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Procedure price report · Incision and excision of CNS

Upper neck spinal tap with contrast or drug injection

CPT 61055the billing code this page is about

Needle puncture at the top of the neck to inject contrast dye for imaging or to deliver medication into the spinal fluid.

Hospitals typically charge $818 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,010 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $858. Most fall between $342 and $1,607 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,010
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 1,010 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
$244$392$818$1,367$2,671

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($244 vs $2,671).

How the prices are spread

$157 – $215: 37 hospitals$157$215 – $294: 58 hospitals$294 – $402: 116 hospitals$294$402 – $550: 98 hospitals$550 – $753: 105 hospitals$550$753 – $1,030: 151 hospitals$1,030 – $1,409: 158 hospitals$1,030$1,409 – $1,928: 83 hospitals$1,928 – $2,638: 47 hospitals$1,928$2,638 – $3,609: 58 hospitals$2,638median $818price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (911 of 1,010 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$157$21537
$215$29458
$294$402116
$402$55098
$550$753105
$753$1,030151
$1,030$1,409158
$1,409$1,92883
$1,928$2,63847
$2,638$3,60958

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$314
Median cash price$818
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.6×

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 $818.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $963 across 29 hospitalsWA$963Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $399 across 13 hospitalsMN$399Illinois: median $658 across 37 hospitalsIL$658Wisconsin: median $880 across 20 hospitalsWI$880Michigan: median $422 across 24 hospitalsMI$422New York: median $349 across 40 hospitalsNY$349Massachusetts: median $1,950 across 13 hospitalsMA$1,950Oregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $500 across 17 hospitalsIA$500Indiana: median $697 across 39 hospitalsIN$697Ohio: median $986 across 55 hospitalsOH$986Pennsylvania: median $914 across 58 hospitalsPA$914New Jersey: median $847 across 37 hospitalsNJ$847Connecticut: median $383 across 11 hospitalsCT$383Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,365 across 96 hospitalsCA$1,365Utah: median $1,244 across 12 hospitalsUT$1,244Colorado: median $792 across 18 hospitalsCO$792Nebraska: median $545 across 14 hospitalsNE$545Missouri: median $790 across 21 hospitalsMO$790Kentucky: median $3,140 across 12 hospitalsKY$3,140West Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,683 across 18 hospitalsVA$1,683Maryland: 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 $456 across 26 hospitalsAZ$456New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $320 across 15 hospitalsTN$320North Carolina: median $469 across 23 hospitalsNC$469South Carolina: median $545 across 23 hospitalsSC$545Oklahoma: median $421 across 22 hospitalsOK$421Louisiana: median $435 across 17 hospitalsLA$435Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: median $730 across 10 hospitalsAL$730Georgia: median $1,391 across 43 hospitalsGA$1,391Hawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $980 across 104 hospitalsTX$980Florida: median $1,007 across 47 hospitalsFL$1,007
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $818. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kentucky KY12$3,140+284%$273 – $3,140
Massachusetts MA13$1,950+138%$1,173 – $2,785
Virginia VA18$1,683+106%$826 – $3,223
Georgia GA43$1,391+70%$1,163 – $1,676
California CA96$1,365+67%$780 – $3,298
Utah UT12$1,244+52%$1,244 – $1,244
Florida FL47$1,007+23%$680 – $1,253
Ohio OH55$986+21%$140 – $1,324
Texas TX104$980+20%$726 – $1,603
Washington WA29$963+18%$416 – $1,760
Pennsylvania PA58$914+12%$290 – $1,360
Wisconsin WI20$880+8%$657 – $1,277
New Jersey NJ37$847+4%$327 – $5,419
Colorado CO18$792−3%$506 – $1,622
Missouri MO21$790−3%$543 – $1,090
Alabama AL10$730−11%$411 – $1,226
Indiana IN39$697−15%$463 – $868
Illinois IL37$658−20%$274 – $1,786
Nebraska NE14$545−33%$270 – $1,070
South Carolina SC23$545−33%$545 – $1,943
Iowa IA17$500−39%$304 – $1,083
North Carolina NC23$469−43%$211 – $1,309
Arizona AZ26$456−44%$311 – $7,609
Louisiana LA17$435−47%$259 – $1,221
Michigan MI24$422−48%$265 – $766
Oklahoma OK22$421−48%$193 – $762
Minnesota MN13$399−51%$189 – $720
Connecticut CT11$383−53%$299 – $3,064
New York NY40$349−57%$314 – $887
Tennessee TN15$320−61%$153 – $810
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $818.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care910$851$349 – $1,676
Children’s22$720$299 – $2,660
Critical access73$577$260 – $1,126
Ownership
For-profit100$1,007$352 – $1,676
Government126$699$344 – $1,462
Non-profit779$818$345 – $1,655
System affiliation
Part of a system870$854$349 – $1,603
Independent140$554$290 – $1,634

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,544
Median cash price$818
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

767 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $934 and the average of the middle 60% is $952; most fall between $399 and $1,678.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 767 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
$259$464$934$1,508$2,671

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($259 vs $2,671).

Of the 827 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 767 gave a usable cash price; 15 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 45 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,010 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 1,097 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,010
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here35
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded49
Hospitals that filed this code1,097

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 Incision and excision of CNS family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Cisternal/Lateral C1-C2 Puncture W/Injection.

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, “Upper neck spinal tap with contrast or drug injection (CPT 61055) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-61055-upper-neck-spinal-tap-with-contrast-or-drug-injection