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Procedure price report · Lens and cataract procedures

Cataract removal through the back of the eye

CPT 66852the billing code this page is about

Lens material is removed using an approach through the pars plana at the back of the eye, with or without removal of vitreous gel; no artificial lens is implanted under this code.

Hospitals typically charge $4,457 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 317 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $4,396. Most fall between $1,604 and $7,832 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
317
States
43
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 317 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
$950$2,094$4,457$6,644$11,956

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($950 vs $11,956).

How the prices are spread

$925 – $1,195: 21 hospitals$925$1,195 – $1,544: 26 hospitals$1,544 – $1,994: 13 hospitals$1,544$1,994 – $2,575: 26 hospitals$2,575 – $3,326: 23 hospitals$2,575$3,326 – $4,296: 27 hospitals$4,296 – $5,549: 43 hospitals$4,296$5,549 – $7,167: 56 hospitals$7,167 – $9,257: 27 hospitals$7,167$9,257 – $11,956: 27 hospitals$9,257median $4,457price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (289 of 317 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$925$1,19521
$1,195$1,54426
$1,544$1,99413
$1,994$2,57526
$2,575$3,32623
$3,326$4,29627
$4,296$5,54943
$5,549$7,16756
$7,167$9,25727
$9,257$11,95627

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$4,223
Median cash price$4,457
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.06×

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 $4,457.

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: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,883 across 14 hospitalsIL$1,883Wisconsin: median $4,014 across 13 hospitalsWI$4,014Michigan: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $5,160 across 37 hospitalsNY$5,160Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $2,094 across 14 hospitalsIA$2,094Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $622 across 18 hospitalsPA$622New Jersey: median $4,738 across 23 hospitalsNJ$4,738Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $11,956 across 40 hospitalsCA$11,956Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 2 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: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 5 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: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $1,361 across 12 hospitalsOK$1,361Louisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $5,627 across 22 hospitalsTX$5,627Florida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $4,457. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA40$11,956+168%$6,505 – $11,956
Texas TX22$5,627+26%$3,928 – $5,722
New York NY37$5,160+16%$4,760 – $9,188
New Jersey NJ23$4,738+6%$4,397 – $5,419
Wisconsin WI13$4,014−10%$4,014 – $7,084
Iowa IA14$2,094−53%$2,094 – $2,094
Illinois IL14$1,883−58%$932 – $4,517
Oklahoma OK12$1,361−69%$1,361 – $1,361
Pennsylvania PA18$622−86%$506 – $6,801
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $4,457.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care280$4,760$1,729 – $8,229
Children’s6fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access31$4,014$1,310 – $7,084
Ownership
For-profit33$3,845$932 – $8,296
Government38$3,831$1,729 – $6,264
Non-profit246$4,627$1,832 – $7,993
System affiliation
Part of a system265$4,760$1,604 – $7,661
Independent52$3,200$1,576 – $8,296

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$5,168
Median cash price$4,457
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

181 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $3,128 and the average of the middle 60% is $3,680; most fall between $1,361 and $6,644.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 181 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
$932$1,420$3,128$6,505$11,956

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($932 vs $11,956).

Of the 190 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 181 gave a usable cash price; 8 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 1 a list price only.

How complete is this

317 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 346 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted317
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here23
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded2
Hospitals that filed this code346

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 Lens and cataract procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Remv Lens Material,Pars Planar Apprc.

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, “Cataract removal through the back of the eye (CPT 66852) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-66852-cataract-removal-through-the-back-of-the-eye