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Procedure price report · Nonoperative removal of foreign body

Removal of an object from the ear canal without anesthesia

CPT 69200the billing code this page is about

Taking a foreign object out of the external ear canal in the office or clinic, without the use of anesthesia.

Hospitals typically charge $185 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,728 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $191. Most fall between $96 and $324 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,728
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 2,728 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
$69$109$185$292$442

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($69 vs $442).

How the prices are spread

$56 – $71: 166 hospitals$56$71 – $90: 185 hospitals$90 – $114: 242 hospitals$90$114 – $146: 299 hospitals$146 – $185: 342 hospitals$146$185 – $236: 378 hospitals$236 – $300: 344 hospitals$236$300 – $382: 259 hospitals$382 – $486: 168 hospitals$382$486 – $618: 73 hospitals$486median $185price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,456 of 2,728 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$56$71166
$71$90185
$90$114242
$114$146299
$146$185342
$185$236378
$236$300344
$300$382259
$382$486168
$486$61873

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$136
Median cash price$185
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.36×

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 $185.

Alaska: median $330 across 16 hospitalsAK$330Maine: median $125 across 22 hospitalsME$125Vermont: median $204 across 12 hospitalsVT$204New Hampshire: median $90 across 19 hospitalsNH$90Washington: median $220 across 71 hospitalsWA$220Idaho: median $180 across 21 hospitalsID$180Montana: median $138 across 31 hospitalsMT$138North Dakota: median $217 across 25 hospitalsND$217Minnesota: median $178 across 94 hospitalsMN$178Illinois: median $190 across 118 hospitalsIL$190Wisconsin: median $157 across 99 hospitalsWI$157Michigan: median $144 across 76 hospitalsMI$144New York: median $164 across 100 hospitalsNY$164Massachusetts: median $243 across 43 hospitalsMA$243Oregon: median $143 across 53 hospitalsOR$143Nevada: median $242 across 17 hospitalsNV$242Wyoming: median $170 across 14 hospitalsWY$170South Dakota: median $235 across 33 hospitalsSD$235Iowa: median $116 across 85 hospitalsIA$116Indiana: median $195 across 60 hospitalsIN$195Ohio: median $242 across 105 hospitalsOH$242Pennsylvania: median $194 across 118 hospitalsPA$194New Jersey: median $172 across 55 hospitalsNJ$172Connecticut: median $217 across 19 hospitalsCT$217Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $328 across 145 hospitalsCA$328Utah: median $413 across 28 hospitalsUT$413Colorado: median $186 across 50 hospitalsCO$186Nebraska: median $169 across 72 hospitalsNE$169Missouri: median $136 across 58 hospitalsMO$136Kentucky: median $175 across 48 hospitalsKY$175West Virginia: median $133 across 40 hospitalsWV$133Virginia: median $193 across 55 hospitalsVA$193Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $190 across 27 hospitalsAZ$190New Mexico: median $193 across 26 hospitalsNM$193Kansas: median $136 across 77 hospitalsKS$136Arkansas: median $204 across 35 hospitalsAR$204Tennessee: median $107 across 53 hospitalsTN$107North Carolina: median $160 across 58 hospitalsNC$160South Carolina: median $253 across 45 hospitalsSC$253Oklahoma: median $99 across 64 hospitalsOK$99Louisiana: median $83 across 49 hospitalsLA$83Mississippi: median $104 across 53 hospitalsMS$104Alabama: median $136 across 29 hospitalsAL$136Georgia: median $208 across 90 hospitalsGA$208Hawaii: median $293 across 17 hospitalsHI$293Texas: median $197 across 183 hospitalsTX$197Florida: median $302 across 105 hospitalsFL$302
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $185. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT28$413+123%$271 – $442
Alaska AK16$330+79%$194 – $484
California CA145$328+77%$170 – $522
Florida FL105$302+63%$120 – $593
Hawaii HI17$293+58%$240 – $321
South Carolina SC45$253+37%$137 – $395
Massachusetts MA43$243+31%$137 – $518
Ohio OH105$242+31%$125 – $335
Nevada NV17$242+31%$144 – $332
South Dakota SD33$235+27%$101 – $294
Washington WA71$220+19%$133 – $331
North Dakota ND25$217+17%$100 – $271
Connecticut CT19$217+17%$136 – $292
Georgia GA90$208+13%$105 – $369
Arkansas AR35$204+10%$70 – $216
Vermont VT12$204+10%$113 – $247
Texas TX183$197+7%$123 – $349
Indiana IN60$195+5%$124 – $318
Pennsylvania PA118$194+5%$103 – $385
New Mexico NM26$193+5%$113 – $274
Virginia VA55$193+5%$113 – $251
Arizona AZ27$190+3%$91 – $517
Illinois IL118$190+3%$88 – $318
Colorado CO50$186+1%$102 – $272
Idaho ID21$180−3%$90 – $360
Minnesota MN94$178−4%$111 – $282
Kentucky KY48$175−5%$90 – $262
New Jersey NJ55$172−7%$143 – $3,786
Wyoming WY14$170−8%$59 – $266
Nebraska NE72$169−9%$100 – $236
New York NY100$164−11%$91 – $319
North Carolina NC58$160−13%$77 – $220
Wisconsin WI99$157−15%$75 – $215
Michigan MI76$144−22%$71 – $244
Oregon OR53$143−23%$97 – $249
Montana MT31$138−25%$96 – $178
Kansas KS77$136−27%$83 – $243
Missouri MO58$136−27%$89 – $213
Alabama AL29$136−27%$65 – $317
West Virginia WV40$133−28%$111 – $260
Maine ME22$125−32%$72 – $170
Iowa IA85$116−37%$83 – $198
Tennessee TN53$107−42%$64 – $220
Mississippi MS53$104−44%$51 – $181
Oklahoma OK64$99−47%$57 – $231
New Hampshire NH19$90−51%$51 – $191
Louisiana LA49$83−55%$59 – $185
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not 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 $185.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,792$197$101 – $354
Children’s54$314$150 – $554
Critical access876$157$87 – $251
Ownership
For-profit293$240$121 – $477
Government576$153$86 – $262
Non-profit1,853$189$98 – $327
System affiliation
Part of a system2,159$193$100 – $335
Independent569$151$85 – $266

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$298
Median cash price$185
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

1,993 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $196 and the average of the middle 60% is $203; most fall between $101 and $335.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,993 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
$71$115$196$304$441

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($71 vs $441).

Of the 2,134 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,993 gave a usable cash price; 50 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 91 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,728 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (69%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,919 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,728
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here81
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded10
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded100
Hospitals that filed this code2,919

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 July 20, 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 Nonoperative removal of foreign body family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Rmvl FB Xtrnl Auditory Canal W/O Anes.

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, “Removal of an object from the ear canal without anesthesia (CPT 69200) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69200-removal-of-an-object-from-the-ear-canal-without-anesthesia