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Procedure price report · Other OR gastrointestinal therapeutic procedures

Injection to shrink a fluid pocket, through the skin

CPT 49185the billing code this page is about

A needle or catheter is placed through the skin into a fluid collection such as a cyst, seroma, or lymph pocket, and a medication is injected to close it off; imaging guidance and interpretation are included.

Hospitals typically charge $1,918 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,585 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,009. Most fall between $1,060 and $3,381 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,585
States
50
Filings dated
Feb 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 1,585 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
$662$1,177$1,918$2,922$4,844

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($662 vs $4,844).

How the prices are spread

$430 – $561: 38 hospitals$430$561 – $733: 75 hospitals$733 – $956: 78 hospitals$733$956 – $1,248: 158 hospitals$1,248 – $1,630: 160 hospitals$1,248$1,630 – $2,127: 316 hospitals$2,127 – $2,777: 221 hospitals$2,127$2,777 – $3,625: 174 hospitals$3,625 – $4,733: 101 hospitals$3,625$4,733 – $6,179: 106 hospitals$4,733median $1,918price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,427 of 1,585 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$430$56138
$561$73375
$733$95678
$956$1,248158
$1,248$1,630160
$1,630$2,127316
$2,127$2,777221
$2,777$3,625174
$3,625$4,733101
$4,733$6,179106

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,918
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.14×

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 $1,918.

Alaska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,257 across 38 hospitalsWA$1,257Idaho: median $2,766 across 13 hospitalsID$2,766Montana: median $1,842 across 12 hospitalsMT$1,842North Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,313 across 37 hospitalsMN$1,313Illinois: median $2,073 across 68 hospitalsIL$2,073Wisconsin: median $2,066 across 70 hospitalsWI$2,066Michigan: median $1,839 across 62 hospitalsMI$1,839New York: median $1,951 across 55 hospitalsNY$1,951Massachusetts: median $1,959 across 29 hospitalsMA$1,959Oregon: median $1,953 across 33 hospitalsOR$1,953Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,580 across 24 hospitalsIA$1,580Indiana: median $1,591 across 45 hospitalsIN$1,591Ohio: median $2,758 across 97 hospitalsOH$2,758Pennsylvania: median $2,516 across 75 hospitalsPA$2,516New Jersey: median $2,163 across 51 hospitalsNJ$2,163Connecticut: median $1,564 across 16 hospitalsCT$1,564Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,845 across 128 hospitalsCA$2,845Utah: median $2,766 across 23 hospitalsUT$2,766Colorado: median $2,474 across 35 hospitalsCO$2,474Nebraska: median $1,166 across 18 hospitalsNE$1,166Missouri: median $1,694 across 40 hospitalsMO$1,694Kentucky: median $1,141 across 10 hospitalsKY$1,141West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $2,138 across 35 hospitalsVA$2,138Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,661 across 26 hospitalsAZ$1,661New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: median $974 across 11 hospitalsAR$974Tennessee: median $878 across 33 hospitalsTN$878North Carolina: median $1,162 across 42 hospitalsNC$1,162South Carolina: median $2,155 across 31 hospitalsSC$2,155Oklahoma: median $1,261 across 26 hospitalsOK$1,261Louisiana: median $1,553 across 23 hospitalsLA$1,553Mississippi: median $1,249 across 23 hospitalsMS$1,249Alabama: median $1,583 across 14 hospitalsAL$1,583Georgia: median $1,648 across 56 hospitalsGA$1,648Hawaii: median $1,425 across 10 hospitalsHI$1,425Texas: median $1,950 across 114 hospitalsTX$1,950Florida: median $2,114 across 80 hospitalsFL$2,114
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,918. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA128$2,845+48%$1,487 – $4,786
Idaho ID13$2,766+44%$1,300 – $4,347
Utah UT23$2,766+44%$2,766 – $3,254
Ohio OH97$2,758+44%$1,155 – $5,014
Pennsylvania PA75$2,516+31%$1,438 – $3,513
Colorado CO35$2,474+29%$1,394 – $5,966
New Jersey NJ51$2,163+13%$1,794 – $4,627
South Carolina SC31$2,155+12%$1,708 – $2,410
Virginia VA35$2,138+11%$802 – $2,608
Florida FL80$2,114+10%$1,327 – $5,204
Illinois IL68$2,073+8%$785 – $3,124
Wisconsin WI70$2,066+8%$1,567 – $2,898
Massachusetts MA29$1,959+2%$688 – $4,162
Oregon OR33$1,953+2%$613 – $4,437
New York NY55$1,951+2%$1,369 – $3,506
Texas TX114$1,950+2%$1,547 – $2,967
Montana MT12$1,842−4%$1,094 – $1,992
Michigan MI62$1,839−4%$180 – $2,538
Missouri MO40$1,694−12%$1,117 – $2,998
Arizona AZ26$1,661−13%$795 – $8,360
Georgia GA56$1,648−14%$1,442 – $3,938
Indiana IN45$1,591−17%$890 – $2,195
Alabama AL14$1,583−17%$867 – $2,377
Iowa IA24$1,580−18%$849 – $2,860
Connecticut CT16$1,564−18%$1,161 – $2,164
Louisiana LA23$1,553−19%$768 – $1,895
Hawaii HI10$1,425−26%$953 – $3,718
Minnesota MN37$1,313−32%$1,154 – $2,911
Oklahoma OK26$1,261−34%$468 – $1,511
Washington WA38$1,257−34%$1,037 – $2,757
Mississippi MS23$1,249−35%$505 – $1,309
Nebraska NE18$1,166−39%$849 – $2,054
North Carolina NC42$1,162−39%$818 – $2,293
Kentucky KY10$1,141−40%$408 – $6,506
Arkansas AR11$974−49%$467 – $1,239
Tennessee TN33$878−54%$419 – $1,014
Kansas KS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not 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 $1,918.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,382$1,917$1,052 – $3,381
Children’s46$2,021$1,098 – $4,365
Critical access149$1,950$1,086 – $2,898
Ownership
For-profit135$1,841$1,151 – $4,315
Government191$1,484$713 – $2,553
Non-profit1,251$1,992$1,101 – $3,381
System affiliation
Part of a system1,397$1,951$1,099 – $3,381
Independent188$1,641$749 – $3,367

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,381
Median cash price$1,918
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

1,245 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,034 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,103; most fall between $1,130 and $3,489.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,245 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
$714$1,257$2,034$2,998$4,844

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($714 vs $4,844).

Of the 1,331 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,245 gave a usable cash price; 40 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 46 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,585 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (40%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,696 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,585
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here55
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded52
Hospitals that filed this code1,696

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 gastrointestinal therapeutic procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Sclerotherapy Fluid Collection Prq W/Img Gid.

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, “Injection to shrink a fluid pocket, through the skin (CPT 49185) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-49185-injection-to-shrink-a-fluid-pocket-through-the-skin