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Procedure price report · Psychological and psychiatric evaluation and therapy

Group therapy session

CPT 90853the billing code this page is about

One talk-therapy session led by a therapist with several unrelated patients; the charge covers one patient's participation in a single session.

Hospitals typically charge $122 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,780 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $136. Most fall between $56 and $275 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,780
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 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 1,780 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
$41$65$122$228$441

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($41 vs $441).

How the prices are spread

$30 – $41: 92 hospitals$30$41 – $55: 170 hospitals$55 – $74: 158 hospitals$55$74 – $99: 196 hospitals$99 – $133: 264 hospitals$99$133 – $179: 182 hospitals$179 – $241: 207 hospitals$179$241 – $325: 153 hospitals$325 – $437: 91 hospitals$325$437 – $588: 93 hospitals$437median $122price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,606 of 1,780 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$30$4192
$41$55170
$55$74158
$74$99196
$99$133264
$133$179182
$179$241207
$241$325153
$325$43791
$437$58893

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$104
Median cash price$122
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.18×

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 $122.

Alaska: median $75 across 10 hospitalsAK$75Maine: median $52 across 13 hospitalsME$52Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $53 across 13 hospitalsNH$53Washington: median $124 across 27 hospitalsWA$124Idaho: median $268 across 11 hospitalsID$268Montana: median $68 across 17 hospitalsMT$68North Dakota: median $426 across 12 hospitalsND$426Minnesota: median $97 across 57 hospitalsMN$97Illinois: median $134 across 91 hospitalsIL$134Wisconsin: median $99 across 68 hospitalsWI$99Michigan: median $61 across 49 hospitalsMI$61New York: median $121 across 85 hospitalsNY$121Massachusetts: median $123 across 40 hospitalsMA$123Oregon: median $53 across 32 hospitalsOR$53Nevada: median $228 across 11 hospitalsNV$228Wyoming: 9 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 $190 across 63 hospitalsIA$190Indiana: median $98 across 61 hospitalsIN$98Ohio: median $159 across 84 hospitalsOH$159Pennsylvania: median $83 across 66 hospitalsPA$83New Jersey: median $109 across 47 hospitalsNJ$109Connecticut: median $90 across 19 hospitalsCT$90Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $272 across 97 hospitalsCA$272Utah: median $104 across 30 hospitalsUT$104Colorado: median $213 across 30 hospitalsCO$213Nebraska: median $224 across 38 hospitalsNE$224Missouri: median $123 across 32 hospitalsMO$123Kentucky: median $144 across 34 hospitalsKY$144West Virginia: median $98 across 20 hospitalsWV$98Virginia: median $142 across 39 hospitalsVA$142Maryland: median $83 across 25 hospitalsMD$83Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $125 across 12 hospitalsAZ$125New Mexico: median $150 across 14 hospitalsNM$150Kansas: median $218 across 31 hospitalsKS$218Arkansas: median $105 across 12 hospitalsAR$105Tennessee: median $50 across 32 hospitalsTN$50North Carolina: median $101 across 48 hospitalsNC$101South Carolina: median $111 across 25 hospitalsSC$111Oklahoma: median $127 across 36 hospitalsOK$127Louisiana: median $90 across 29 hospitalsLA$90Mississippi: median $58 across 39 hospitalsMS$58Alabama: median $104 across 13 hospitalsAL$104Georgia: median $198 across 40 hospitalsGA$198Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $161 across 109 hospitalsTX$161Florida: median $288 across 79 hospitalsFL$288
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $122. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
North Dakota ND12$426+248%$95 – $606
Florida FL79$288+136%$96 – $551
California CA97$272+122%$88 – $532
Idaho ID11$268+119%$83 – $268
Nevada NV11$228+86%$110 – $500
Nebraska NE38$224+83%$52 – $734
Kansas KS31$218+78%$55 – $311
Colorado CO30$213+74%$99 – $308
Georgia GA40$198+62%$101 – $367
Iowa IA63$190+55%$62 – $515
Texas TX109$161+31%$97 – $460
Ohio OH84$159+30%$82 – $198
New Mexico NM14$150+23%$51 – $212
Kentucky KY34$144+18%$60 – $332
Virginia VA39$142+16%$51 – $275
Illinois IL91$134+10%$70 – $279
Oklahoma OK36$127+4%$48 – $220
Arizona AZ12$125+2%$90 – $245
Washington WA27$124+1%$53 – $210
Massachusetts MA40$123+1%$87 – $264
Missouri MO32$1230%$49 – $211
New York NY85$121−1%$51 – $225
South Carolina SC25$111−10%$111 – $208
New Jersey NJ47$109−11%$82 – $131
Arkansas AR12$105−14%$70 – $123
Utah UT30$104−15%$83 – $119
Alabama AL13$104−15%$45 – $129
North Carolina NC48$101−18%$56 – $220
Wisconsin WI68$99−19%$31 – $154
Indiana IN61$98−20%$60 – $269
West Virginia WV20$98−20%$44 – $206
Minnesota MN57$97−21%$47 – $165
Connecticut CT19$90−26%$44 – $245
Louisiana LA29$90−26%$28 – $220
Maryland MD25$83−32%$58 – $126
Pennsylvania PA66$83−32%$23 – $149
Alaska AK10$75−39%$34 – $101
Montana MT17$68−45%$41 – $176
Michigan MI49$61−50%$41 – $140
Mississippi MS39$58−52%$41 – $118
New Hampshire NH13$53−57%$33 – $496
Oregon OR32$53−57%$42 – $98
Maine ME13$52−57%$25 – $238
Tennessee TN32$50−59%$36 – $346
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not 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 $122.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,277$116$57 – $259
Children’s35$107$52 – $181
Critical access464$144$51 – $354
Ownership
For-profit170$256$88 – $460
Government316$107$49 – $303
Non-profit1,290$118$54 – $242
System affiliation
Part of a system1,482$124$57 – $287
Independent298$104$51 – $233

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$235
Median cash price$122
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

1,205 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $124 and the average of the middle 60% is $134; most fall between $56 and $261.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,205 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
$42$67$124$219$373

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($42 vs $373).

Of the 1,276 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,205 gave a usable cash price; 18 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 52 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,780 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (45%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,881 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,780
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here30
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded69
Hospitals that filed this code1,881

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 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Psychological and psychiatric evaluation and therapy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Group Psychotherapy.

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, “Group therapy session (CPT 90853) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-90853-group-therapy-session