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Procedure price report · Diagnostic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx

Ear examination with a binocular microscope

CPT 92504the billing code this page is about

Examination of the ear canal and eardrum using a binocular microscope for magnified viewing, billed as a separate diagnostic procedure.

Hospitals typically charge $52 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 724 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $51. Most fall between $20 and $89 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
724
States
49
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 724 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
$10$26$52$75$125

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($10 vs $125).

How the prices are spread

$8 – $11: 42 hospitals$8$11 – $15: 37 hospitals$15 – $21: 32 hospitals$15$21 – $28: 53 hospitals$28 – $38: 67 hospitals$28$38 – $52: 97 hospitals$52 – $71: 153 hospitals$52$71 – $96: 80 hospitals$96 – $131: 60 hospitals$96$131 – $177: 31 hospitals$131median $52price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (652 of 724 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$8$1142
$11$1537
$15$2132
$21$2853
$28$3867
$38$5297
$52$71153
$71$9680
$96$13160
$131$17731

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $52.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 9 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 $61 across 21 hospitalsWA$61Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $80 across 40 hospitalsMN$80Illinois: median $53 across 39 hospitalsIL$53Wisconsin: median $55 across 53 hospitalsWI$55Michigan: median $11 across 30 hospitalsMI$11New York: median $47 across 34 hospitalsNY$47Massachusetts: median $57 across 13 hospitalsMA$57Oregon: median $52 across 21 hospitalsOR$52Nevada: 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: median $62 across 10 hospitalsSD$62Iowa: median $63 across 32 hospitalsIA$63Indiana: median $63 across 26 hospitalsIN$63Ohio: median $73 across 36 hospitalsOH$73Pennsylvania: median $7 across 23 hospitalsPA$7New Jersey: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNJConnecticut: 6 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 $61 across 42 hospitalsCA$61Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $64 across 23 hospitalsNE$64Missouri: median $36 across 21 hospitalsMO$36Kentucky: median $19 across 10 hospitalsKY$19West Virginia: median $9 across 22 hospitalsWV$9Virginia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 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 $30 across 12 hospitalsKS$30Arkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $57 across 12 hospitalsOK$57Louisiana: median $24 across 18 hospitalsLA$24Mississippi: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $46 across 13 hospitalsGA$46Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $72 across 37 hospitalsTX$72Florida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $52. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Minnesota MN40$80+55%$23 – $106
Ohio OH36$73+40%$44 – $104
Texas TX37$72+38%$16 – $105
Nebraska NE23$64+23%$14 – $109
Indiana IN26$63+22%$32 – $121
Iowa IA32$63+22%$34 – $63
South Dakota SD10$62+18%$29 – $71
California CA42$61+17%$48 – $93
Washington WA21$61+17%$52 – $73
Massachusetts MA13$57+10%$27 – $92
Oklahoma OK12$57+9%$57 – $57
Wisconsin WI53$55+5%$45 – $68
Illinois IL39$53+2%$27 – $89
Oregon OR21$520%$45 – $78
New York NY34$47−10%$19 – $168
Georgia GA13$46−11%$46 – $78
Missouri MO21$36−31%$25 – $50
Kansas KS12$30−42%$21 – $55
Louisiana LA18$24−54%$8 – $37
Kentucky KY10$19−64%$12 – $32
Michigan MI30$11−79%$10 – $55
West Virginia WV22$9−82%$8 – $30
Pennsylvania PA23$7−86%$6 – $28
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Jersey NJ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not 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 $52.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care478$53$19 – $91
Children’s29$61$37 – $119
Critical access216$48$21 – $78
Ownership
For-profit38$57$32 – $108
Government136$47$25 – $79
Non-profit549$55$18 – $90
System affiliation
Part of a system576$52$18 – $85
Independent148$50$22 – $100

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$80
Median cash price$52
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

457 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $55 and the average of the middle 60% is $53; most fall between $27 and $90.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 457 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
$14$32$55$73$119

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($14 vs $119).

Of the 492 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 457 gave a usable cash price; 11 carried a plausibility flag, 2 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

724 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 796 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted724
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here24
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 — excluded46
Hospitals that filed this code796

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 Diagnostic procedures on nose, mouth and pharynx family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Binocular Microscopy Separate Dx Procedure.

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 examination with a binocular microscope (CPT 92504) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-92504-ear-examination-with-a-binocular-microscope