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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic ear procedures

Drainage of an abscess in the ear canal

CPT 69020the billing code this page is about

Opening and draining a pocket of pus inside the external ear canal.

Hospitals typically charge $661 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,410 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $674. Most fall between $269 and $1,324 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,410
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 1,410 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
$191$319$661$1,065$1,966

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($191 vs $1,966).

How the prices are spread

$156 – $208: 94 hospitals$156$208 – $279: 131 hospitals$279 – $373: 119 hospitals$279$373 – $499: 128 hospitals$499 – $667: 177 hospitals$499$667 – $893: 238 hospitals$893 – $1,195: 131 hospitals$893$1,195 – $1,599: 111 hospitals$1,599 – $2,139: 83 hospitals$1,599$2,139 – $2,862: 62 hospitals$2,139median $661price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,274 of 1,410 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$156$20894
$208$279131
$279$373119
$373$499128
$499$667177
$667$893238
$893$1,195131
$1,195$1,599111
$1,599$2,13983
$2,139$2,86262

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$723
Median cash price$661
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.91×

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 $661.

Alaska: median $591 across 11 hospitalsAK$591Maine: median $335 across 13 hospitalsME$335Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $219 across 12 hospitalsNH$219Washington: median $862 across 35 hospitalsWA$862Idaho: median $1,000 across 14 hospitalsID$1,000Montana: median $319 across 15 hospitalsMT$319North Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $502 across 43 hospitalsMN$502Illinois: median $614 across 59 hospitalsIL$614Wisconsin: median $500 across 42 hospitalsWI$500Michigan: median $313 across 45 hospitalsMI$313New York: median $884 across 66 hospitalsNY$884Massachusetts: median $678 across 34 hospitalsMA$678Oregon: median $548 across 34 hospitalsOR$548Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $866 across 11 hospitalsSD$866Iowa: median $498 across 32 hospitalsIA$498Indiana: median $203 across 30 hospitalsIN$203Ohio: median $821 across 50 hospitalsOH$821Pennsylvania: median $837 across 64 hospitalsPA$837New Jersey: median $1,739 across 42 hospitalsNJ$1,739Connecticut: median $917 across 13 hospitalsCT$917Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,037 across 104 hospitalsCA$1,037Utah: median $382 across 23 hospitalsUT$382Colorado: median $621 across 28 hospitalsCO$621Nebraska: median $341 across 21 hospitalsNE$341Missouri: median $420 across 33 hospitalsMO$420Kentucky: median $262 across 20 hospitalsKY$262West Virginia: median $230 across 20 hospitalsWV$230Virginia: median $493 across 39 hospitalsVA$493Maryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: median $536 across 12 hospitalsNM$536Kansas: median $303 across 17 hospitalsKS$303Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $396 across 22 hospitalsTN$396North Carolina: median $334 across 31 hospitalsNC$334South Carolina: median $738 across 38 hospitalsSC$738Oklahoma: median $317 across 22 hospitalsOK$317Louisiana: median $291 across 29 hospitalsLA$291Mississippi: median $256 across 29 hospitalsMS$256Alabama: median $632 across 14 hospitalsAL$632Georgia: median $614 across 34 hospitalsGA$614Hawaii: median $1,680 across 13 hospitalsHI$1,680Texas: median $752 across 97 hospitalsTX$752Florida: median $1,408 across 49 hospitalsFL$1,408
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $661. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ42$1,739+163%$779 – $4,750
Hawaii HI13$1,680+154%$940 – $2,356
Florida FL49$1,408+113%$984 – $2,862
California CA104$1,037+57%$621 – $1,966
Idaho ID14$1,000+51%$532 – $1,783
Connecticut CT13$917+39%$644 – $1,708
New York NY66$884+34%$435 – $1,782
South Dakota SD11$866+31%$450 – $1,546
Washington WA35$862+30%$377 – $1,203
Pennsylvania PA64$837+27%$168 – $2,185
Ohio OH50$821+24%$437 – $1,829
Texas TX97$752+14%$656 – $2,049
South Carolina SC38$738+12%$475 – $1,230
Massachusetts MA34$678+3%$258 – $1,784
Alabama AL14$632−4%$228 – $1,006
Colorado CO28$621−6%$382 – $1,891
Georgia GA34$614−7%$191 – $1,003
Illinois IL59$614−7%$233 – $1,532
Alaska AK11$591−11%$253 – $960
Oregon OR34$548−17%$372 – $1,116
New Mexico NM12$536−19%$257 – $892
Minnesota MN43$502−24%$308 – $719
Wisconsin WI42$500−24%$429 – $843
Iowa IA32$498−25%$262 – $709
Virginia VA39$493−25%$467 – $924
Missouri MO33$420−36%$313 – $818
Tennessee TN22$396−40%$257 – $879
Utah UT23$382−42%$362 – $545
Nebraska NE21$341−48%$225 – $523
Maine ME13$335−49%$293 – $698
North Carolina NC31$334−50%$220 – $559
Montana MT15$319−52%$191 – $545
Oklahoma OK22$317−52%$235 – $1,157
Michigan MI45$313−53%$165 – $702
Kansas KS17$303−54%$246 – $425
Louisiana LA29$291−56%$138 – $583
Kentucky KY20$262−60%$181 – $574
Mississippi MS29$256−61%$158 – $412
West Virginia WV20$230−65%$144 – $852
New Hampshire NH12$219−67%$96 – $597
Indiana IN30$203−69%$179 – $708
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $661.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,063$728$295 – $1,434
Children’s39$914$460 – $3,306
Critical access307$412$229 – $750
Ownership
For-profit122$711$265 – $1,223
Government231$467$232 – $958
Non-profit1,056$696$288 – $1,434
System affiliation
Part of a system1,159$701$277 – $1,434
Independent251$502$250 – $1,000

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$952
Median cash price$661
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

1,074 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $666 and the average of the middle 60% is $698; most fall between $292 and $1,332.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,074 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
$207$351$666$1,126$1,966

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($207 vs $1,966).

Of the 1,147 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,074 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 43 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,410 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (36%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,521 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,410
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here61
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded48
Hospitals that filed this code1,521

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 ear procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Drainage External Auditory Canal Abscess.

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, “Drainage of an abscess in the ear canal (CPT 69020) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69020-drainage-of-an-abscess-in-the-ear-canal