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Procedure price report · Consultation, evaluation, and preventative care

Emergency room visit, lowest level

CPT 99281the billing code this page is about

An emergency department visit for a very minor problem, the lowest of five billing levels, which may not require a physician or other qualified clinician to personally evaluate the patient.

Hospitals typically charge $185 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,448 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $194. Most fall between $81 and $369 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,448
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 3,448 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
$46$97$185$313$536

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($46 vs $536).

How the prices are spread

$30 – $42: 118 hospitals$30$42 – $58: 163 hospitals$58 – $79: 227 hospitals$58$79 – $109: 325 hospitals$109 – $151: 424 hospitals$109$151 – $208: 492 hospitals$208 – $286: 518 hospitals$208$286 – $393: 393 hospitals$393 – $542: 279 hospitals$393$542 – $746: 165 hospitals$542median $185price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,104 of 3,448 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$30$42118
$42$58163
$58$79227
$79$109325
$109$151424
$151$208492
$208$286518
$286$393393
$393$542279
$542$746165

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$86
Median cash price$185
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 $185.

Alaska: median $202 across 19 hospitalsAK$202Maine: median $89 across 28 hospitalsME$89Vermont: median $157 across 14 hospitalsVT$157New Hampshire: median $144 across 24 hospitalsNH$144Washington: median $207 across 76 hospitalsWA$207Idaho: median $173 across 24 hospitalsID$173Montana: median $97 across 35 hospitalsMT$97North Dakota: median $130 across 31 hospitalsND$130Minnesota: median $186 across 110 hospitalsMN$186Illinois: median $190 across 133 hospitalsIL$190Wisconsin: median $137 across 107 hospitalsWI$137Michigan: median $131 across 99 hospitalsMI$131New York: median $207 across 117 hospitalsNY$207Massachusetts: median $340 across 44 hospitalsMA$340Oregon: median $112 across 55 hospitalsOR$112Nevada: median $217 across 24 hospitalsNV$217Wyoming: median $157 across 16 hospitalsWY$157South Dakota: median $262 across 37 hospitalsSD$262Iowa: median $67 across 95 hospitalsIA$67Indiana: median $153 across 98 hospitalsIN$153Ohio: median $257 across 133 hospitalsOH$257Pennsylvania: median $199 across 122 hospitalsPA$199New Jersey: median $150 across 53 hospitalsNJ$150Connecticut: median $206 across 23 hospitalsCT$206Rhode Island: median $145 across 10 hospitalsRI$145California: median $416 across 211 hospitalsCA$416Utah: median $553 across 42 hospitalsUT$553Colorado: median $221 across 71 hospitalsCO$221Nebraska: median $173 across 76 hospitalsNE$173Missouri: median $193 across 80 hospitalsMO$193Kentucky: median $144 across 69 hospitalsKY$144West Virginia: median $160 across 42 hospitalsWV$160Virginia: median $197 across 73 hospitalsVA$197Maryland: median $131 across 40 hospitalsMD$131Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $322 across 55 hospitalsAZ$322New Mexico: median $125 across 32 hospitalsNM$125Kansas: median $102 across 89 hospitalsKS$102Arkansas: median $109 across 38 hospitalsAR$109Tennessee: median $121 across 85 hospitalsTN$121North Carolina: median $171 across 92 hospitalsNC$171South Carolina: median $265 across 52 hospitalsSC$265Oklahoma: median $125 across 72 hospitalsOK$125Louisiana: median $141 across 47 hospitalsLA$141Mississippi: median $80 across 56 hospitalsMS$80Alabama: median $120 across 44 hospitalsAL$120Georgia: median $224 across 108 hospitalsGA$224Hawaii: median $391 across 16 hospitalsHI$391Texas: median $233 across 251 hospitalsTX$233Florida: median $494 across 173 hospitalsFL$494
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $185. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT42$553+200%$90 – $615
Florida FL173$494+168%$197 – $1,508
California CA211$416+125%$160 – $600
Hawaii HI16$391+112%$359 – $464
Massachusetts MA44$340+84%$177 – $571
Arizona AZ55$322+74%$140 – $750
South Carolina SC52$265+43%$133 – $429
South Dakota SD37$262+42%$75 – $340
Ohio OH133$257+39%$131 – $395
Texas TX251$233+26%$106 – $363
Georgia GA108$224+22%$61 – $400
Colorado CO71$221+20%$119 – $344
Nevada NV24$217+18%$92 – $347
Washington WA76$207+12%$69 – $295
New York NY117$207+12%$72 – $1,160
Connecticut CT23$206+12%$76 – $390
Alaska AK19$202+9%$139 – $339
Pennsylvania PA122$199+8%$89 – $400
Virginia VA73$197+7%$130 – $386
Missouri MO80$193+4%$97 – $311
Illinois IL133$190+3%$80 – $343
Minnesota MN110$186+1%$111 – $231
Nebraska NE76$173−6%$88 – $230
Idaho ID24$173−6%$56 – $383
North Carolina NC92$171−7%$94 – $276
West Virginia WV42$160−14%$82 – $207
Vermont VT14$157−15%$32 – $267
Wyoming WY16$157−15%$50 – $281
Indiana IN98$153−17%$74 – $257
New Jersey NJ53$150−19%$98 – $600
Rhode Island RI10$145−21%$94 – $630
New Hampshire NH24$144−22%$57 – $196
Kentucky KY69$144−22%$64 – $354
Louisiana LA47$141−24%$62 – $271
Wisconsin WI107$137−26%$63 – $222
Michigan MI99$131−29%$67 – $237
Maryland MD40$131−29%$108 – $161
North Dakota ND31$130−30%$44 – $238
Oklahoma OK72$125−32%$60 – $212
New Mexico NM32$125−32%$82 – $277
Tennessee TN85$121−34%$68 – $208
Alabama AL44$120−35%$75 – $282
Oregon OR55$112−39%$33 – $187
Arkansas AR38$109−41%$46 – $455
Kansas KS89$102−45%$55 – $187
Montana MT35$97−47%$31 – $183
Maine ME28$89−52%$71 – $214
Mississippi MS56$80−57%$37 – $131
Iowa IA95$67−64%$35 – $178
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 $185.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,391$211$94 – $421
Children’s51$286$131 – $473
Critical access997$132$56 – $239
Ownership
For-profit484$246$94 – $746
Government658$140$60 – $260
Non-profit2,297$187$84 – $360
System affiliation
Part of a system2,790$196$90 – $393
Independent658$140$56 – $260

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$325
Median cash price$185
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

2,609 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $204 and the average of the middle 60% is $211; most fall between $93 and $364.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,609 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
$52$116$204$324$478

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($52 vs $478).

Of the 2,737 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,609 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 103 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,448 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (87%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,626 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,448
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here57
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code3,626

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 July 20, 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 Consultation, evaluation, and preventative care family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Emergency Department Visit May Not Req 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, “Emergency room visit, lowest level (CPT 99281) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-99281-emergency-room-visit-lowest-level