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Procedure price report · Telehealth (includes telephone calls, online communication, remote monitoring and surveillance)

Online message visit with a therapist, 11-20 minutes

CPT 98971the billing code this page is about

Review and response to a patient's online message by a non-physician clinician, covering 11 to 20 minutes of that clinician's time over a seven-day period.

Hospitals typically charge $38 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 372 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $41. Most fall between $23 and $63 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
372
States
46
Filings dated
Sep 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 372 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$25$38$56$86

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($16 vs $86).

How the prices are spread

$12 – $15: 14 hospitals$12$15 – $19: 28 hospitals$19 – $24: 17 hospitals$19$24 – $30: 52 hospitals$30 – $38: 61 hospitals$30$38 – $48: 44 hospitals$48 – $60: 57 hospitals$48$60 – $76: 31 hospitals$76 – $96: 19 hospitals$76$96 – $121: 14 hospitals$96median $38price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (337 of 372 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$12$1514
$15$1928
$19$2417
$24$3052
$30$3861
$38$4844
$48$6057
$60$7631
$76$9619
$96$12114

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $38.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 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: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $41 across 10 hospitalsIL$41Wisconsin: median $63 across 20 hospitalsWI$63Michigan: median $17 across 22 hospitalsMI$17New York: median $37 across 31 hospitalsNY$37Massachusetts: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $52 across 21 hospitalsOR$52Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $41 across 28 hospitalsIA$41Indiana: median $33 across 17 hospitalsIN$33Ohio: median $45 across 17 hospitalsOH$45Pennsylvania: median $15 across 16 hospitalsPA$15New Jersey: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNJConnecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCAUtah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $23 across 10 hospitalsWV$23Virginia: median $38 across 10 hospitalsVA$38Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $36 across 11 hospitalsOK$36Louisiana: median $8 across 14 hospitalsLA$8Mississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $54 across 20 hospitalsGA$54Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $43 across 10 hospitalsTX$43Florida: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $38. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI20$63+67%$63 – $63
Georgia GA20$54+44%$29 – $86
Oregon OR21$52+39%$40 – $63
Ohio OH17$45+19%$30 – $52
Texas TX10$43+15%$13 – $69
Iowa IA28$41+9%$41 – $70
Illinois IL10$41+9%$19 – $60
Virginia VA10$380%$38 – $38
New York NY31$37−2%$24 – $53
Oklahoma OK11$36−3%$36 – $36
Indiana IN17$33−13%$26 – $43
West Virginia WV10$23−39%$22 – $50
Michigan MI22$17−55%$17 – $37
Pennsylvania PA16$15−60%$14 – $30
Louisiana LA14$8−80%$7 – $12
California CA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Jersey NJ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $38.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care272$36$18 – $59
Children’s5fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access94$49$26 – $76
Ownership
For-profit28$40$26 – $79
Government73$38$24 – $60
Non-profit270$38$21 – $63
System affiliation
Part of a system304$37$21 – $60
Independent68$41$30 – $79

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$65
Median cash price$38
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

208 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $40 and the average of the middle 60% is $43; most fall between $26 and $63.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 208 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$29$40$63$86

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($16 vs $86).

Of the 224 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 208 gave a usable cash price; 9 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 7 a list price only.

How complete is this

372 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 400 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted372
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here20
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 code400

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 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Telehealth (includes telephone calls, online communication, remote monitoring and surveillance) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as NQHP OL DIG ASSMT&MGMT 11-20.

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, “Online message visit with a therapist, 11-20 minutes (CPT 98971) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-98971-online-message-visit-with-a-therapist-11-20-minutes