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Procedure price report · Insertion, replacement, or removal of extracranial ventricular shunt

Skull burr hole to place a brain catheter or monitor

CPT 61210the billing code this page is about

A small hole is drilled in the skull to insert a ventricular drainage tube, reservoir, electrode, or pressure-monitoring device.

Hospitals typically charge $2,048 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 628 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,358. Most fall between $799 and $5,384 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
628
States
48
Filings dated
Jun 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 628 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
$535$862$2,048$4,451$7,357

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($535 vs $7,357).

How the prices are spread

$267 – $389: 26 hospitals$267$389 – $565: 16 hospitals$565 – $822: 66 hospitals$565$822 – $1,194: 59 hospitals$1,194 – $1,737: 70 hospitals$1,194$1,737 – $2,525: 98 hospitals$2,525 – $3,671: 68 hospitals$2,525$3,671 – $5,337: 64 hospitals$5,337 – $7,760: 71 hospitals$5,337$7,760 – $11,282: 31 hospitals$7,760median $2,048price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (569 of 628 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$267$38926
$389$56516
$565$82266
$822$1,19459
$1,194$1,73770
$1,737$2,52598
$2,525$3,67168
$3,671$5,33764
$5,337$7,76071
$7,760$11,28231

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $2,048.

Alaska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $978 across 28 hospitalsWA$978Idaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 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 $1,924 across 16 hospitalsMN$1,924Illinois: median $1,532 across 26 hospitalsIL$1,532Wisconsin: median $1,858 across 32 hospitalsWI$1,858Michigan: median $2,105 across 29 hospitalsMI$2,105New York: median $1,295 across 14 hospitalsNY$1,295Massachusetts: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $2,113 across 23 hospitalsOR$2,113Nevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $862 across 18 hospitalsIA$862Indiana: median $1,936 across 17 hospitalsIN$1,936Ohio: median $2,965 across 29 hospitalsOH$2,965Pennsylvania: median $1,718 across 24 hospitalsPA$1,718New Jersey: median $4,627 across 21 hospitalsNJ$4,627Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $2,987 across 51 hospitalsCA$2,987Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,243 across 11 hospitalsCO$1,243Nebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $8,493 across 13 hospitalsMO$8,493Kentucky: median $4,374 across 11 hospitalsKY$4,374West Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $3,266 across 26 hospitalsVA$3,266Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $19,502 across 11 hospitalsAZ$19,502New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $267 across 16 hospitalsTN$267North Carolina: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $765 across 11 hospitalsOK$765Louisiana: median $1,981 across 12 hospitalsLA$1,981Mississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $6,516 across 16 hospitalsGA$6,516Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,448 across 60 hospitalsTX$1,448Florida: median $1,516 across 21 hospitalsFL$1,516
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,048. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Arizona AZ11$19,502+852%$4,689 – $19,502
Missouri MO13$8,493+315%$589 – $8,493
Georgia GA16$6,516+218%$1,242 – $6,516
New Jersey NJ21$4,627+126%$2,139 – $5,592
Kentucky KY11$4,374+114%$853 – $4,374
Virginia VA26$3,266+59%$267 – $3,380
California CA51$2,987+46%$1,250 – $6,844
Ohio OH29$2,965+45%$1,359 – $2,965
Oregon OR23$2,113+3%$673 – $6,650
Michigan MI29$2,105+3%$636 – $3,903
Louisiana LA12$1,981−3%$690 – $3,871
Indiana IN17$1,936−5%$1,447 – $2,617
Minnesota MN16$1,924−6%$887 – $2,257
Wisconsin WI32$1,858−9%$1,660 – $5,371
Pennsylvania PA24$1,718−16%$237 – $4,087
Illinois IL26$1,532−25%$673 – $2,941
Florida FL21$1,516−26%$128 – $4,248
Texas TX60$1,448−29%$807 – $5,672
New York NY14$1,295−37%$464 – $5,327
Colorado CO11$1,243−39%$1,066 – $1,320
Washington WA28$978−52%$804 – $9,246
Iowa IA18$862−58%$799 – $862
Oklahoma OK11$765−63%$765 – $765
Tennessee TN16$267−87%$267 – $548
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $2,048.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care529$2,113$799 – $5,672
Children’s20$1,359$688 – $3,295
Critical access78$1,924$973 – $5,307
Ownership
For-profit44$2,395$656 – $19,359
Government62$1,379$671 – $4,374
Non-profit521$2,101$807 – $5,307
System affiliation
Part of a system556$2,108$807 – $5,419
Independent72$1,088$638 – $4,849

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,860
Median cash price$2,048
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

474 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,985 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,389; most fall between $794 and $5,672.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 474 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
$420$862$1,985$4,451$7,357

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($420 vs $7,357).

Of the 512 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 474 gave a usable cash price; 20 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

628 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (16%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 707 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted628
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here36
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded42
Hospitals that filed this code707

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Insertion, replacement, or removal of extracranial ventricular shunt family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Burr Hole Implant Ventricular Cath/Other Device.

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, “Skull burr hole to place a brain catheter or monitor (CPT 61210) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-61210-skull-burr-hole-to-place-a-brain-catheter-or-monitor