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Procedure price report · Myringotomy

Ear tube placement, local anesthesia

CPT 69433the billing code this page is about

Placing a ventilating tube through the eardrum to drain the middle ear, done with local or topical anesthesia; the charge covers one ear.

Hospitals typically charge $560 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 879 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $611. Most fall between $293 and $1,072 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
879
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 879 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
$196$332$560$1,013$1,872

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($196 vs $1,872).

How the prices are spread

$134 – $179: 31 hospitals$134$179 – $239: 65 hospitals$239 – $319: 68 hospitals$239$319 – $426: 111 hospitals$426 – $569: 134 hospitals$426$569 – $760: 116 hospitals$760 – $1,015: 92 hospitals$760$1,015 – $1,355: 84 hospitals$1,355 – $1,810: 44 hospitals$1,355$1,810 – $2,417: 48 hospitals$1,810median $560price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (793 of 879 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$134$17931
$179$23965
$239$31968
$319$426111
$426$569134
$569$760116
$760$1,01592
$1,015$1,35584
$1,355$1,81044
$1,810$2,41748

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$551
Median cash price$560
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.02×

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 $560.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $500 across 16 hospitalsWA$500Idaho: median $927 across 12 hospitalsID$927Montana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $593 across 10 hospitalsND$593Minnesota: median $370 across 35 hospitalsMN$370Illinois: median $483 across 42 hospitalsIL$483Wisconsin: median $506 across 58 hospitalsWI$506Michigan: median $206 across 35 hospitalsMI$206New York: median $603 across 51 hospitalsNY$603Massachusetts: median $1,431 across 11 hospitalsMA$1,431Oregon: median $413 across 23 hospitalsOR$413Nevada: 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: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $414 across 38 hospitalsIA$414Indiana: median $663 across 24 hospitalsIN$663Ohio: median $770 across 46 hospitalsOH$770Pennsylvania: median $613 across 38 hospitalsPA$613New Jersey: median $1,019 across 36 hospitalsNJ$1,019Connecticut: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,024 across 59 hospitalsCA$1,024Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $415 across 31 hospitalsNE$415Missouri: median $336 across 18 hospitalsMO$336Kentucky: median $293 across 13 hospitalsKY$293West Virginia: median $620 across 15 hospitalsWV$620Virginia: median $818 across 17 hospitalsVA$818Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 4 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 $529 across 14 hospitalsKS$529Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $650 across 15 hospitalsNC$650South Carolina: median $917 across 10 hospitalsSC$917Oklahoma: median $218 across 14 hospitalsOK$218Louisiana: median $519 across 19 hospitalsLA$519Mississippi: median $332 across 11 hospitalsMS$332Alabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $911 across 14 hospitalsGA$911Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $780 across 28 hospitalsTX$780Florida: median $1,072 across 20 hospitalsFL$1,072
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $560. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA11$1,431+156%$889 – $2,576
Florida FL20$1,072+91%$481 – $1,655
California CA59$1,024+83%$448 – $2,089
New Jersey NJ36$1,019+82%$564 – $5,110
Idaho ID12$927+66%$456 – $1,423
South Carolina SC10$917+64%$330 – $1,437
Georgia GA14$911+63%$565 – $911
Virginia VA17$818+46%$273 – $890
Texas TX28$780+39%$527 – $1,048
Ohio OH46$770+38%$408 – $2,048
Indiana IN24$663+18%$196 – $934
North Carolina NC15$650+16%$310 – $718
West Virginia WV15$620+11%$328 – $803
Pennsylvania PA38$613+9%$76 – $1,097
New York NY51$603+8%$390 – $1,124
North Dakota ND10$593+6%$523 – $1,099
Kansas KS14$529−6%$213 – $850
Louisiana LA19$519−7%$118 – $983
Wisconsin WI58$506−10%$358 – $910
Washington WA16$500−11%$317 – $955
Illinois IL42$483−14%$227 – $982
Nebraska NE31$415−26%$256 – $731
Iowa IA38$414−26%$285 – $483
Oregon OR23$413−26%$311 – $546
Minnesota MN35$370−34%$248 – $997
Missouri MO18$336−40%$293 – $563
Mississippi MS11$332−41%$303 – $371
Kentucky KY13$293−48%$196 – $725
Oklahoma OK14$218−61%$218 – $218
Michigan MI35$206−63%$116 – $742
Montana MT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not 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 $560.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care619$628$324 – $1,193
Children’s20$601$271 – $1,160
Critical access239$450$242 – $742
Ownership
For-profit55$684$247 – $1,437
Government169$470$271 – $861
Non-profit654$585$303 – $1,095
System affiliation
Part of a system701$586$310 – $1,095
Independent178$500$240 – $902

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$804
Median cash price$560
Cash as a share of list, median hospital64%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 37%. 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

566 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $549 and the average of the middle 60% is $625; most fall between $280 and $1,095.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 566 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
$196$330$549$1,024$1,879

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($196 vs $1,879).

Of the 617 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 566 gave a usable cash price; 26 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 25 a list price only.

How complete is this

879 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (22%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 954 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted879
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here52
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded23
Hospitals that filed this code954

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 Tympanostomy Local/Topical Anesthesia.

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 tube placement, local anesthesia (CPT 69433) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69433-ear-tube-placement-local-anesthesia