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Procedure price report · Myringotomy

Eardrum incision to drain fluid under general anesthesia

CPT 69421the billing code this page is about

A small cut in the eardrum to drain fluid from the middle ear, performed while the patient is under general anesthesia; no ventilating tube is left in place.

Hospitals typically charge $1,461 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 614 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,930. Most fall between $283 and $4,627 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
614
States
48
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 614 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
$234$363$1,461$4,246$7,727

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 33× what the cheapest tenth charges ($234 vs $7,727).

How the prices are spread

$201 – $296: 97 hospitals$201$296 – $437: 69 hospitals$437 – $643: 54 hospitals$437$643 – $947: 27 hospitals$947 – $1,395: 26 hospitals$947$1,395 – $2,054: 37 hospitals$2,054 – $3,026: 42 hospitals$2,054$3,026 – $4,456: 91 hospitals$4,456 – $6,564: 63 hospitals$4,456$6,564 – $9,667: 48 hospitals$6,564median $1,461price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (554 of 614 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$201$29697
$296$43769
$437$64354
$643$94727
$947$1,39526
$1,395$2,05437
$2,054$3,02642
$3,026$4,45691
$4,456$6,56463
$6,564$9,66748

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,387
Median cash price$1,461
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.43×

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 $1,461.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $775 across 10 hospitalsWA$775Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $924 across 31 hospitalsMN$924Illinois: median $561 across 27 hospitalsIL$561Wisconsin: median $1,361 across 32 hospitalsWI$1,361Michigan: median $263 across 35 hospitalsMI$263New York: median $3,838 across 46 hospitalsNY$3,838Massachusetts: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $279 across 12 hospitalsOR$279Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $363 across 32 hospitalsIA$363Indiana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $509 across 22 hospitalsOH$509Pennsylvania: median $4,783 across 11 hospitalsPA$4,783New Jersey: median $4,290 across 32 hospitalsNJ$4,290Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $7,874 across 35 hospitalsCA$7,874Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $2,122 across 12 hospitalsCO$2,122Nebraska: median $400 across 14 hospitalsNE$400Missouri: median $3,107 across 19 hospitalsMO$3,107Kentucky: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $3,735 across 13 hospitalsWV$3,735Virginia: median $2,351 across 11 hospitalsVA$2,351Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $438 across 10 hospitalsKS$438Arkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $5,504 across 13 hospitalsSC$5,504Oklahoma: median $249 across 15 hospitalsOK$249Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $2,001 across 15 hospitalsGA$2,001Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,873 across 31 hospitalsTX$2,873Florida: median $6,007 across 11 hospitalsFL$6,007
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,461. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA35$7,874+439%$656 – $7,874
Florida FL11$6,007+311%$509 – $7,261
South Carolina SC13$5,504+277%$3,670 – $5,504
Pennsylvania PA11$4,783+227%$3,802 – $6,111
New Jersey NJ32$4,290+194%$3,590 – $5,339
New York NY46$3,838+163%$446 – $4,595
West Virginia WV13$3,735+156%$945 – $3,979
Missouri MO19$3,107+113%$221 – $7,727
Texas TX31$2,873+97%$2,132 – $4,768
Virginia VA11$2,351+61%$244 – $7,343
Colorado CO12$2,122+45%$718 – $4,385
Georgia GA15$2,001+37%$558 – $7,920
Wisconsin WI32$1,361−7%$625 – $2,434
Minnesota MN31$924−37%$292 – $3,677
Washington WA10$775−47%$279 – $4,050
Illinois IL27$561−62%$255 – $4,704
Ohio OH22$509−65%$298 – $4,572
Kansas KS10$438−70%$256 – $1,692
Nebraska NE14$400−73%$236 – $2,911
Iowa IA32$363−75%$350 – $1,000
Oregon OR12$279−81%$279 – $371
Michigan MI35$263−82%$251 – $1,525
Oklahoma OK15$249−83%$249 – $3,056
North Carolina NC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not 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 $1,461.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care450$2,635$302 – $5,483
Children’s18fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access145$445$256 – $1,757
Ownership
For-profit66$2,873$547 – $7,785
Government113$558$274 – $3,838
Non-profit434$1,461$279 – $4,595
System affiliation
Part of a system487$1,924$311 – $5,036
Independent127$603$265 – $3,979

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$961
Median cash price$1,461
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

321 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $547 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,185; most fall between $222 and $4,074.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 321 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
$168$261$547$3,083$6,984

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 42× what the cheapest tenth charges ($168 vs $6,984).

Of the 345 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 321 gave a usable cash price; 13 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 11 a list price only.

How complete is this

614 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (16%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 680 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted614
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here49
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 — excluded14
Hospitals that filed this code680

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 Myringotomy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Myringotomy Aspir&/Eustachian Tube Nfltj 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, “Eardrum incision to drain fluid under general anesthesia (CPT 69421) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69421-eardrum-incision-to-drain-fluid-under-general-anesthesia