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Procedure price report · Other non-OR therapeutic procedures on skin and breast

Light therapy to destroy precancerous skin spots

CPT 96573the billing code this page is about

Photodynamic therapy in which a clinician applies a light-sensitizing medicine to precancerous spots on the face or scalp and then treats them with light; billed once per day of treatment.

Hospitals typically charge $308 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 310 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $337. Most fall between $204 and $579 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
310
States
41
Filings dated
Dec 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 310 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
$157$226$308$484$798

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($157 vs $798).

How the prices are spread

$112 – $142: 7 hospitals$112$142 – $181: 24 hospitals$181 – $230: 37 hospitals$181$230 – $292: 57 hospitals$292 – $372: 27 hospitals$292$372 – $473: 63 hospitals$473 – $602: 18 hospitals$473$602 – $767: 28 hospitals$767 – $975: 14 hospitals$767$975 – $1,241: 12 hospitals$975median $308price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (287 of 310 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$112$1427
$142$18124
$181$23037
$230$29257
$292$37227
$372$47363
$473$60218
$602$76728
$767$97514
$975$1,24112

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$205
Median cash price$308
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.50×

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 $308.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $904 across 13 hospitalsMN$904Illinois: median $308 across 14 hospitalsIL$308Wisconsin: median $246 across 13 hospitalsWI$246Michigan: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $235 across 23 hospitalsNY$235Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $456 across 14 hospitalsIA$456Indiana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceINOhio: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $225 across 22 hospitalsPA$225New Jersey: median $220 across 11 hospitalsNJ$220Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $706 across 40 hospitalsCA$706Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $231 across 12 hospitalsWV$231Virginia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $402 across 12 hospitalsOK$402Louisiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $295 across 17 hospitalsTX$295Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $308. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Minnesota MN13$904+193%$350 – $904
California CA40$706+129%$447 – $706
Iowa IA14$456+48%$305 – $456
Oklahoma OK12$402+30%$402 – $402
Illinois IL14$3080%$161 – $1,204
Texas TX17$295−4%$204 – $295
Wisconsin WI13$246−20%$154 – $246
New York NY23$235−24%$235 – $493
West Virginia WV12$231−25%$226 – $231
Pennsylvania PA22$225−27%$45 – $289
New Jersey NJ11$220−29%$217 – $234
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $308.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care265$298$204 – $572
Children’s1fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access43$418$242 – $660
Ownership
For-profit19fewer than 20 hospitals
Government42$242$204 – $470
Non-profit248$332$204 – $706
System affiliation
Part of a system273$308$214 – $688
Independent37$289$181 – $487

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$570
Median cash price$308
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

205 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $402 and the average of the middle 60% is $420; most fall between $206 and $706.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 205 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
$160$242$402$506$956

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($160 vs $956).

Of the 220 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 205 gave a usable cash price; 7 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 8 a list price only.

How complete is this

310 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 328 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted310
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here10
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded8
Hospitals that filed this code328

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 Other non-OR therapeutic procedures on skin and breast family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Pdt Dstr Prmlg Les Skn Illum/Activj by Phys/Qhp.

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, “Light therapy to destroy precancerous skin spots (CPT 96573) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-96573-light-therapy-to-destroy-precancerous-skin-spots