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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic ear procedures

Ear wax removal by flushing, one ear

CPT 69209the billing code this page is about

Rinsing packed-in ear wax out of the ear canal with fluid. The charge covers one ear; both ears are billed twice.

Hospitals typically charge $88 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,736 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $97. Most fall between $36 and $193 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,736
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 2,736 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
$25$44$88$171$284

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($25 vs $284).

How the prices are spread

$18 – $25: 146 hospitals$18$25 – $34: 222 hospitals$34 – $46: 240 hospitals$34$46 – $63: 256 hospitals$63 – $85: 329 hospitals$63$85 – $117: 373 hospitals$117 – $159: 292 hospitals$117$159 – $217: 312 hospitals$217 – $297: 187 hospitals$217$297 – $405: 114 hospitals$297median $88price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,471 of 2,736 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$18$25146
$25$34222
$34$46240
$46$63256
$63$85329
$85$117373
$117$159292
$159$217312
$217$297187
$297$405114

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$60
Median cash price$88
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.47×

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 $88.

Alaska: median $129 across 16 hospitalsAK$129Maine: median $49 across 23 hospitalsME$49Vermont: median $81 across 12 hospitalsVT$81New Hampshire: median $39 across 21 hospitalsNH$39Washington: median $80 across 69 hospitalsWA$80Idaho: median $107 across 19 hospitalsID$107Montana: median $46 across 32 hospitalsMT$46North Dakota: median $47 across 24 hospitalsND$47Minnesota: median $76 across 100 hospitalsMN$76Illinois: median $109 across 124 hospitalsIL$109Wisconsin: median $57 across 98 hospitalsWI$57Michigan: median $71 across 73 hospitalsMI$71New York: median $80 across 99 hospitalsNY$80Massachusetts: median $151 across 45 hospitalsMA$151Oregon: median $42 across 54 hospitalsOR$42Nevada: median $68 across 16 hospitalsNV$68Wyoming: median $50 across 13 hospitalsWY$50South Dakota: median $87 across 26 hospitalsSD$87Iowa: median $56 across 79 hospitalsIA$56Indiana: median $115 across 71 hospitalsIN$115Ohio: median $155 across 113 hospitalsOH$155Pennsylvania: median $85 across 117 hospitalsPA$85New Jersey: median $81 across 55 hospitalsNJ$81Connecticut: median $90 across 18 hospitalsCT$90Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $178 across 141 hospitalsCA$178Utah: median $113 across 28 hospitalsUT$113Colorado: median $86 across 55 hospitalsCO$86Nebraska: median $47 across 70 hospitalsNE$47Missouri: median $85 across 67 hospitalsMO$85Kentucky: median $105 across 56 hospitalsKY$105West Virginia: median $69 across 38 hospitalsWV$69Virginia: median $88 across 61 hospitalsVA$88Maryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $77 across 26 hospitalsAZ$77New Mexico: median $97 across 27 hospitalsNM$97Kansas: median $55 across 71 hospitalsKS$55Arkansas: median $61 across 31 hospitalsAR$61Tennessee: median $45 across 51 hospitalsTN$45North Carolina: median $100 across 57 hospitalsNC$100South Carolina: median $118 across 45 hospitalsSC$118Oklahoma: median $63 across 61 hospitalsOK$63Louisiana: median $79 across 44 hospitalsLA$79Mississippi: median $56 across 49 hospitalsMS$56Alabama: median $112 across 33 hospitalsAL$112Georgia: median $100 across 93 hospitalsGA$100Hawaii: median $142 across 16 hospitalsHI$142Texas: median $124 across 176 hospitalsTX$124Florida: median $167 across 106 hospitalsFL$167
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $88. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA141$178+101%$70 – $244
Florida FL106$167+89%$69 – $387
Ohio OH113$155+75%$65 – $275
Massachusetts MA45$151+71%$56 – $266
Hawaii HI16$142+60%$43 – $278
Alaska AK16$129+46%$73 – $172
Texas TX176$124+40%$57 – $215
South Carolina SC45$118+33%$71 – $400
Indiana IN71$115+30%$25 – $197
Utah UT28$113+28%$87 – $126
Alabama AL33$112+27%$65 – $415
Illinois IL124$109+23%$38 – $217
Idaho ID19$107+21%$29 – $166
Kentucky KY56$105+19%$37 – $239
Georgia GA93$100+13%$61 – $222
North Carolina NC57$100+13%$53 – $171
New Mexico NM27$97+9%$12 – $200
Connecticut CT18$90+2%$16 – $156
Virginia VA61$88−1%$46 – $115
South Dakota SD26$87−1%$59 – $96
Colorado CO55$86−3%$29 – $188
Missouri MO67$85−4%$47 – $193
Pennsylvania PA117$85−4%$42 – $215
New Jersey NJ55$81−8%$66 – $3,786
Vermont VT12$81−8%$22 – $162
New York NY99$80−9%$32 – $192
Washington WA69$80−9%$29 – $163
Louisiana LA44$79−11%$32 – $117
Arizona AZ26$77−13%$18 – $622
Minnesota MN100$76−14%$34 – $121
Michigan MI73$71−20%$18 – $177
West Virginia WV38$69−22%$41 – $128
Nevada NV16$68−23%$54 – $247
Oklahoma OK61$63−28%$35 – $139
Arkansas AR31$61−31%$31 – $202
Wisconsin WI98$57−35%$32 – $115
Iowa IA79$56−37%$30 – $134
Mississippi MS49$56−37%$25 – $101
Kansas KS71$55−38%$25 – $172
Wyoming WY13$50−44%$26 – $151
Maine ME23$49−45%$28 – $108
Nebraska NE70$47−47%$31 – $90
North Dakota ND24$47−47%$35 – $102
Montana MT32$46−48%$25 – $83
Tennessee TN51$45−49%$27 – $124
Oregon OR54$42−53%$29 – $100
New Hampshire NH21$39−56%$20 – $85
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not 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 $88.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,831$106$45 – $217
Children’s56$156$41 – $313
Critical access841$58$29 – $124
Ownership
For-profit275$130$56 – $357
Government561$64$31 – $150
Non-profit1,892$92$38 – $192
System affiliation
Part of a system2,176$96$39 – $206
Independent560$69$29 – $161

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$167
Median cash price$88
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

1,989 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $103 and the average of the middle 60% is $108; most fall between $42 and $200.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,989 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
$27$50$103$177$281

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($27 vs $281).

Of the 2,121 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,989 gave a usable cash price; 43 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 88 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,736 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 2,923 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,736
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here75
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded9
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded102
Hospitals that filed this code2,923

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 Other therapeutic ear procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Removal Impacted Cerumen Irrigation/Lvg Unilat.

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, “Ear wax removal by flushing, one ear (CPT 69209) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69209-ear-wax-removal-by-flushing-one-ear