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Procedure price report · Other respiratory therapy

Breathing treatment with nebulizer or inhaler

CPT 94640the billing code this page is about

One inhaled medication treatment given to open the airways or to help produce a sputum sample.

Hospitals typically charge $143 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,417 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $153. Most fall between $53 and $287 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,417
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 3,417 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
$30$67$143$254$439

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($30 vs $439).

How the prices are spread

$20 – $29: 135 hospitals$20$29 – $40: 180 hospitals$40 – $56: 233 hospitals$40$56 – $78: 280 hospitals$78 – $109: 333 hospitals$78$109 – $152: 452 hospitals$152 – $213: 490 hospitals$152$213 – $298: 485 hospitals$298 – $416: 280 hospitals$298$416 – $581: 209 hospitals$416median $143price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,077 of 3,417 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$20$29135
$29$40180
$40$56233
$56$78280
$78$109333
$109$152452
$152$213490
$213$298485
$298$416280
$416$581209

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$224
Median cash price$143
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.64×

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 $143.

Alaska: median $243 across 18 hospitalsAK$243Maine: median $154 across 26 hospitalsME$154Vermont: median $194 across 14 hospitalsVT$194New Hampshire: median $98 across 24 hospitalsNH$98Washington: median $195 across 72 hospitalsWA$195Idaho: median $172 across 25 hospitalsID$172Montana: median $76 across 33 hospitalsMT$76North Dakota: median $79 across 30 hospitalsND$79Minnesota: median $119 across 106 hospitalsMN$119Illinois: median $143 across 131 hospitalsIL$143Wisconsin: median $79 across 108 hospitalsWI$79Michigan: median $126 across 98 hospitalsMI$126New York: median $183 across 108 hospitalsNY$183Massachusetts: median $273 across 51 hospitalsMA$273Oregon: median $89 across 50 hospitalsOR$89Nevada: median $111 across 22 hospitalsNV$111Wyoming: median $49 across 12 hospitalsWY$49South Dakota: median $217 across 44 hospitalsSD$217Iowa: median $101 across 95 hospitalsIA$101Indiana: median $68 across 97 hospitalsIN$68Ohio: median $161 across 142 hospitalsOH$161Pennsylvania: median $223 across 125 hospitalsPA$223New Jersey: median $240 across 55 hospitalsNJ$240Connecticut: median $225 across 24 hospitalsCT$225Rhode Island: median $149 across 10 hospitalsRI$149California: median $301 across 216 hospitalsCA$301Utah: median $112 across 41 hospitalsUT$112Colorado: median $181 across 64 hospitalsCO$181Nebraska: median $102 across 79 hospitalsNE$102Missouri: median $140 across 78 hospitalsMO$140Kentucky: median $131 across 69 hospitalsKY$131West Virginia: median $123 across 35 hospitalsWV$123Virginia: median $158 across 73 hospitalsVA$158Maryland: median $137 across 43 hospitalsMD$137Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $151 across 39 hospitalsAZ$151New Mexico: median $111 across 30 hospitalsNM$111Kansas: median $66 across 91 hospitalsKS$66Arkansas: median $79 across 38 hospitalsAR$79Tennessee: median $86 across 83 hospitalsTN$86North Carolina: median $90 across 91 hospitalsNC$90South Carolina: median $180 across 51 hospitalsSC$180Oklahoma: median $129 across 72 hospitalsOK$129Louisiana: median $81 across 56 hospitalsLA$81Mississippi: median $53 across 56 hospitalsMS$53Alabama: median $136 across 40 hospitalsAL$136Georgia: median $151 across 108 hospitalsGA$151Hawaii: median $278 across 18 hospitalsHI$278Texas: median $203 across 250 hospitalsTX$203Florida: median $251 across 169 hospitalsFL$251
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $143. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA216$301+111%$129 – $519
Hawaii HI18$278+95%$82 – $655
Massachusetts MA51$273+91%$161 – $377
Florida FL169$251+75%$92 – $504
Alaska AK18$243+70%$73 – $540
New Jersey NJ55$240+67%$133 – $285
Connecticut CT24$225+57%$152 – $360
Pennsylvania PA125$223+56%$75 – $401
South Dakota SD44$217+52%$100 – $254
Texas TX250$203+42%$63 – $325
Washington WA72$195+36%$51 – $479
Vermont VT14$194+36%$39 – $410
New York NY108$183+28%$44 – $351
Colorado CO64$181+27%$112 – $367
South Carolina SC51$180+26%$88 – $306
Idaho ID25$172+20%$52 – $356
Ohio OH142$161+12%$101 – $361
Virginia VA73$158+10%$105 – $252
Maine ME26$154+8%$68 – $236
Arizona AZ39$151+6%$23 – $311
Georgia GA108$151+5%$90 – $243
Rhode Island RI10$149+4%$79 – $219
Illinois IL131$1430%$53 – $317
Missouri MO78$140−2%$57 – $238
Maryland MD43$137−4%$97 – $181
Alabama AL40$136−5%$45 – $199
Kentucky KY69$131−8%$46 – $337
Oklahoma OK72$129−10%$39 – $250
Michigan MI98$126−12%$27 – $251
West Virginia WV35$123−14%$9 – $241
Minnesota MN106$119−17%$52 – $195
Utah UT41$112−21%$96 – $280
New Mexico NM30$111−22%$73 – $218
Nevada NV22$111−22%$75 – $357
Nebraska NE79$102−29%$32 – $240
Iowa IA95$101−30%$41 – $198
New Hampshire NH24$98−32%$54 – $272
North Carolina NC91$90−37%$52 – $157
Oregon OR50$89−38%$21 – $200
Tennessee TN83$86−40%$59 – $227
Louisiana LA56$81−44%$46 – $210
Wisconsin WI108$79−45%$48 – $178
North Dakota ND30$79−45%$26 – $170
Arkansas AR38$79−45%$42 – $130
Montana MT33$76−47%$31 – $167
Indiana IN97$68−53%$23 – $173
Kansas KS91$66−54%$35 – $173
Mississippi MS56$53−63%$28 – $175
Wyoming WY12$49−66%$38 – $179
Delaware DE7not 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 $143.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,370$169$69 – $325
Children’s59$137$58 – $313
Critical access978$91$35 – $209
Ownership
For-profit486$203$83 – $435
Government648$96$38 – $240
Non-profit2,273$147$59 – $282
System affiliation
Part of a system2,769$153$60 – $306
Independent648$108$36 – $244

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$251
Median cash price$143
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

2,550 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $153 and the average of the middle 60% is $161; most fall between $65 and $297.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,550 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
$37$78$153$259$439

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($37 vs $439).

Of the 2,703 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,550 gave a usable cash price; 41 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 111 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,417 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (86%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,611 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,417
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here64
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded127
Hospitals that filed this code3,611

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 July 20, 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 Other respiratory therapy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Pressurized/Nonpressurized Inhalation Treatment.

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, “Breathing treatment with nebulizer or inhaler (CPT 94640) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-94640-breathing-treatment-with-nebulizer-or-inhaler