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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic ear procedures

Ear wax removal with instruments, one ear

CPT 69210the billing code this page is about

Removal of packed-in ear wax using instruments under direct view, performed by a clinician. The charge covers one ear.

Hospitals typically charge $110 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,860 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $123. Most fall between $60 and $229 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,860
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 2,860 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
$43$68$110$199$359

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($43 vs $359).

How the prices are spread

$31 – $42: 122 hospitals$31$42 – $56: 239 hospitals$56 – $75: 356 hospitals$56$75 – $101: 432 hospitals$101 – $136: 405 hospitals$101$136 – $182: 336 hospitals$182 – $245: 327 hospitals$182$245 – $329: 186 hospitals$329 – $442: 113 hospitals$329$442 – $594: 72 hospitals$442median $110price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,588 of 2,860 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$31$42122
$42$56239
$56$75356
$75$101432
$101$136405
$136$182336
$182$245327
$245$329186
$329$442113
$442$59472

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$60
Median cash price$110
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.83×

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 $110.

Alaska: median $172 across 16 hospitalsAK$172Maine: median $71 across 22 hospitalsME$71Vermont: median $123 across 12 hospitalsVT$123New Hampshire: median $67 across 20 hospitalsNH$67Washington: median $150 across 68 hospitalsWA$150Idaho: median $87 across 22 hospitalsID$87Montana: median $75 across 33 hospitalsMT$75North Dakota: median $114 across 28 hospitalsND$114Minnesota: median $102 across 102 hospitalsMN$102Illinois: median $125 across 124 hospitalsIL$125Wisconsin: median $86 across 101 hospitalsWI$86Michigan: median $84 across 85 hospitalsMI$84New York: median $129 across 113 hospitalsNY$129Massachusetts: median $160 across 47 hospitalsMA$160Oregon: median $93 across 52 hospitalsOR$93Nevada: median $141 across 18 hospitalsNV$141Wyoming: median $101 across 15 hospitalsWY$101South Dakota: median $107 across 32 hospitalsSD$107Iowa: median $93 across 84 hospitalsIA$93Indiana: median $126 across 63 hospitalsIN$126Ohio: median $155 across 127 hospitalsOH$155Pennsylvania: median $87 across 120 hospitalsPA$87New Jersey: median $82 across 57 hospitalsNJ$82Connecticut: median $118 across 20 hospitalsCT$118Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $181 across 152 hospitalsCA$181Utah: median $87 across 28 hospitalsUT$87Colorado: median $105 across 59 hospitalsCO$105Nebraska: median $96 across 76 hospitalsNE$96Missouri: median $96 across 71 hospitalsMO$96Kentucky: median $110 across 60 hospitalsKY$110West Virginia: median $87 across 39 hospitalsWV$87Virginia: median $186 across 56 hospitalsVA$186Maryland: median $141 across 10 hospitalsMD$141Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $116 across 32 hospitalsAZ$116New Mexico: median $126 across 27 hospitalsNM$126Kansas: median $85 across 72 hospitalsKS$85Arkansas: median $83 across 33 hospitalsAR$83Tennessee: median $73 across 51 hospitalsTN$73North Carolina: median $111 across 65 hospitalsNC$111South Carolina: median $150 across 45 hospitalsSC$150Oklahoma: median $94 across 63 hospitalsOK$94Louisiana: median $61 across 50 hospitalsLA$61Mississippi: median $72 across 51 hospitalsMS$72Alabama: median $106 across 35 hospitalsAL$106Georgia: median $255 across 90 hospitalsGA$255Hawaii: median $196 across 16 hospitalsHI$196Texas: median $142 across 179 hospitalsTX$142Florida: median $194 across 105 hospitalsFL$194
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $110. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA90$255+131%$58 – $458
Hawaii HI16$196+77%$142 – $278
Florida FL105$194+75%$92 – $306
Virginia VA56$186+68%$52 – $209
California CA152$181+64%$102 – $294
Alaska AK16$172+56%$126 – $353
Massachusetts MA47$160+45%$112 – $336
Ohio OH127$155+40%$64 – $259
Washington WA68$150+36%$88 – $219
South Carolina SC45$150+36%$83 – $204
Texas TX179$142+28%$73 – $255
Maryland MD10$141+28%$102 – $491
Nevada NV18$141+28%$78 – $263
New York NY113$129+17%$56 – $274
Indiana IN63$126+14%$77 – $418
New Mexico NM27$126+14%$96 – $178
Illinois IL124$125+13%$62 – $257
Vermont VT12$123+12%$72 – $234
Connecticut CT20$118+7%$78 – $175
Arizona AZ32$116+5%$54 – $523
North Dakota ND28$114+3%$62 – $146
North Carolina NC65$111+1%$64 – $186
Kentucky KY60$1100%$59 – $239
South Dakota SD32$107−3%$64 – $250
Alabama AL35$106−4%$52 – $390
Colorado CO59$105−5%$54 – $218
Minnesota MN102$102−8%$63 – $183
Wyoming WY15$101−9%$42 – $176
Nebraska NE76$96−13%$50 – $118
Missouri MO71$96−13%$58 – $222
Oklahoma OK63$94−15%$46 – $164
Iowa IA84$93−16%$52 – $163
Oregon OR52$93−16%$69 – $150
Pennsylvania PA120$87−21%$51 – $281
West Virginia WV39$87−21%$52 – $164
Idaho ID22$87−21%$59 – $166
Utah UT28$87−21%$87 – $97
Wisconsin WI101$86−22%$60 – $132
Kansas KS72$85−23%$55 – $155
Michigan MI85$84−24%$37 – $136
Arkansas AR33$83−25%$53 – $202
New Jersey NJ57$82−26%$66 – $3,786
Montana MT33$75−32%$53 – $134
Tennessee TN51$73−34%$31 – $112
Mississippi MS51$72−35%$39 – $107
Maine ME22$71−36%$41 – $118
New Hampshire NH20$67−39%$37 – $94
Louisiana LA50$61−45%$41 – $111
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $110.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,925$125$63 – $264
Children’s60$192$67 – $345
Critical access866$96$56 – $154
Ownership
For-profit286$165$69 – $459
Government580$99$56 – $178
Non-profit1,985$111$61 – $225
System affiliation
Part of a system2,285$117$63 – $239
Independent575$93$53 – $172

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$181
Median cash price$110
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

2,070 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $121 and the average of the middle 60% is $131; most fall between $63 and $233.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,070 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
$45$72$121$204$355

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($45 vs $355).

Of the 2,223 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,070 gave a usable cash price; 54 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 98 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,860 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (72%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,068 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,860
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here92
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded7
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded108
Hospitals that filed this code3,068

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 Instrumentation Unilat - Nurse.

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 with instruments, one ear (CPT 69210) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69210-ear-wax-removal-with-instruments-one-ear