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Procedure price report · Incision and excision of CNS

Exploratory opening of the skull, upper brain

CPT 61304the billing code this page is about

The skull is opened over the upper portion of the brain so the surgeon can look inside and examine the area, without a specific planned repair.

Hospitals typically charge $4,305 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 227 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $4,518. Most fall between $2,450 and $7,412 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
227
States
39
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 23, 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 227 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
$1,475$2,635$4,305$6,110$7,704

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,475 vs $7,704).

How the prices are spread

$1,041 – $1,314: 9 hospitals$1,041$1,314 – $1,658: 7 hospitals$1,658 – $2,092: 13 hospitals$1,658$2,092 – $2,640: 17 hospitals$2,640 – $3,332: 33 hospitals$2,640$3,332 – $4,204: 23 hospitals$4,204 – $5,305: 40 hospitals$4,204$5,305 – $6,695: 21 hospitals$6,695 – $8,448: 35 hospitals$6,695$8,448 – $10,660: 7 hospitals$8,448median $4,305price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (205 of 227 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$1,041$1,3149
$1,314$1,6587
$1,658$2,09213
$2,092$2,64017
$2,640$3,33233
$3,332$4,20423
$4,204$5,30540
$5,305$6,69521
$6,695$8,44835
$8,448$10,6607

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $4,305.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $7,704 across 13 hospitalsMN$7,704Illinois: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: median $7,412 across 24 hospitalsWI$7,412Michigan: median $4,557 across 26 hospitalsMI$4,557New York: median $3,001 across 11 hospitalsNY$3,001Massachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: median $3,052 across 10 hospitalsOR$3,052Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $3,863 across 15 hospitalsIA$3,863Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $6,087 across 10 hospitalsOH$6,087Pennsylvania: median $1,210 across 15 hospitalsPA$1,210New Jersey: median $5,110 across 12 hospitalsNJ$5,110Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCAUtah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSCOklahoma: median $2,701 across 10 hospitalsOK$2,701Louisiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $4,305. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Minnesota MN13$7,704+79%$5,604 – $7,704
Wisconsin WI24$7,412+72%$7,412 – $14,039
Ohio OH10$6,087+41%$3,014 – $6,087
New Jersey NJ12$5,110+19%$4,350 – $5,855
Michigan MI26$4,557+6%$2,847 – $4,557
Iowa IA15$3,863−10%$3,863 – $3,863
Oregon OR10$3,052−29%$3,052 – $5,243
New York NY11$3,001−30%$2,083 – $5,160
Oklahoma OK10$2,701−37%$2,701 – $2,701
Pennsylvania PA15$1,210−72%$1,024 – $4,552
Illinois IL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
California CA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not 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 $4,305.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care172$3,863$2,450 – $6,087
Children’s9fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access45$6,566$2,084 – $7,595
Ownership
For-profit14fewer than 20 hospitals
Government24$3,924$2,450 – $6,037
Non-profit188$4,502$2,491 – $7,412
System affiliation
Part of a system189$4,502$2,491 – $7,412
Independent38$3,105$2,083 – $5,604

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$5,500
Median cash price$4,305
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

130 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $3,565 and the average of the middle 60% is $3,416; most fall between $2,084 and $5,660.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 130 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
$1,768$2,491$3,565$4,964$7,412

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,768 vs $7,412).

Of the 147 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 130 gave a usable cash price; 14 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 3 a list price only.

How complete is this

227 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (6%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 257 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted227
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here18
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 — excluded11
Hospitals that filed this code257

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 23, 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 Incision and excision of CNS family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Craniectomy/Craniotomy Expl Supratentorial.

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, “Exploratory opening of the skull, upper brain (CPT 61304) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-61304-exploratory-opening-of-the-skull-upper-brain