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Procedure price report · Other therapeutic ear procedures

Removal of an ear ventilating tube under general anesthesia

CPT 69424the billing code this page is about

Taking out an ear drainage tube from the eardrum while the patient is under general anesthesia.

Hospitals typically charge $1,456 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 696 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,813. Most fall between $210 and $4,327 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
696
States
49
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 696 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
$145$263$1,456$3,844$7,224

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 50× what the cheapest tenth charges ($145 vs $7,224).

How the prices are spread

$121 – $187: 89 hospitals$121$187 – $288: 62 hospitals$288 – $444: 62 hospitals$288$444 – $684: 37 hospitals$684 – $1,054: 26 hospitals$684$1,054 – $1,623: 51 hospitals$1,623 – $2,501: 54 hospitals$1,623$2,501 – $3,853: 107 hospitals$3,853 – $5,936: 82 hospitals$3,853$5,936 – $9,145: 64 hospitals$5,936median $1,456price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (634 of 696 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$121$18789
$187$28862
$288$44462
$444$68437
$684$1,05426
$1,054$1,62351
$1,623$2,50154
$2,501$3,853107
$3,853$5,93682
$5,936$9,14564

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$3,387
Median cash price$1,456
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 $1,456.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $2,031 across 15 hospitalsWA$2,031Idaho: median $7,224 across 10 hospitalsID$7,224Montana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $652 across 34 hospitalsMN$652Illinois: median $438 across 27 hospitalsIL$438Wisconsin: median $1,134 across 33 hospitalsWI$1,134Michigan: median $157 across 34 hospitalsMI$157New York: median $3,387 across 43 hospitalsNY$3,387Massachusetts: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $231 across 12 hospitalsOR$231Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $311 across 34 hospitalsIA$311Indiana: median $141 across 11 hospitalsIN$141Ohio: median $1,022 across 25 hospitalsOH$1,022Pennsylvania: median $3,917 across 24 hospitalsPA$3,917New Jersey: median $4,290 across 33 hospitalsNJ$4,290Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,748 across 50 hospitalsCA$1,748Utah: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $369 across 14 hospitalsNE$369Missouri: median $1,361 across 21 hospitalsMO$1,361Kentucky: median $127 across 10 hospitalsKY$127West Virginia: median $695 across 12 hospitalsWV$695Virginia: median $3,907 across 10 hospitalsVA$3,907Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $2,183 across 15 hospitalsKS$2,183Arkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $1,427 across 11 hospitalsNC$1,427South Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $151 across 15 hospitalsOK$151Louisiana: median $1,010 across 14 hospitalsLA$1,010Mississippi: median $758 across 11 hospitalsMS$758Alabama: median $2,959 across 12 hospitalsAL$2,959Georgia: median $8,568 across 12 hospitalsGA$8,568Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,580 across 37 hospitalsTX$2,580Florida: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,456. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Georgia GA12$8,568+488%$3,414 – $8,568
Idaho ID10$7,224+396%$1,442 – $8,795
New Jersey NJ33$4,290+195%$3,590 – $5,339
Pennsylvania PA24$3,917+169%$1,981 – $6,111
Virginia VA10$3,907+168%$1,511 – $4,367
New York NY43$3,387+133%$191 – $3,935
Alabama AL12$2,959+103%$355 – $7,690
Texas TX37$2,580+77%$2,409 – $4,761
Kansas KS15$2,183+50%$278 – $4,459
Washington WA15$2,031+40%$214 – $3,294
California CA50$1,748+20%$1,456 – $9,145
North Carolina NC11$1,427−2%$274 – $1,872
Missouri MO21$1,361−7%$176 – $4,779
Wisconsin WI33$1,134−22%$610 – $3,117
Ohio OH25$1,022−30%$204 – $5,545
Louisiana LA14$1,010−31%$135 – $2,976
Mississippi MS11$758−48%$378 – $2,387
West Virginia WV12$695−52%$211 – $1,387
Minnesota MN34$652−55%$188 – $3,291
Illinois IL27$438−70%$124 – $4,041
Nebraska NE14$369−75%$158 – $2,844
Iowa IA34$311−79%$242 – $1,804
Oregon OR12$231−84%$178 – $237
Michigan MI34$157−89%$130 – $6,628
Oklahoma OK15$151−90%$151 – $4,074
Indiana IN11$141−90%$124 – $417
Kentucky KY10$127−91%$92 – $1,736
Colorado CO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not 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 $1,456.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care510$2,313$267 – $4,783
Children’s18fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access167$369$150 – $2,424
Ownership
For-profit87$3,244$720 – $5,482
Government121$417$176 – $3,838
Non-profit487$1,456$207 – $4,459
System affiliation
Part of a system541$1,731$221 – $4,559
Independent155$468$167 – $3,414

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,086
Median cash price$1,456
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

373 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $610 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,149; most fall between $151 and $3,823.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 373 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
$119$176$610$3,184$7,754

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 65× what the cheapest tenth charges ($119 vs $7,754).

Of the 416 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 373 gave a usable cash price; 23 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 20 a list price only.

How complete is this

696 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (18%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 794 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted696
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here70
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded26
Hospitals that filed this code794

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 Ventilating Tube Rmvl Requiring General 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 ear ventilating tube under general anesthesia (CPT 69424) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69424-removal-of-an-ear-ventilating-tube-under-general-anesthesia