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

Online message visit with a provider, 5 to 10 minutes

CPT 99421the billing code this page is about

A patient-initiated consultation handled through a secure online portal by a physician or other qualified provider, totaling 5 to 10 minutes of their time over seven days.

Hospitals typically charge $26 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 468 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $26. Most fall between $16 and $39 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
468
States
45
Filings dated
Dec 2023 – 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 468 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
$11$17$26$37$51

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($11 vs $51).

How the prices are spread

$8 – $10: 18 hospitals$8$10 – $13: 17 hospitals$13 – $16: 27 hospitals$13$16 – $20: 58 hospitals$20 – $25: 80 hospitals$20$25 – $31: 67 hospitals$31 – $38: 74 hospitals$31$38 – $48: 50 hospitals$48 – $60: 18 hospitals$48$60 – $75: 13 hospitals$60median $26price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (422 of 468 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$8$1018
$10$1317
$13$1627
$16$2058
$20$2580
$25$3167
$31$3874
$38$4850
$48$6018
$60$7513

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $26.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $28 across 17 hospitalsWA$28Idaho: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 6 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 $24 across 30 hospitalsMN$24Illinois: median $36 across 22 hospitalsIL$36Wisconsin: median $30 across 33 hospitalsWI$30Michigan: median $19 across 35 hospitalsMI$19New York: median $21 across 32 hospitalsNY$21Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $32 across 23 hospitalsOR$32Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $28 across 28 hospitalsIA$28Indiana: median $16 across 19 hospitalsIN$16Ohio: median $25 across 16 hospitalsOH$25Pennsylvania: median $9 across 16 hospitalsPA$9New Jersey: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNJConnecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $27 across 16 hospitalsCA$27Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $28 across 14 hospitalsNE$28Missouri: median $34 across 10 hospitalsMO$34Kentucky: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $13 across 11 hospitalsWV$13Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVAMaryland: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $24 across 12 hospitalsKS$24Arkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $20 across 11 hospitalsOK$20Louisiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTXFlorida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $26. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Illinois IL22$36+38%$22 – $69
Missouri MO10$34+31%$21 – $82
Oregon OR23$32+24%$27 – $36
Wisconsin WI33$30+15%$22 – $34
Washington WA17$28+9%$22 – $38
Iowa IA28$28+9%$22 – $38
Nebraska NE14$28+7%$19 – $41
California CA16$27+5%$8 – $38
Ohio OH16$25−2%$15 – $42
Minnesota MN30$24−5%$22 – $38
Kansas KS12$24−8%$11 – $38
New York NY32$21−17%$13 – $75
Oklahoma OK11$20−21%$20 – $20
Michigan MI35$19−26%$17 – $30
Indiana IN19$16−36%$10 – $34
West Virginia WV11$13−50%$13 – $20
Pennsylvania PA16$9−64%$8 – $19
Maine ME9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Texas TX9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not 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 $26.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care262$22$15 – $36
Children’s10fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access196$30$19 – $41
Ownership
For-profit23$16$10 – $34
Government109$32$19 – $50
Non-profit336$24$16 – $38
System affiliation
Part of a system336$23$15 – $37
Independent132$32$20 – $47

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$39
Median cash price$26
Cash as a share of list, median hospital66%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 34%. 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

263 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $27 and the average of the middle 60% is $27; most fall between $16 and $38.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 263 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
$12$18$27$36$50

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($12 vs $50).

Of the 275 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 263 gave a usable cash price; 1 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 11 a list price only.

How complete is this

468 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (12%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 513 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted468
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here13
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 — excluded32
Hospitals that filed this code513

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

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Online Digital E/M Svc Est Pt <7 D 5-10 Minutes.

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 provider, 5 to 10 minutes (CPT 99421) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-99421-online-message-visit-with-a-provider-5-to-10-minutes