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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Dye injection for x-ray imaging of tear ducts

CPT 68850the billing code this page is about

Injection of contrast dye into the tear drainage system so the ducts can be seen on imaging; covers the injection only, not the x-ray images.

Hospitals typically charge $241 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 388 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $312. Most fall between $85 and $977 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
388
States
46
Filings dated
Dec 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 388 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
$60$107$241$744$1,535

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 26× what the cheapest tenth charges ($60 vs $1,535).

How the prices are spread

$50 – $74: 43 hospitals$50$74 – $108: 38 hospitals$108 – $159: 31 hospitals$108$159 – $234: 63 hospitals$234 – $343: 38 hospitals$234$343 – $504: 43 hospitals$504 – $741: 15 hospitals$504$741 – $1,089: 34 hospitals$1,089 – $1,601: 30 hospitals$1,089$1,601 – $2,353: 16 hospitals$1,601median $241price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (351 of 388 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$50$7443
$74$10838
$108$15931
$159$23463
$234$34338
$343$50443
$504$74115
$741$1,08934
$1,089$1,60130
$1,601$2,35316

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $241.

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: median $225 across 12 hospitalsWA$225Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $360 across 20 hospitalsMN$360Illinois: median $112 across 19 hospitalsIL$112Wisconsin: median $744 across 17 hospitalsWI$744Michigan: median $386 across 16 hospitalsMI$386New York: median $122 across 10 hospitalsNY$122Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital 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 $196 across 14 hospitalsIA$196Indiana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $268 across 23 hospitalsOH$268Pennsylvania: median $78 across 21 hospitalsPA$78New Jersey: median $4,881 across 15 hospitalsNJ$4,881Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $178 across 30 hospitalsCA$178Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $977 across 16 hospitalsVA$977Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $213 across 26 hospitalsNC$213South Carolina: median $1,255 across 12 hospitalsSC$1,255Oklahoma: median $85 across 10 hospitalsOK$85Louisiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $504 across 11 hospitalsGA$504Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $428 across 11 hospitalsTX$428Florida: median $271 across 14 hospitalsFL$271
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $241. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ15$4,881+1925%$3,786 – $5,741
South Carolina SC12$1,255+421%$1,255 – $1,255
Virginia VA16$977+305%$59 – $1,046
Wisconsin WI17$744+209%$609 – $744
Georgia GA11$504+109%$504 – $504
Texas TX11$428+77%$201 – $428
Michigan MI16$386+60%$65 – $386
Minnesota MN20$360+49%$67 – $422
Florida FL14$271+13%$271 – $271
Ohio OH23$268+11%$72 – $404
Washington WA12$225−7%$225 – $1,243
North Carolina NC26$213−12%$58 – $1,882
Iowa IA14$196−19%$196 – $196
California CA30$178−26%$178 – $670
New York NY10$122−50%$58 – $133
Illinois IL19$112−54%$47 – $322
Oklahoma OK10$85−65%$85 – $85
Pennsylvania PA21$78−68%$33 – $108
Louisiana LA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not 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 $241.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care338$213$85 – $964
Children’s11fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access38$422$135 – $888
Ownership
For-profit31$148$50 – $744
Government45$213$97 – $513
Non-profit311$268$85 – $1,046
System affiliation
Part of a system345$268$85 – $977
Independent43$138$86 – $948

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$404
Median cash price$241
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

310 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $225 and the average of the middle 60% is $307; most fall between $85 and $744.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 310 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
$62$123$225$702$1,255

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 20× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $1,255).

Of the 333 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 310 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 15 a list price only.

How complete is this

388 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (10%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 429 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted388
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here12
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 — excluded28
Hospitals that filed this code429

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 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Injection for Tear Sac X-Ray.

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, “Dye injection for x-ray imaging of tear ducts (CPT 68850) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-68850-dye-injection-for-x-ray-imaging-of-tear-ducts