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Procedure price report · Abdominal paracentesis

Washing out of the abdominal cavity through a catheter

CPT 49084the billing code this page is about

Sterile fluid is instilled into the abdominal cavity and then withdrawn, for diagnosis or cleansing; imaging guidance is included when used.

Hospitals typically charge $949 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,325 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $975. Most fall between $267 and $1,970 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,325
States
49
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 1,325 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
$184$338$949$1,717$3,176

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($184 vs $3,176).

How the prices are spread

$129 – $181: 60 hospitals$129$181 – $254: 120 hospitals$254 – $356: 94 hospitals$254$356 – $498: 68 hospitals$498 – $698: 87 hospitals$498$698 – $978: 192 hospitals$978 – $1,369: 212 hospitals$978$1,369 – $1,918: 147 hospitals$1,918 – $2,687: 98 hospitals$1,918$2,687 – $3,765: 116 hospitals$2,687median $949price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,194 of 1,325 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$129$18160
$181$254120
$254$35694
$356$49868
$498$69887
$698$978192
$978$1,369212
$1,369$1,918147
$1,918$2,68798
$2,687$3,765116

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$927
Median cash price$949
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.02×

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 $949.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $204 across 12 hospitalsME$204Vermont: 8 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 $1,094 across 47 hospitalsWA$1,094Idaho: median $1,432 across 12 hospitalsID$1,432Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $326 across 26 hospitalsMN$326Illinois: median $726 across 48 hospitalsIL$726Wisconsin: median $725 across 52 hospitalsWI$725Michigan: median $198 across 39 hospitalsMI$198New York: median $1,109 across 62 hospitalsNY$1,109Massachusetts: median $1,690 across 15 hospitalsMA$1,690Oregon: median $405 across 27 hospitalsOR$405Nevada: median $697 across 10 hospitalsNV$697Wyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $730 across 27 hospitalsIA$730Indiana: median $526 across 31 hospitalsIN$526Ohio: median $1,473 across 82 hospitalsOH$1,473Pennsylvania: median $1,201 across 59 hospitalsPA$1,201New Jersey: median $2,456 across 40 hospitalsNJ$2,456Connecticut: 6 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 $1,773 across 123 hospitalsCA$1,773Utah: median $1,088 across 26 hospitalsUT$1,088Colorado: median $776 across 25 hospitalsCO$776Nebraska: median $245 across 18 hospitalsNE$245Missouri: median $885 across 23 hospitalsMO$885Kentucky: median $244 across 19 hospitalsKY$244West Virginia: median $275 across 20 hospitalsWV$275Virginia: median $901 across 23 hospitalsVA$901Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,113 across 23 hospitalsAZ$1,113New Mexico: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $270 across 23 hospitalsKS$270Arkansas: median $824 across 10 hospitalsAR$824Tennessee: median $221 across 15 hospitalsTN$221North Carolina: median $814 across 30 hospitalsNC$814South Carolina: median $1,018 across 17 hospitalsSC$1,018Oklahoma: median $225 across 23 hospitalsOK$225Louisiana: median $688 across 19 hospitalsLA$688Mississippi: median $700 across 23 hospitalsMS$700Alabama: median $905 across 19 hospitalsAL$905Georgia: median $589 across 21 hospitalsGA$589Hawaii: median $899 across 14 hospitalsHI$899Texas: median $1,095 across 99 hospitalsTX$1,095Florida: median $860 across 55 hospitalsFL$860
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $949. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ40$2,456+159%$1,038 – $4,881
California CA123$1,773+87%$852 – $3,214
Massachusetts MA15$1,690+78%$839 – $2,366
Ohio OH82$1,473+55%$688 – $2,803
Idaho ID12$1,432+51%$1,036 – $2,526
Pennsylvania PA59$1,201+27%$296 – $3,446
Arizona AZ23$1,113+17%$418 – $2,152
New York NY62$1,109+17%$196 – $2,375
Texas TX99$1,095+15%$962 – $1,871
Washington WA47$1,094+15%$393 – $1,910
Utah UT26$1,088+15%$1,088 – $1,280
South Carolina SC17$1,018+7%$686 – $1,238
Alabama AL19$905−5%$450 – $1,532
Virginia VA23$901−5%$406 – $1,096
Hawaii HI14$899−5%$106 – $1,268
Missouri MO23$885−7%$193 – $1,233
Florida FL55$860−9%$724 – $3,410
Arkansas AR10$824−13%$215 – $1,619
North Carolina NC30$814−14%$478 – $1,961
Colorado CO25$776−18%$231 – $2,310
Iowa IA27$730−23%$268 – $949
Illinois IL48$726−23%$229 – $2,644
Wisconsin WI52$725−24%$315 – $1,287
Mississippi MS23$700−26%$327 – $857
Nevada NV10$697−27%$371 – $986
Louisiana LA19$688−28%$441 – $1,088
Georgia GA21$589−38%$296 – $1,768
Indiana IN31$526−45%$188 – $1,346
Oregon OR27$405−57%$196 – $2,531
Minnesota MN26$326−66%$198 – $364
West Virginia WV20$275−71%$116 – $1,055
Kansas KS23$270−72%$156 – $854
Nebraska NE18$245−74%$214 – $642
Kentucky KY19$244−74%$159 – $3,765
Oklahoma OK23$225−76%$225 – $1,112
Tennessee TN15$221−77%$94 – $725
Maine ME12$204−79%$171 – $617
Michigan MI39$198−79%$168 – $1,023
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $949.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,032$1,018$362 – $2,310
Children’s20$879$248 – $1,588
Critical access267$355$184 – $1,094
Ownership
For-profit124$1,186$589 – $2,617
Government226$716$228 – $1,609
Non-profit969$962$270 – $1,996
System affiliation
Part of a system1,085$988$315 – $2,152
Independent240$593$206 – $1,445

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,668
Median cash price$949
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

999 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $980 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,063; most fall between $315 and $2,152.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 999 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
$194$442$980$1,824$3,176

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($194 vs $3,176).

Of the 1,065 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 999 gave a usable cash price; 29 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 36 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,325 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (33%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,428 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,325
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here56
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded45
Hospitals that filed this code1,428

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 Peritoneal Lavage W/WO 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, “Washing out of the abdominal cavity through a catheter (CPT 49084) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-49084-washing-out-of-the-abdominal-cavity-through-a-catheter