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Procedure price report · Laminectomy, excision intervertebral disc

Open decompression of the spinal canal in the mid-back

CPT 63003the billing code this page is about

Removal of bone from the back of one or two thoracic vertebrae to open the spinal canal and relieve pressure on the spinal cord, with exploration of the canal.

Hospitals typically charge $5,748 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 372 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $5,956. Most fall between $2,305 and $11,738 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
372
States
44
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 372 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
$1,641$2,507$5,748$9,978$19,466

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,641 vs $19,466).

How the prices are spread

$945 – $1,282: 11 hospitals$945$1,282 – $1,739: 13 hospitals$1,739 – $2,360: 34 hospitals$1,739$2,360 – $3,202: 43 hospitals$3,202 – $4,344: 22 hospitals$3,202$4,344 – $5,893: 55 hospitals$5,893 – $7,995: 41 hospitals$5,893$7,995 – $10,848: 57 hospitals$10,848 – $14,717: 28 hospitals$10,848$14,717 – $19,967: 32 hospitals$14,717median $5,748price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (336 of 372 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$945$1,28211
$1,282$1,73913
$1,739$2,36034
$2,360$3,20243
$3,202$4,34422
$4,344$5,89355
$5,893$7,99541
$7,995$10,84857
$10,848$14,71728
$14,717$19,96732

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$7,413
Median cash price$5,748
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.78×

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 $5,748.

Alaska: 1 hospital 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: median $7,475 across 10 hospitalsID$7,475Montana: 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: median $10,096 across 15 hospitalsMN$10,096Illinois: median $5,609 across 17 hospitalsIL$5,609Wisconsin: median $5,191 across 26 hospitalsWI$5,191Michigan: median $2,422 across 26 hospitalsMI$2,422New York: median $8,454 across 38 hospitalsNY$8,454Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 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 $2,944 across 17 hospitalsIA$2,944Indiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $4,612 across 14 hospitalsOH$4,612Pennsylvania: median $808 across 18 hospitalsPA$808New Jersey: median $6,839 across 23 hospitalsNJ$6,839Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $19,466 across 39 hospitalsCA$19,466Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 7 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $2,034 across 13 hospitalsOK$2,034Louisiana: 6 hospitals 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: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $7,734 across 22 hospitalsTX$7,734Florida: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $5,748. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA39$19,466+239%$8,590 – $19,466
Minnesota MN15$10,096+76%$2,314 – $10,096
New York NY38$8,454+47%$3,855 – $13,784
Texas TX22$7,734+35%$4,169 – $7,734
Idaho ID10$7,475+30%$3,318 – $14,738
New Jersey NJ23$6,839+19%$4,881 – $7,914
Illinois IL17$5,609−2%$973 – $7,094
Wisconsin WI26$5,191−10%$5,191 – $12,371
Ohio OH14$4,612−20%$3,061 – $7,861
Iowa IA17$2,944−49%$2,944 – $2,944
Michigan MI26$2,422−58%$2,422 – $5,191
Oklahoma OK13$2,034−65%$2,034 – $12,800
Pennsylvania PA18$808−86%$330 – $12,077
Florida FL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $5,748.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care308$6,265$2,305 – $12,751
Children’s8fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access55$5,191$2,314 – $10,096
Ownership
For-profit37$7,475$1,676 – $14,940
Government46$5,094$2,370 – $8,904
Non-profit288$5,694$2,405 – $12,077
System affiliation
Part of a system302$6,085$2,405 – $12,371
Independent70$3,855$2,198 – $9,388

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$6,368
Median cash price$5,748
Cash as a share of list, median hospital64%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 36%. 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

207 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $4,408 and the average of the middle 60% is $4,703; most fall between $1,765 and $8,590.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 207 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
$973$2,034$4,408$7,999$19,018

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($973 vs $19,018).

Of the 236 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 207 gave a usable cash price; 22 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 7 a list price only.

How complete is this

372 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 411 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted372
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here33
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded4
Hospitals that filed this code411

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 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 Laminectomy, excision intervertebral disc family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Laminectomy W/O Ffd 1/2 Vert Seg Thoracic.

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, “Open decompression of the spinal canal in the mid-back (CPT 63003) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-63003-open-decompression-of-the-spinal-canal-in-the-mid-back