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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic procedures on eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea

Stretching the tear duct opening of the eyelid

CPT 68801the billing code this page is about

Widening of the small tear drainage opening in the eyelid with a dilating instrument, with or without flushing the passage.

Hospitals typically charge $361 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 537 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $389. Most fall between $143 and $682 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
537
States
46
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 537 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
$104$196$361$614$1,025

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($104 vs $1,025).

How the prices are spread

$77 – $106: 31 hospitals$77$106 – $148: 54 hospitals$148 – $205: 32 hospitals$148$205 – $285: 79 hospitals$285 – $395: 59 hospitals$285$395 – $549: 89 hospitals$549 – $762: 73 hospitals$549$762 – $1,058: 44 hospitals$1,058 – $1,470: 18 hospitals$1,058$1,470 – $2,041: 8 hospitals$1,470median $361price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (487 of 537 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$77$10631
$106$14854
$148$20532
$205$28579
$285$39559
$395$54989
$549$76273
$762$1,05844
$1,058$1,47018
$1,470$2,0418

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$456
Median cash price$361
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.79×

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 $361.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $369 across 24 hospitalsMN$369Illinois: median $230 across 22 hospitalsIL$230Wisconsin: median $283 across 45 hospitalsWI$283Michigan: median $283 across 24 hospitalsMI$283New York: median $472 across 33 hospitalsNY$472Massachusetts: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 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: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $227 across 15 hospitalsIA$227Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $400 across 20 hospitalsOH$400Pennsylvania: median $432 across 24 hospitalsPA$432New Jersey: median $3,113 across 31 hospitalsNJ$3,113Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $656 across 53 hospitalsCA$656Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $267 across 20 hospitalsWV$267Virginia: median $330 across 12 hospitalsVA$330Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $604 across 11 hospitalsNC$604South Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $129 across 18 hospitalsOK$129Louisiana: median $142 across 14 hospitalsLA$142Mississippi: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $81 across 12 hospitalsGA$81Hawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $361 across 28 hospitalsTX$361Florida: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $361. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ31$3,113+764%$442 – $5,110
California CA53$656+82%$449 – $969
North Carolina NC11$604+67%$571 – $604
New York NY33$472+31%$432 – $925
Pennsylvania PA24$432+20%$50 – $752
Ohio OH20$400+11%$186 – $400
Minnesota MN24$369+2%$269 – $620
Texas TX28$3610%$351 – $547
Virginia VA12$330−8%$104 – $330
Michigan MI24$283−21%$171 – $1,369
Wisconsin WI45$283−21%$275 – $603
West Virginia WV20$267−26%$78 – $514
Illinois IL22$230−36%$124 – $679
Iowa IA15$227−37%$227 – $227
Louisiana LA14$142−61%$108 – $426
Oklahoma OK18$129−64%$129 – $274
Georgia GA12$81−78%$81 – $81
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $361.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care440$400$156 – $809
Children’s9fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access88$283$124 – $603
Ownership
For-profit40$267$124 – $636
Government75$390$136 – $604
Non-profit422$369$157 – $752
System affiliation
Part of a system447$369$156 – $682
Independent90$313$136 – $750

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$527
Median cash price$361
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

357 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $330 and the average of the middle 60% is $343; most fall between $129 and $657.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 357 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
$101$175$330$574$969

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($101 vs $969).

Of the 379 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 357 gave a usable cash price; 15 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

537 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (14%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 579 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted537
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 — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded8
Hospitals that filed this code579

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 Other therapeutic procedures on eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Dilation Nasolacrimal Duct.

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, “Stretching the tear duct opening of the eyelid (CPT 68801) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-68801-stretching-the-tear-duct-opening-of-the-eyelid