$1,268Maine: median $766 across 23 hospitalsME$766Vermont: median $605 across 13 hospitalsVT$605New Hampshire: median $727 across 21 hospitalsNH$727Washington: median $953 across 75 hospitalsWA$953Idaho: median $1,036 across 22 hospitalsID$1,036Montana: median $467 across 26 hospitalsMT$467North Dakota: median $960 across 19 hospitalsND$960Minnesota: median $880 across 100 hospitalsMN$880Illinois: median $1,225 across 124 hospitalsIL$1,225Wisconsin: median $1,115 across 104 hospitalsWI$1,115Michigan: median $1,150 across 90 hospitalsMI$1,150New York: median $1,143 across 108 hospitalsNY$1,143Massachusetts: median $1,450 across 49 hospitalsMA$1,450Oregon: median $522 across 53 hospitalsOR$522Nevada: median $1,193 across 20 hospitalsNV$1,193Wyoming: median $325 across 16 hospitalsWY$325South Dakota: median $842 across 20 hospitalsSD$842Iowa: median $739 across 83 hospitalsIA$739Indiana: median $1,341 across 87 hospitalsIN$1,341Ohio: median $1,739 across 139 hospitalsOH$1,739Pennsylvania: median $1,308 across 124 hospitalsPA$1,308New Jersey: median $1,210 across 58 hospitalsNJ$1,210Connecticut: median $550 across 23 hospitalsCT$550Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,836 across 191 hospitalsCA$1,836Utah: median $1,722 across 33 hospitalsUT$1,722Colorado: median $1,074 across 65 hospitalsCO$1,074Nebraska: median $980 across 64 hospitalsNE$980Missouri: median $1,018 across 73 hospitalsMO$1,018Kentucky: median $1,124 across 46 hospitalsKY$1,124West Virginia: median $1,152 across 36 hospitalsWV$1,152Virginia: median $1,163 across 58 hospitalsVA$1,163Maryland: median $335 across 12 hospitalsMD$335Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,638 across 47 hospitalsAZ$1,638New Mexico: median $803 across 28 hospitalsNM$803Kansas: median $494 across 70 hospitalsKS$494Arkansas: median $687 across 36 hospitalsAR$687Tennessee: median $587 across 62 hospitalsTN$587North Carolina: median $1,141 across 75 hospitalsNC$1,141South Carolina: median $1,733 across 43 hospitalsSC$1,733Oklahoma: median $694 across 56 hospitalsOK$694Louisiana: median $679 across 44 hospitalsLA$679Mississippi: median $565 across 48 hospitalsMS$565Alabama: median $916 across 41 hospitalsAL$916Georgia: median $1,424 across 88 hospitalsGA$1,424Hawaii: median $1,149 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,149Texas: median $1,458 across 191 hospitalsTX$1,458Florida: median $1,473 across 113 hospitalsFL$1,473
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,145. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA191$1,836+60%$881 – $2,995
Ohio OH139$1,739+52%$904 – $2,803
South Carolina SC43$1,733+51%$1,018 – $2,737
Utah UT33$1,722+50%$860 – $2,026
Arizona AZ47$1,638+43%$660 – $2,771
Florida FL113$1,473+29%$901 – $2,399
Texas TX191$1,458+27%$778 – $2,239
Massachusetts MA49$1,450+27%$425 – $2,188
Georgia GA88$1,424+24%$617 – $2,425
Indiana IN87$1,341+17%$722 – $1,909
Pennsylvania PA124$1,308+14%$770 – $2,605
Alaska AK17$1,268+11%$510 – $1,642
Illinois IL124$1,225+7%$521 – $2,138
New Jersey NJ58$1,210+6%$1,024 – $4,122
Nevada NV20$1,193+4%$855 – $2,331
Virginia VA58$1,163+2%$689 – $1,850
West Virginia WV36$1,152+1%$540 – $1,556
Michigan MI90$1,1500%$237 – $1,600
Hawaii HI17$1,1490%$979 – $1,488
New York NY108$1,1430%$556 – $2,504
North Carolina NC75$1,1410%$551 – $1,961
Kentucky KY46$1,124−2%$527 – $1,981
Wisconsin WI104$1,115−3%$516 – $1,607
Colorado CO65$1,074−6%$474 – $1,943
Idaho ID22$1,036−10%$606 – $2,526
Missouri MO73$1,018−11%$591 – $2,010
Nebraska NE64$980−14%$590 – $1,442
North Dakota ND19$960−16%$231 – $1,806
Washington WA75$953−17%$356 – $1,594
Alabama AL41$916−20%$626 – $1,555
Minnesota MN100$880−23%$467 – $1,239
South Dakota SD20$842−27%$563 – $1,725
New Mexico NM28$803−30%$262 – $1,685
Maine ME23$766−33%$210 – $1,235
Iowa IA83$739−35%$361 – $1,548
New Hampshire NH21$727−37%$127 – $1,239
Oklahoma OK56$694−39%$445 – $1,137
Arkansas AR36$687−40%$521 – $1,381
Louisiana LA44$679−41%$401 – $1,590
Vermont VT13$605−47%$459 – $1,556
Tennessee TN62$587−49%$325 – $1,305
Mississippi MS48$565−51%$283 – $1,101
Connecticut CT23$550−52%$357 – $2,907
Oregon OR53$522−54%$255 – $1,429
Kansas KS70$494−57%$253 – $1,055
Montana MT26$467−59%$167 – $859
Maryland MD12$335−71%$100 – $1,912
Wyoming WY16$325−72%$138 – $1,040
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not 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 $1,145.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,125$1,255$633 – $2,261
Children’s49$1,316$836 – $2,764
Critical access783$800$321 – $1,461
Ownership
For-profit312$1,326$640 – $2,484
Government555$886$351 – $1,600
Non-profit2,090$1,193$560 – $2,093
System affiliation
Part of a system2,386$1,208$587 – $2,099
Independent580$842$309 – $1,675

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,038
Median cash price$1,145
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

2,218 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,252 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,290; most fall between $589 and $2,138.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,218 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
$333$689$1,252$1,939$2,737

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($333 vs $2,737).

Of the 2,374 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,218 gave a usable cash price; 55 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 100 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,966 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (75%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,179 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,966
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here93
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded110
Hospitals that filed this code3,179

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 Abdominal paracentesis family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Abdom Paracentesis Dx/Ther W/Imaging Guidance.

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, “Abdominal fluid drainage by needle, with imaging (CPT 49083) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-49083-abdominal-fluid-drainage-by-needle-with-imaging