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Procedure price report · Cancer chemotherapy

Chemotherapy into spinal fluid with spinal tap

CPT 96450the billing code this page is about

Covers performing a spinal tap and injecting a chemotherapy drug into the fluid around the spinal cord or brain.

Hospitals typically charge $615 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,908 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $642. Most fall between $307 and $1,181 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,908
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2023 – 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 1,908 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
$217$341$615$1,026$1,637

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($217 vs $1,637).

How the prices are spread

$146 – $193: 69 hospitals$146$193 – $255: 115 hospitals$255 – $336: 175 hospitals$255$336 – $444: 228 hospitals$444 – $586: 218 hospitals$444$586 – $773: 294 hospitals$773 – $1,020: 225 hospitals$773$1,020 – $1,346: 205 hospitals$1,346 – $1,777: 122 hospitals$1,346$1,777 – $2,345: 67 hospitals$1,777median $615price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,718 of 1,908 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$146$19369
$193$255115
$255$336175
$336$444228
$444$586218
$586$773294
$773$1,020225
$1,020$1,346205
$1,346$1,777122
$1,777$2,34567

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$337
Median cash price$615
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.82×

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 $615.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $325 across 11 hospitalsME$325Vermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $527 across 10 hospitalsNH$527Washington: median $744 across 41 hospitalsWA$744Idaho: median $1,000 across 14 hospitalsID$1,000Montana: median $257 across 11 hospitalsMT$257North Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $334 across 50 hospitalsMN$334Illinois: median $749 across 70 hospitalsIL$749Wisconsin: median $619 across 76 hospitalsWI$619Michigan: median $454 across 70 hospitalsMI$454New York: median $555 across 66 hospitalsNY$555Massachusetts: median $1,151 across 27 hospitalsMA$1,151Oregon: median $968 across 29 hospitalsOR$968Nevada: median $610 across 13 hospitalsNV$610Wyoming: 6 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 $470 across 27 hospitalsIA$470Indiana: median $337 across 62 hospitalsIN$337Ohio: median $1,024 across 107 hospitalsOH$1,024Pennsylvania: median $576 across 82 hospitalsPA$576New Jersey: median $443 across 44 hospitalsNJ$443Connecticut: median $1,026 across 19 hospitalsCT$1,026Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $824 across 160 hospitalsCA$824Utah: median $921 across 25 hospitalsUT$921Colorado: median $1,322 across 43 hospitalsCO$1,322Nebraska: median $458 across 21 hospitalsNE$458Missouri: median $673 across 34 hospitalsMO$673Kentucky: median $524 across 34 hospitalsKY$524West Virginia: median $543 across 20 hospitalsWV$543Virginia: median $505 across 46 hospitalsVA$505Maryland: median $656 across 13 hospitalsMD$656Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $437 across 37 hospitalsAZ$437New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $373 across 20 hospitalsKS$373Arkansas: median $308 across 16 hospitalsAR$308Tennessee: median $222 across 46 hospitalsTN$222North Carolina: median $497 across 50 hospitalsNC$497South Carolina: median $591 across 37 hospitalsSC$591Oklahoma: median $256 across 30 hospitalsOK$256Louisiana: median $392 across 21 hospitalsLA$392Mississippi: median $333 across 29 hospitalsMS$333Alabama: median $430 across 20 hospitalsAL$430Georgia: median $437 across 57 hospitalsGA$437Hawaii: median $481 across 11 hospitalsHI$481Texas: median $729 across 153 hospitalsTX$729Florida: median $767 across 107 hospitalsFL$767
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $615. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO43$1,322+115%$756 – $3,222
Massachusetts MA27$1,151+87%$421 – $2,199
Connecticut CT19$1,026+67%$428 – $1,534
Ohio OH107$1,024+67%$424 – $1,481
Idaho ID14$1,000+63%$640 – $1,358
Oregon OR29$968+57%$289 – $1,601
Utah UT25$921+50%$921 – $1,083
California CA160$824+34%$355 – $2,007
Florida FL107$767+25%$551 – $1,319
Illinois IL70$749+22%$355 – $1,283
Washington WA41$744+21%$289 – $1,079
Texas TX153$729+19%$270 – $1,180
Missouri MO34$673+9%$339 – $828
Maryland MD13$656+7%$352 – $1,192
Wisconsin WI76$619+1%$292 – $885
Nevada NV13$610−1%$237 – $1,492
South Carolina SC37$591−4%$566 – $1,261
Pennsylvania PA82$576−6%$288 – $1,136
New York NY66$555−10%$392 – $1,154
West Virginia WV20$543−12%$363 – $735
New Hampshire NH10$527−14%$96 – $732
Kentucky KY34$524−15%$304 – $2,907
Virginia VA46$505−18%$444 – $805
North Carolina NC50$497−19%$307 – $803
Hawaii HI11$481−22%$182 – $863
Iowa IA27$470−24%$385 – $749
Nebraska NE21$458−26%$412 – $695
Michigan MI70$454−26%$150 – $784
New Jersey NJ44$443−28%$367 – $711
Georgia GA57$437−29%$339 – $1,340
Arizona AZ37$437−29%$211 – $2,707
Alabama AL20$430−30%$290 – $944
Louisiana LA21$392−36%$139 – $600
Kansas KS20$373−39%$311 – $812
Indiana IN62$337−45%$134 – $639
Minnesota MN50$334−46%$248 – $598
Mississippi MS29$333−46%$240 – $611
Maine ME11$325−47%$279 – $595
Arkansas AR16$308−50%$235 – $466
Montana MT11$257−58%$257 – $483
Oklahoma OK30$256−58%$161 – $480
Tennessee TN46$222−64%$167 – $586
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not 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 $615.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,645$622$313 – $1,221
Children’s52$866$357 – $2,048
Critical access201$447$241 – $838
Ownership
For-profit222$868$376 – $1,643
Government216$497$309 – $932
Non-profit1,460$605$292 – $1,134
System affiliation
Part of a system1,669$619$309 – $1,208
Independent239$551$279 – $1,132

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,121
Median cash price$615
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. 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

1,446 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $628 and the average of the middle 60% is $661; most fall between $301 and $1,197.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,446 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
$222$343$628$1,043$1,583

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($222 vs $1,583).

Of the 1,513 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,446 gave a usable cash price; 23 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 44 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,908 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (48%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,995 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,908
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here35
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded3
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded49
Hospitals that filed this code1,995

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 Cancer chemotherapy family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Chemotx Admn Cns Req Spinal Puncture.

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, “Chemotherapy into spinal fluid with spinal tap (CPT 96450) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-96450-chemotherapy-into-spinal-fluid-with-spinal-tap