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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic ear procedures

Removal of an object from the ear canal under anesthesia

CPT 69205the billing code this page is about

Taking a foreign object out of the external ear canal while the patient is under general anesthesia.

Hospitals typically charge $1,553 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,067 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,636. Most fall between $240 and $3,976 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,067
States
49
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 1,067 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
$160$288$1,553$3,464$5,758

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 36× what the cheapest tenth charges ($160 vs $5,758).

How the prices are spread

$129 – $192: 101 hospitals$129$192 – $285: 109 hospitals$285 – $424: 89 hospitals$285$424 – $632: 41 hospitals$632 – $940: 26 hospitals$632$940 – $1,398: 89 hospitals$1,398 – $2,081: 137 hospitals$1,398$2,081 – $3,097: 111 hospitals$3,097 – $4,608: 145 hospitals$3,097$4,608 – $6,856: 113 hospitals$4,608median $1,553price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (961 of 1,067 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$129$192101
$192$285109
$285$42489
$424$63241
$632$94026
$940$1,39889
$1,398$2,081137
$2,081$3,097111
$3,097$4,608145
$4,608$6,856113

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,687
Median cash price$1,553
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.92×

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 $1,553.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $170 across 10 hospitalsME$170Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $2,608 across 32 hospitalsWA$2,608Idaho: median $4,347 across 11 hospitalsID$4,347Montana: median $287 across 12 hospitalsMT$287North Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,221 across 34 hospitalsMN$1,221Illinois: median $319 across 37 hospitalsIL$319Wisconsin: median $1,039 across 36 hospitalsWI$1,039Michigan: median $397 across 41 hospitalsMI$397New York: median $1,917 across 56 hospitalsNY$1,917Massachusetts: median $3,241 across 14 hospitalsMA$3,241Oregon: median $233 across 32 hospitalsOR$233Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $240 across 38 hospitalsIA$240Indiana: median $167 across 15 hospitalsIN$167Ohio: median $1,554 across 25 hospitalsOH$1,554Pennsylvania: median $2,477 across 23 hospitalsPA$2,477New Jersey: median $2,162 across 38 hospitalsNJ$2,162Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $3,323 across 83 hospitalsCA$3,323Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $555 across 14 hospitalsCO$555Nebraska: median $497 across 19 hospitalsNE$497Missouri: median $1,577 across 22 hospitalsMO$1,577Kentucky: median $199 across 18 hospitalsKY$199West Virginia: median $872 across 26 hospitalsWV$872Virginia: median $3,037 across 25 hospitalsVA$3,037Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $681 across 11 hospitalsAZ$681New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $239 across 27 hospitalsKS$239Arkansas: median $1,595 across 10 hospitalsAR$1,595Tennessee: median $271 across 11 hospitalsTN$271North Carolina: median $1,439 across 21 hospitalsNC$1,439South Carolina: median $6,070 across 20 hospitalsSC$6,070Oklahoma: median $152 across 24 hospitalsOK$152Louisiana: median $1,780 across 20 hospitalsLA$1,780Mississippi: median $1,514 across 10 hospitalsMS$1,514Alabama: median $1,474 across 15 hospitalsAL$1,474Georgia: median $1,271 across 44 hospitalsGA$1,271Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,290 across 96 hospitalsTX$2,290Florida: median $5,311 across 19 hospitalsFL$5,311
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,553. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Carolina SC20$6,070+291%$1,918 – $6,625
Florida FL19$5,311+242%$372 – $5,571
Idaho ID11$4,347+180%$2,260 – $4,347
California CA83$3,323+114%$1,360 – $5,902
Massachusetts MA14$3,241+109%$1,266 – $4,796
Virginia VA25$3,037+96%$1,854 – $5,758
Washington WA32$2,608+68%$283 – $4,420
Pennsylvania PA23$2,477+60%$1,741 – $3,314
Texas TX96$2,290+48%$735 – $3,579
New Jersey NJ38$2,162+39%$1,795 – $5,419
New York NY56$1,917+23%$438 – $4,595
Louisiana LA20$1,780+15%$981 – $2,440
Arkansas AR10$1,595+3%$170 – $2,403
Missouri MO22$1,577+2%$153 – $4,236
Ohio OH25$1,5540%$341 – $6,098
Mississippi MS10$1,514−2%$657 – $4,939
Alabama AL15$1,474−5%$279 – $3,147
North Carolina NC21$1,439−7%$819 – $3,863
Georgia GA44$1,271−18%$499 – $1,586
Minnesota MN34$1,221−21%$192 – $2,147
Wisconsin WI36$1,039−33%$396 – $3,505
West Virginia WV26$872−44%$97 – $2,091
Arizona AZ11$681−56%$118 – $2,027
Colorado CO14$555−64%$200 – $577
Nebraska NE19$497−68%$196 – $1,143
Michigan MI41$397−74%$200 – $3,408
Illinois IL37$319−79%$167 – $3,922
Montana MT12$287−82%$143 – $2,069
Tennessee TN11$271−83%$115 – $2,426
Iowa IA38$240−85%$235 – $1,030
Kansas KS27$239−85%$170 – $1,518
Oregon OR32$233−85%$200 – $3,360
Kentucky KY18$199−87%$148 – $3,099
Maine ME10$170−89%$104 – $325
Indiana IN15$167−89%$156 – $1,683
Oklahoma OK24$152−90%$152 – $3,196
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not 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 $1,553.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care791$1,966$346 – $4,595
Children’s23$1,033$200 – $4,178
Critical access253$302$166 – $1,586
Ownership
For-profit130$2,290$499 – $4,977
Government195$499$196 – $2,072
Non-profit742$1,648$240 – $3,976
System affiliation
Part of a system839$1,795$279 – $4,350
Independent228$470$185 – $2,426

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,452
Median cash price$1,553
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

654 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,350 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,518; most fall between $230 and $3,501.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 654 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
$152$279$1,350$3,323$5,311

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 35× what the cheapest tenth charges ($152 vs $5,311).

Of the 721 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 654 gave a usable cash price; 35 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 32 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,067 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (27%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,180 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,067
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here68
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded42
Hospitals that filed this code1,180

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 PR Remv Ext Canal F.B.,Gen Anesth.

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 under anesthesia (CPT 69205) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69205-removal-of-an-object-from-the-ear-canal-under-anesthesia