HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Myringotomy

Ear tube placement under general anesthesia

CPT 69436the billing code this page is about

Creating a small opening in the eardrum and inserting a ventilating tube to drain fluid from the middle ear, performed with the patient asleep under general anesthesia.

Hospitals typically charge $1,742 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 974 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,896. Most fall between $387 and $4,582 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
974
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 974 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
$276$450$1,742$3,851$7,123

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 26× what the cheapest tenth charges ($276 vs $7,123).

How the prices are spread

$217 – $317: 90 hospitals$217$317 – $463: 110 hospitals$463 – $675: 83 hospitals$463$675 – $985: 48 hospitals$985 – $1,437: 50 hospitals$985$1,437 – $2,097: 126 hospitals$2,097 – $3,060: 89 hospitals$2,097$3,060 – $4,465: 131 hospitals$4,465 – $6,515: 89 hospitals$4,465$6,515 – $9,507: 62 hospitals$6,515median $1,742price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (878 of 974 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$217$31790
$317$463110
$463$67583
$675$98548
$985$1,43750
$1,437$2,097126
$2,097$3,06089
$3,060$4,465131
$4,465$6,51589
$6,515$9,50762

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,585
Median cash price$1,742
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.10×

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 $1,742.

Alaska: 7 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: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $872 across 17 hospitalsWA$872Idaho: median $3,330 across 13 hospitalsID$3,330Montana: median $486 across 10 hospitalsMT$486North Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $934 across 40 hospitalsMN$934Illinois: median $859 across 37 hospitalsIL$859Wisconsin: median $655 across 47 hospitalsWI$655Michigan: median $565 across 43 hospitalsMI$565New York: median $1,753 across 58 hospitalsNY$1,753Massachusetts: median $3,459 across 11 hospitalsMA$3,459Oregon: median $390 across 24 hospitalsOR$390Nevada: 9 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 $398 across 48 hospitalsIA$398Indiana: median $2,378 across 21 hospitalsIN$2,378Ohio: median $3,851 across 51 hospitalsOH$3,851Pennsylvania: median $2,683 across 21 hospitalsPA$2,683New Jersey: median $2,467 across 32 hospitalsNJ$2,467Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,307 across 61 hospitalsCA$3,307Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,332 across 13 hospitalsCO$1,332Nebraska: median $653 across 25 hospitalsNE$653Missouri: median $1,994 across 32 hospitalsMO$1,994Kentucky: median $2,132 across 17 hospitalsKY$2,132West Virginia: median $940 across 17 hospitalsWV$940Virginia: median $2,519 across 16 hospitalsVA$2,519Maryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,296 across 21 hospitalsKS$1,296Arkansas: median $1,964 across 11 hospitalsAR$1,964Tennessee: median $345 across 10 hospitalsTN$345North Carolina: median $2,609 across 26 hospitalsNC$2,609South Carolina: median $4,159 across 14 hospitalsSC$4,159Oklahoma: median $334 across 20 hospitalsOK$334Louisiana: median $2,004 across 21 hospitalsLA$2,004Mississippi: median $1,773 across 12 hospitalsMS$1,773Alabama: median $1,692 across 14 hospitalsAL$1,692Georgia: median $2,001 across 16 hospitalsGA$2,001Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $3,341 across 43 hospitalsTX$3,341Florida: median $7,768 across 15 hospitalsFL$7,768
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,742. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL15$7,768+346%$575 – $15,515
South Carolina SC14$4,159+139%$1,772 – $4,159
Ohio OH51$3,851+121%$685 – $7,739
Massachusetts MA11$3,459+99%$1,805 – $5,618
Texas TX43$3,341+92%$1,620 – $5,232
Idaho ID13$3,330+91%$805 – $4,054
California CA61$3,307+90%$1,985 – $6,356
Pennsylvania PA21$2,683+54%$1,025 – $7,127
North Carolina NC26$2,609+50%$1,523 – $3,007
Virginia VA16$2,519+45%$743 – $7,660
New Jersey NJ32$2,467+42%$1,640 – $5,339
Indiana IN21$2,378+37%$244 – $5,948
Kentucky KY17$2,132+22%$244 – $5,948
Louisiana LA21$2,004+15%$1,024 – $3,268
Georgia GA16$2,001+15%$1,495 – $2,001
Missouri MO32$1,994+15%$258 – $3,657
Arkansas AR11$1,964+13%$277 – $2,031
Mississippi MS12$1,773+2%$1,040 – $4,273
New York NY58$1,753+1%$398 – $4,595
Alabama AL14$1,692−3%$446 – $8,098
Colorado CO13$1,332−24%$390 – $3,107
Kansas KS21$1,296−26%$887 – $2,037
West Virginia WV17$940−46%$429 – $1,969
Minnesota MN40$934−46%$330 – $1,842
Washington WA17$872−50%$302 – $3,845
Illinois IL37$859−51%$278 – $6,101
Wisconsin WI47$655−62%$284 – $1,189
Nebraska NE25$653−62%$328 – $2,677
Michigan MI43$565−68%$310 – $3,909
Montana MT10$486−72%$246 – $836
Iowa IA48$398−77%$348 – $2,991
Oregon OR24$390−78%$294 – $2,927
Tennessee TN10$345−80%$185 – $2,279
Oklahoma OK20$334−81%$334 – $3,354
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $1,742.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care717$2,122$495 – $5,618
Children’s23$1,005$272 – $3,945
Critical access231$591$302 – $2,169
Ownership
For-profit114$2,609$836 – $6,666
Government180$883$302 – $3,007
Non-profit677$1,742$387 – $4,627
System affiliation
Part of a system763$1,937$390 – $4,924
Independent211$1,025$329 – $3,187

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,169
Median cash price$1,742
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

493 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $805 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,344; most fall between $294 and $3,402.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 493 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
$216$328$805$3,063$5,510

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 25× what the cheapest tenth charges ($216 vs $5,510).

Of the 544 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 493 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 21 a list price only.

How complete is this

974 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (25%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,070 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted974
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here65
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded5
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded26
Hospitals that filed this code1,070

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 General 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 under general anesthesia (CPT 69436) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-69436-ear-tube-placement-under-general-anesthesia