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Procedure price report · Incision and excision of CNS

Brain surgery to drain or remove a cyst in the upper brain

CPT 61516the billing code this page is about

Opening of the skull to open up (fenestrate) or remove a fluid-filled cyst in the upper part of the brain.

Hospitals typically charge $4,395 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 160 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $4,604. Most fall between $2,819 and $6,911 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
160
States
36
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 160 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
$1,675$3,007$4,395$5,992$7,198

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,675 vs $7,198).

How the prices are spread

$1,154 – $1,440: 4 hospitals$1,154$1,440 – $1,796: 9 hospitals$1,796 – $2,240: 3 hospitals$1,796$2,240 – $2,794: 6 hospitals$2,794 – $3,485: 24 hospitals$2,794$3,485 – $4,347: 22 hospitals$4,347 – $5,422: 28 hospitals$4,347$5,422 – $6,763: 21 hospitals$6,763 – $8,435: 21 hospitals$6,763$8,435 – $10,521: 7 hospitals$8,435median $4,395price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (145 of 160 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$1,154$1,4404
$1,440$1,7969
$1,796$2,2403
$2,240$2,7946
$2,794$3,48524
$3,485$4,34722
$4,347$5,42228
$5,422$6,76321
$6,763$8,43521
$8,435$10,5217

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $4,395.

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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $5,865 across 23 hospitalsMI$5,865New York: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNYMassachusetts: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMAOregon: median $3,478 across 10 hospitalsOR$3,478Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $4,395 across 14 hospitalsIA$4,395Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: median $6,022 across 10 hospitalsOH$6,022Pennsylvania: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figurePANew 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: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCAUtah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAZNew 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: 2 hospitals 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 $3,913 across 10 hospitalsOK$3,913Louisiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $4,395. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH10$6,022+37%$3,349 – $6,911
Michigan MI23$5,865+33%$2,828 – $7,198
New Jersey NJ12$5,110+16%$4,350 – $5,855
Iowa IA14$4,3950%$4,395 – $4,395
Oklahoma OK10$3,913−11%$3,913 – $3,913
Oregon OR10$3,478−21%$3,478 – $5,992
Illinois IL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New York NY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Pennsylvania PA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
California CA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not 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
Wisconsin WI1not 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 $4,395.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care132$4,395$2,828 – $6,911
Children’s9fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access18fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit11fewer than 20 hospitals
Government19fewer than 20 hospitals
Non-profit129$4,395$2,819 – $6,911
System affiliation
Part of a system126$4,395$2,819 – $6,911
Independent34$4,058$2,654 – $6,022

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$5,578
Median cash price$4,395
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.

How complete is this

160 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (4%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 189 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted160
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here27
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 — excluded1
Hospitals that filed this code189

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 Incision and excision of CNS family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Crnec Treph Bone Flap Crnot Exc/Fenest Cyst Sttl.

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, “Brain surgery to drain or remove a cyst in the upper brain (CPT 61516) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-61516-brain-surgery-to-drain-or-remove-a-cyst-in-the-upper-brain