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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic procedures, female organs

Magnified exam of the vulva

CPT 56820the billing code this page is about

Examination of the vulva using a lighted magnifying instrument, without tissue sampling.

Hospitals typically charge $249 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,024 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $271. Most fall between $131 and $483 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,024
States
48
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 1,024 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
$90$148$249$429$646

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($90 vs $646).

How the prices are spread

$73 – $96: 86 hospitals$73$96 – $127: 54 hospitals$127 – $167: 122 hospitals$127$167 – $220: 112 hospitals$220 – $289: 154 hospitals$220$289 – $380: 153 hospitals$380 – $501: 102 hospitals$380$501 – $659: 92 hospitals$659 – $867: 32 hospitals$659$867 – $1,142: 18 hospitals$867median $249price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (925 of 1,024 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$73$9686
$96$12754
$127$167122
$167$220112
$220$289154
$289$380153
$380$501102
$501$65992
$659$86732
$867$1,14218

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$207
Median cash price$249
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.20×

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 $249.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $95 across 10 hospitalsNH$95Washington: median $330 across 34 hospitalsWA$330Idaho: median $276 across 10 hospitalsID$276Montana: median $206 across 11 hospitalsMT$206North Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $288 across 35 hospitalsMN$288Illinois: median $292 across 35 hospitalsIL$292Wisconsin: median $314 across 48 hospitalsWI$314Michigan: median $193 across 58 hospitalsMI$193New York: median $245 across 55 hospitalsNY$245Massachusetts: median $296 across 18 hospitalsMA$296Oregon: median $229 across 29 hospitalsOR$229Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $295 across 30 hospitalsIA$295Indiana: median $160 across 25 hospitalsIN$160Ohio: median $352 across 56 hospitalsOH$352Pennsylvania: median $239 across 45 hospitalsPA$239New Jersey: median $1,186 across 36 hospitalsNJ$1,186Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $361 across 75 hospitalsCA$361Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $321 across 18 hospitalsCO$321Nebraska: median $143 across 11 hospitalsNE$143Missouri: median $171 across 18 hospitalsMO$171Kentucky: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $233 across 17 hospitalsWV$233Virginia: median $262 across 13 hospitalsVA$262Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: median $874 across 12 hospitalsAZ$874New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $216 across 13 hospitalsKS$216Arkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $125 across 19 hospitalsTN$125North Carolina: median $429 across 18 hospitalsNC$429South Carolina: median $242 across 25 hospitalsSC$242Oklahoma: median $139 across 14 hospitalsOK$139Louisiana: median $150 across 20 hospitalsLA$150Mississippi: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $100 across 17 hospitalsGA$100Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $90 across 87 hospitalsTX$90Florida: median $484 across 25 hospitalsFL$484
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $249. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ36$1,186+377%$223 – $4,881
Arizona AZ12$874+251%$248 – $874
Florida FL25$484+94%$418 – $818
North Carolina NC18$429+72%$144 – $429
California CA75$361+45%$242 – $549
Ohio OH56$352+42%$213 – $601
Washington WA34$330+32%$226 – $412
Colorado CO18$321+29%$130 – $519
Wisconsin WI48$314+26%$215 – $354
Massachusetts MA18$296+19%$144 – $489
Iowa IA30$295+19%$127 – $295
Illinois IL35$292+17%$145 – $677
Minnesota MN35$288+16%$166 – $452
Idaho ID10$276+11%$160 – $562
Virginia VA13$262+5%$81 – $311
New York NY55$245−2%$183 – $477
South Carolina SC25$242−3%$161 – $283
Pennsylvania PA45$239−4%$64 – $379
West Virginia WV17$233−7%$88 – $272
Oregon OR29$229−8%$134 – $604
Kansas KS13$216−13%$180 – $1,414
Montana MT11$206−17%$130 – $340
Michigan MI58$193−22%$73 – $320
Missouri MO18$171−31%$124 – $232
Indiana IN25$160−36%$140 – $251
Louisiana LA20$150−40%$84 – $272
Nebraska NE11$143−43%$127 – $212
Oklahoma OK14$139−44%$139 – $410
Tennessee TN19$125−50%$37 – $130
Georgia GA17$100−60%$100 – $291
New Hampshire NH10$95−62%$86 – $148
Texas TX87$90−64%$74 – $237
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not 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 $249.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care800$259$131 – $519
Children’s14fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access209$216$130 – $362
Ownership
For-profit69$203$103 – $511
Government165$254$131 – $429
Non-profit789$252$139 – $515
System affiliation
Part of a system873$259$130 – $497
Independent151$228$143 – $379

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$420
Median cash price$249
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

723 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $262 and the average of the middle 60% is $276; most fall between $130 and $489.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 723 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
$90$145$262$433$601

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($90 vs $601).

Of the 766 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 723 gave a usable cash price; 21 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,024 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (26%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,107 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,024
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here45
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded36
Hospitals that filed this code1,107

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 diagnostic procedures, female organs family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Colposcopy Vulva.

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, “Magnified exam of the vulva (CPT 56820) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-56820-magnified-exam-of-the-vulva