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Procedure price report · Ancillary Services

Flushing an implanted port for vein access

CPT 96523the billing code this page is about

Covers rinsing out an implanted venous access port or catheter to keep it clear, when no other service is done that day.

Hospitals typically charge $126 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,230 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $130. Most fall between $70 and $213 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,230
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 3,230 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
$50$77$126$194$294

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $294).

How the prices are spread

$37 – $47: 121 hospitals$37$47 – $59: 183 hospitals$59 – $75: 283 hospitals$59$75 – $95: 356 hospitals$95 – $120: 410 hospitals$95$120 – $152: 454 hospitals$152 – $192: 452 hospitals$152$192 – $244: 315 hospitals$244 – $309: 198 hospitals$244$309 – $391: 136 hospitals$309median $126price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,908 of 3,230 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$37$47121
$47$59183
$59$75283
$75$95356
$95$120410
$120$152454
$152$192452
$192$244315
$244$309198
$309$391136

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$60
Median cash price$126
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.1×

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 $126.

Alaska: median $154 across 16 hospitalsAK$154Maine: median $83 across 28 hospitalsME$83Vermont: median $111 across 14 hospitalsVT$111New Hampshire: median $112 across 22 hospitalsNH$112Washington: median $148 across 71 hospitalsWA$148Idaho: median $150 across 24 hospitalsID$150Montana: median $87 across 28 hospitalsMT$87North Dakota: median $128 across 30 hospitalsND$128Minnesota: median $124 across 104 hospitalsMN$124Illinois: median $138 across 129 hospitalsIL$138Wisconsin: median $123 across 104 hospitalsWI$123Michigan: median $109 across 92 hospitalsMI$109New York: median $130 across 115 hospitalsNY$130Massachusetts: median $186 across 49 hospitalsMA$186Oregon: median $119 across 54 hospitalsOR$119Nevada: median $116 across 18 hospitalsNV$116Wyoming: median $158 across 15 hospitalsWY$158South Dakota: median $138 across 38 hospitalsSD$138Iowa: median $120 across 94 hospitalsIA$120Indiana: median $116 across 96 hospitalsIN$116Ohio: median $159 across 132 hospitalsOH$159Pennsylvania: median $144 across 124 hospitalsPA$144New Jersey: median $78 across 56 hospitalsNJ$78Connecticut: median $145 across 20 hospitalsCT$145Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $183 across 194 hospitalsCA$183Utah: median $225 across 39 hospitalsUT$225Colorado: median $125 across 70 hospitalsCO$125Nebraska: median $133 across 75 hospitalsNE$133Missouri: median $139 across 78 hospitalsMO$139Kentucky: median $125 across 65 hospitalsKY$125West Virginia: median $88 across 40 hospitalsWV$88Virginia: median $96 across 70 hospitalsVA$96Maryland: median $141 across 34 hospitalsMD$141Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $111 across 46 hospitalsAZ$111New Mexico: median $99 across 26 hospitalsNM$99Kansas: median $78 across 90 hospitalsKS$78Arkansas: median $44 across 30 hospitalsAR$44Tennessee: median $47 across 75 hospitalsTN$47North Carolina: median $94 across 89 hospitalsNC$94South Carolina: median $144 across 50 hospitalsSC$144Oklahoma: median $100 across 68 hospitalsOK$100Louisiana: median $68 across 51 hospitalsLA$68Mississippi: median $72 across 52 hospitalsMS$72Alabama: median $81 across 34 hospitalsAL$81Georgia: median $106 across 101 hospitalsGA$106Hawaii: median $124 across 18 hospitalsHI$124Texas: median $156 across 200 hospitalsTX$156Florida: median $226 across 147 hospitalsFL$226
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $126. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL147$226+79%$99 – $391
Utah UT39$225+78%$112 – $253
Massachusetts MA49$186+48%$118 – $295
California CA194$183+46%$100 – $347
Ohio OH132$159+26%$107 – $267
Wyoming WY15$158+26%$100 – $198
Texas TX200$156+24%$67 – $209
Alaska AK16$154+22%$136 – $286
Idaho ID24$150+19%$102 – $207
Washington WA71$148+17%$109 – $203
Connecticut CT20$145+15%$98 – $253
South Carolina SC50$144+14%$125 – $175
Pennsylvania PA124$144+14%$79 – $223
Maryland MD34$141+12%$87 – $187
Missouri MO78$139+10%$74 – $214
Illinois IL129$138+10%$76 – $232
South Dakota SD38$138+9%$77 – $200
Nebraska NE75$133+6%$77 – $185
New York NY115$130+3%$70 – $323
North Dakota ND30$128+2%$78 – $160
Kentucky KY65$125−1%$69 – $212
Colorado CO70$125−1%$78 – $206
Minnesota MN104$124−2%$86 – $187
Hawaii HI18$124−2%$104 – $156
Wisconsin WI104$123−2%$96 – $155
Iowa IA94$120−4%$77 – $169
Oregon OR54$119−5%$68 – $205
Indiana IN96$116−8%$62 – $183
Nevada NV18$116−8%$85 – $249
New Hampshire NH22$112−11%$70 – $178
Vermont VT14$111−12%$57 – $244
Arizona AZ46$111−12%$76 – $416
Michigan MI92$109−14%$55 – $191
Georgia GA101$106−16%$75 – $254
Oklahoma OK68$100−20%$60 – $137
New Mexico NM26$99−22%$70 – $147
Virginia VA70$96−24%$48 – $154
North Carolina NC89$94−26%$45 – $157
West Virginia WV40$88−31%$61 – $132
Montana MT28$87−31%$65 – $129
Maine ME28$83−35%$51 – $152
Alabama AL34$81−36%$52 – $125
Kansas KS90$78−38%$55 – $131
New Jersey NJ56$78−38%$66 – $170
Mississippi MS52$72−43%$42 – $102
Louisiana LA51$68−46%$52 – $132
Tennessee TN75$47−63%$29 – $118
Arkansas AR30$44−65%$25 – $94
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $126.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,234$130$70 – $227
Children’s58$176$103 – $340
Critical access929$117$70 – $178
Ownership
For-profit388$152$77 – $326
Government606$109$61 – $171
Non-profit2,227$129$71 – $213
System affiliation
Part of a system2,623$132$72 – $218
Independent607$110$64 – $189

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$215
Median cash price$126
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

2,224 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $135 and the average of the middle 60% is $137; most fall between $74 and $216.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,224 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
$50$82$135$200$283

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $283).

Of the 2,348 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,224 gave a usable cash price; 26 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 98 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,230 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,387 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,230
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here46
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 — excluded108
Hospitals that filed this code3,387

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 Ancillary Services family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Irrig Implanted Drug Delivery Device.

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, “Flushing an implanted port for vein access (CPT 96523) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-96523-flushing-an-implanted-port-for-vein-access