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Procedure price report · Cancer chemotherapy

Chemotherapy into brain or spinal fluid through a reservoir

CPT 96542the billing code this page is about

Covers injecting one or more chemotherapy drugs into the fluid spaces of the brain or spinal cord through an implanted reservoir under the scalp or skin.

Hospitals typically charge $381 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,133 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $386. Most fall between $187 and $680 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,133
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2024 – 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 1,133 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
$128$226$381$589$986

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($128 vs $986).

How the prices are spread

$87 – $115: 32 hospitals$87$115 – $153: 67 hospitals$153 – $203: 103 hospitals$153$203 – $270: 117 hospitals$270 – $359: 161 hospitals$270$359 – $477: 200 hospitals$477 – $634: 154 hospitals$477$634 – $842: 67 hospitals$842 – $1,119: 76 hospitals$842$1,119 – $1,488: 50 hospitals$1,119median $381price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,027 of 1,133 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$87$11532
$115$15367
$153$203103
$203$270117
$270$359161
$359$477200
$477$634154
$634$84267
$842$1,11976
$1,119$1,48850

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$337
Median cash price$381
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.13×

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 $381.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $562 across 26 hospitalsWA$562Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $303 across 20 hospitalsMN$303Illinois: median $462 across 43 hospitalsIL$462Wisconsin: median $426 across 45 hospitalsWI$426Michigan: median $381 across 43 hospitalsMI$381New York: median $337 across 45 hospitalsNY$337Massachusetts: median $546 across 10 hospitalsMA$546Oregon: median $231 across 21 hospitalsOR$231Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $304 across 16 hospitalsIA$304Indiana: median $273 across 30 hospitalsIN$273Ohio: median $463 across 89 hospitalsOH$463Pennsylvania: median $390 across 42 hospitalsPA$390New Jersey: median $367 across 33 hospitalsNJ$367Connecticut: median $390 across 11 hospitalsCT$390Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $986 across 95 hospitalsCA$986Utah: median $354 across 22 hospitalsUT$354Colorado: median $891 across 24 hospitalsCO$891Nebraska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $259 across 22 hospitalsMO$259Kentucky: median $405 across 26 hospitalsKY$405West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $94 across 10 hospitalsVA$94Maryland: median $281 across 12 hospitalsMD$281Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $405 across 22 hospitalsAZ$405New Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $90 across 26 hospitalsTN$90North Carolina: median $323 across 33 hospitalsNC$323South Carolina: median $539 across 23 hospitalsSC$539Oklahoma: median $133 across 22 hospitalsOK$133Louisiana: median $183 across 19 hospitalsLA$183Mississippi: median $198 across 20 hospitalsMS$198Alabama: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $482 across 37 hospitalsGA$482Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $367 across 94 hospitalsTX$367Florida: median $512 across 46 hospitalsFL$512
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $381. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA95$986+159%$309 – $1,448
Colorado CO24$891+134%$327 – $2,474
Washington WA26$562+47%$334 – $594
Massachusetts MA10$546+43%$225 – $982
South Carolina SC23$539+41%$239 – $539
Florida FL46$512+34%$319 – $784
Georgia GA37$482+27%$298 – $827
Ohio OH89$463+22%$259 – $800
Illinois IL43$462+21%$140 – $677
Wisconsin WI45$426+12%$159 – $443
Arizona AZ22$405+6%$133 – $1,180
Kentucky KY26$405+6%$188 – $2,753
Pennsylvania PA42$390+2%$288 – $650
Connecticut CT11$390+2%$343 – $551
Michigan MI43$3810%$314 – $850
New Jersey NJ33$367−4%$236 – $443
Texas TX94$367−4%$183 – $589
Utah UT22$354−7%$315 – $393
New York NY45$337−11%$129 – $412
North Carolina NC33$323−15%$230 – $590
Iowa IA16$304−20%$262 – $626
Minnesota MN20$303−20%$158 – $321
Maryland MD12$281−26%$174 – $379
Indiana IN30$273−28%$122 – $473
Missouri MO22$259−32%$223 – $535
Oregon OR21$231−39%$200 – $343
Mississippi MS20$198−48%$131 – $258
Louisiana LA19$183−52%$72 – $339
Oklahoma OK22$133−65%$70 – $264
Virginia VA10$94−75%$47 – $461
Tennessee TN26$90−76%$47 – $190
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not 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 $381.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care961$389$189 – $711
Children’s41$421$211 – $878
Critical access125$315$160 – $495
Ownership
For-profit97$456$205 – $891
Government134$335$183 – $590
Non-profit896$373$186 – $680
System affiliation
Part of a system995$383$187 – $702
Independent138$324$181 – $560

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$649
Median cash price$381
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

848 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $393 and the average of the middle 60% is $409; most fall between $196 and $720.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 848 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
$135$246$393$621$995

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($135 vs $995).

Of the 900 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 848 gave a usable cash price; 25 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 27 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,133 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (29%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,190 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,133
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here27
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded29
Hospitals that filed this code1,190

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 Njx Subarachnd/Intraventr Rsvr 1/Mult.

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 brain or spinal fluid through a reservoir (CPT 96542) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-96542-chemotherapy-into-brain-or-spinal-fluid-through-a-reservoir