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Procedure price report · Fetal monitoring

Contraction stress test of the fetus

CPT 59020the billing code this page is about

The fetal heart rate is monitored during uterine contractions to check how the fetus responds.

Hospitals typically charge $427 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,647 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $444. Most fall between $198 and $808 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,647
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 1,647 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
$116$229$427$718$1,193

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($116 vs $1,193).

How the prices are spread

$88 – $117: 86 hospitals$88$117 – $157: 69 hospitals$157 – $209: 123 hospitals$157$209 – $279: 191 hospitals$279 – $373: 180 hospitals$279$373 – $498: 218 hospitals$498 – $664: 258 hospitals$498$664 – $887: 174 hospitals$887 – $1,184: 98 hospitals$887$1,184 – $1,580: 91 hospitals$1,184median $427price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,488 of 1,647 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$88$11786
$117$15769
$157$209123
$209$279191
$279$373180
$373$498218
$498$664258
$664$887174
$887$1,18498
$1,184$1,58091

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$207
Median cash price$427
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.1×

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 $427.

Alaska: median $347 across 10 hospitalsAK$347Maine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: median $375 across 10 hospitalsVT$375New Hampshire: median $202 across 12 hospitalsNH$202Washington: median $321 across 43 hospitalsWA$321Idaho: median $562 across 12 hospitalsID$562Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $207 across 10 hospitalsND$207Minnesota: median $356 across 21 hospitalsMN$356Illinois: median $403 across 64 hospitalsIL$403Wisconsin: median $478 across 37 hospitalsWI$478Michigan: median $324 across 45 hospitalsMI$324New York: median $252 across 65 hospitalsNY$252Massachusetts: median $554 across 24 hospitalsMA$554Oregon: median $396 across 35 hospitalsOR$396Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: median $390 across 11 hospitalsWY$390South Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $195 across 29 hospitalsIA$195Indiana: median $500 across 41 hospitalsIN$500Ohio: median $523 across 78 hospitalsOH$523Pennsylvania: median $340 across 47 hospitalsPA$340New Jersey: median $745 across 45 hospitalsNJ$745Connecticut: median $311 across 10 hospitalsCT$311Rhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $544 across 139 hospitalsCA$544Utah: median $140 across 32 hospitalsUT$140Colorado: median $471 across 40 hospitalsCO$471Nebraska: median $194 across 18 hospitalsNE$194Missouri: median $398 across 33 hospitalsMO$398Kentucky: median $470 across 27 hospitalsKY$470West Virginia: median $390 across 17 hospitalsWV$390Virginia: median $419 across 39 hospitalsVA$419Maryland: median $939 across 13 hospitalsMD$939Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $419 across 23 hospitalsAZ$419New Mexico: median $395 across 16 hospitalsNM$395Kansas: median $488 across 21 hospitalsKS$488Arkansas: median $265 across 16 hospitalsAR$265Tennessee: median $190 across 48 hospitalsTN$190North Carolina: median $329 across 57 hospitalsNC$329South Carolina: median $657 across 35 hospitalsSC$657Oklahoma: median $204 across 37 hospitalsOK$204Louisiana: median $325 across 33 hospitalsLA$325Mississippi: median $244 across 28 hospitalsMS$244Alabama: median $240 across 25 hospitalsAL$240Georgia: median $1,013 across 59 hospitalsGA$1,013Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $586 across 127 hospitalsTX$586Florida: median $665 across 74 hospitalsFL$665
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $427. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA59$1,013+137%$332 – $1,059
Maryland MD13$939+120%$786 – $1,413
New Jersey NJ45$745+74%$223 – $4,350
Florida FL74$665+55%$211 – $1,325
South Carolina SC35$657+54%$365 – $725
Texas TX127$586+37%$442 – $791
Idaho ID12$562+31%$181 – $881
Massachusetts MA24$554+30%$253 – $756
California CA139$544+27%$322 – $1,258
Ohio OH78$523+22%$268 – $790
Indiana IN41$500+17%$334 – $873
Kansas KS21$488+14%$176 – $2,166
Wisconsin WI37$478+12%$184 – $494
Colorado CO40$471+10%$194 – $734
Kentucky KY27$470+10%$134 – $1,484
Virginia VA39$419−2%$272 – $675
Arizona AZ23$419−2%$299 – $724
Illinois IL64$403−6%$163 – $562
Missouri MO33$398−7%$226 – $1,194
Oregon OR35$396−7%$88 – $530
New Mexico NM16$395−8%$299 – $491
Wyoming WY11$390−9%$213 – $675
West Virginia WV17$390−9%$301 – $476
Vermont VT10$375−12%$220 – $827
Minnesota MN21$356−17%$87 – $442
Alaska AK10$347−19%$256 – $654
Pennsylvania PA47$340−20%$116 – $781
North Carolina NC57$329−23%$226 – $656
Louisiana LA33$325−24%$179 – $579
Michigan MI45$324−24%$258 – $581
Washington WA43$321−25%$262 – $490
Connecticut CT10$311−27%$201 – $1,036
Arkansas AR16$265−38%$156 – $439
New York NY65$252−41%$110 – $865
Mississippi MS28$244−43%$160 – $309
Alabama AL25$240−44%$129 – $539
North Dakota ND10$207−52%$198 – $314
Oklahoma OK37$204−52%$103 – $469
New Hampshire NH12$202−53%$41 – $296
Iowa IA29$195−54%$92 – $464
Nebraska NE18$194−55%$116 – $342
Tennessee TN48$190−56%$107 – $263
Utah UT32$140−67%$112 – $351
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not 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 $427.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,401$434$201 – $832
Children’s17fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access224$349$150 – $625
Ownership
For-profit212$574$234 – $1,222
Government259$346$163 – $655
Non-profit1,171$427$201 – $804
System affiliation
Part of a system1,395$437$207 – $813
Independent252$343$145 – $701

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$740
Median cash price$427
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

1,238 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $443 and the average of the middle 60% is $463; most fall between $202 and $804.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,238 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
$117$239$443$724$1,061

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($117 vs $1,061).

Of the 1,334 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,238 gave a usable cash price; 36 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 60 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,647 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (42%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,790 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,647
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here66
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded77
Hospitals that filed this code1,790

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 Fetal monitoring family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Fetal Contraction Stress Test|PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT.

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, “Contraction stress test of the fetus (CPT 59020) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-59020-contraction-stress-test-of-the-fetus