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Procedure price report · Physical, occupational, and speech therapy exercises; manipulation; and other procedures

Paraffin wax bath treatment

CPT 97018the billing code this page is about

Warm paraffin wax is applied to a hand, foot, or other body area to warm the tissue before or during therapy; billed once per session, not by the minute.

Hospitals typically charge $56 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,821 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $58. Most fall between $25 and $100 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,821
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 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 2,821 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
$15$32$56$88$138

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($15 vs $138).

How the prices are spread

$10 – $13: 80 hospitals$10$13 – $18: 139 hospitals$18 – $25: 201 hospitals$18$25 – $33: 218 hospitals$33 – $45: 335 hospitals$33$45 – $61: 402 hospitals$61 – $83: 501 hospitals$61$83 – $113: 376 hospitals$113 – $153: 207 hospitals$113$153 – $207: 82 hospitals$153median $56price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,541 of 2,821 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$10$1380
$13$18139
$18$25201
$25$33218
$33$45335
$45$61402
$61$83501
$83$113376
$113$153207
$153$20782

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $56.

Alaska: median $142 across 17 hospitalsAK$142Maine: median $37 across 24 hospitalsME$37Vermont: median $53 across 12 hospitalsVT$53New Hampshire: median $43 across 21 hospitalsNH$43Washington: median $43 across 53 hospitalsWA$43Idaho: median $29 across 23 hospitalsID$29Montana: median $33 across 17 hospitalsMT$33North Dakota: median $46 across 24 hospitalsND$46Minnesota: median $67 across 82 hospitalsMN$67Illinois: median $84 across 113 hospitalsIL$84Wisconsin: median $47 across 92 hospitalsWI$47Michigan: median $62 across 86 hospitalsMI$62New York: median $36 across 92 hospitalsNY$36Massachusetts: median $63 across 42 hospitalsMA$63Oregon: median $49 across 49 hospitalsOR$49Nevada: median $46 across 16 hospitalsNV$46Wyoming: median $40 across 12 hospitalsWY$40South Dakota: median $77 across 21 hospitalsSD$77Iowa: median $55 across 74 hospitalsIA$55Indiana: median $52 across 83 hospitalsIN$52Ohio: median $70 across 135 hospitalsOH$70Pennsylvania: median $46 across 103 hospitalsPA$46New Jersey: median $8 across 42 hospitalsNJ$8Connecticut: median $55 across 17 hospitalsCT$55Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $86 across 157 hospitalsCA$86Utah: median $66 across 31 hospitalsUT$66Colorado: median $40 across 64 hospitalsCO$40Nebraska: median $59 across 67 hospitalsNE$59Missouri: median $57 across 73 hospitalsMO$57Kentucky: median $70 across 62 hospitalsKY$70West Virginia: median $48 across 30 hospitalsWV$48Virginia: median $46 across 58 hospitalsVA$46Maryland: median $17 across 32 hospitalsMD$17Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $24 across 30 hospitalsAZ$24New Mexico: median $49 across 21 hospitalsNM$49Kansas: median $44 across 81 hospitalsKS$44Arkansas: median $31 across 19 hospitalsAR$31Tennessee: median $26 across 71 hospitalsTN$26North Carolina: median $67 across 82 hospitalsNC$67South Carolina: median $67 across 47 hospitalsSC$67Oklahoma: median $32 across 53 hospitalsOK$32Louisiana: median $22 across 49 hospitalsLA$22Mississippi: median $31 across 56 hospitalsMS$31Alabama: median $38 across 28 hospitalsAL$38Georgia: median $48 across 90 hospitalsGA$48Hawaii: median $41 across 10 hospitalsHI$41Texas: median $85 across 205 hospitalsTX$85Florida: median $103 across 142 hospitalsFL$103
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $56. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK17$142+153%$75 – $175
Florida FL142$103+85%$28 – $262
California CA157$86+53%$50 – $140
Texas TX205$85+52%$38 – $136
Illinois IL113$84+50%$53 – $138
South Dakota SD21$77+38%$74 – $107
Kentucky KY62$70+25%$37 – $114
Ohio OH135$70+24%$36 – $102
Minnesota MN82$67+20%$33 – $85
South Carolina SC47$67+20%$55 – $101
North Carolina NC82$67+19%$35 – $87
Utah UT31$66+18%$66 – $71
Massachusetts MA42$63+13%$44 – $127
Michigan MI86$62+11%$16 – $92
Nebraska NE67$59+6%$44 – $80
Missouri MO73$57+1%$30 – $100
Connecticut CT17$55−2%$32 – $69
Iowa IA74$55−2%$34 – $88
Vermont VT12$53−5%$22 – $67
Indiana IN83$52−7%$16 – $82
New Mexico NM21$49−12%$33 – $69
Oregon OR49$49−13%$17 – $75
Georgia GA90$48−13%$23 – $118
West Virginia WV30$48−15%$30 – $77
Wisconsin WI92$47−15%$35 – $81
Nevada NV16$46−17%$27 – $83
Pennsylvania PA103$46−18%$21 – $86
North Dakota ND24$46−18%$27 – $60
Virginia VA58$46−19%$25 – $89
Kansas KS81$44−21%$30 – $66
Washington WA53$43−24%$19 – $68
New Hampshire NH21$43−24%$17 – $95
Hawaii HI10$41−28%$27 – $50
Wyoming WY12$40−28%$32 – $77
Colorado CO64$40−28%$26 – $86
Alabama AL28$38−31%$27 – $62
Maine ME24$37−33%$16 – $77
New York NY92$36−36%$15 – $125
Montana MT17$33−41%$18 – $52
Oklahoma OK53$32−42%$25 – $68
Mississippi MS56$31−44%$17 – $50
Arkansas AR19$31−44%$18 – $72
Idaho ID23$29−49%$15 – $66
Tennessee TN71$26−54%$19 – $69
Arizona AZ30$24−56%$9 – $65
Louisiana LA49$22−62%$10 – $45
Maryland MD32$17−69%$11 – $21
New Jersey NJ42$8−86%$8 – $61
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $56.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,966$57$23 – $108
Children’s49$57$40 – $109
Critical access799$54$29 – $86
Ownership
For-profit358$75$31 – $230
Government534$51$23 – $84
Non-profit1,922$55$25 – $96
System affiliation
Part of a system2,288$58$25 – $101
Independent533$49$23 – $89

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$97
Median cash price$56
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

1,915 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $58 and the average of the middle 60% is $59; most fall between $25 and $97.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,915 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
$16$32$58$88$128

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($16 vs $128).

Of the 2,040 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,915 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 100 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,821 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (71%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,996 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,821
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here45
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 — excluded129
Hospitals that filed this code2,996

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 Physical, occupational, and speech therapy exercises; manipulation; and other procedures family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC 97018 Paraffin Bath - Pt.

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, “Paraffin wax bath treatment (CPT 97018) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-97018-paraffin-wax-bath-treatment