CashPrice· what hospitals actually charge cash-pay patients — normalized from the federal price-transparency files
Knee Arthroscopy (meniscectomy) — cash price without insurance
Median cash price · 4 hospitals · CPT/HCPCS 29881
$6,474.10
The median cash price for Knee Arthroscopy (meniscectomy) is $6,474.10, based on the stated self-pay prices 2 hospitals publish in their federal price-transparency files. Across all 4 hospitals we cover, prices run $1,639.20–$11,309.
2 of 4 hospitals don't publish a stated cash price for this procedure — those rows show their lowest negotiated rate as an estimated floor (est.), the realistic best case a cash-pay patient could ask to match.
"Cash price" = the hospital's published discounted_cash self-pay rate. "Gross charge" = the sticker price before any discount — what cash-pay patients are first billed and can negotiate down toward the cash rate.
Paying cash? Ask the hospital's billing office for the "self-pay" or "prompt-pay" rate and bring the figure above — it's a published ceiling you can negotiate from, not a fixed quote. Free-standing imaging centers and ASCs are frequently cheaper than hospital outpatient departments for the same code.
How to use this
If you're paying cash for Knee Arthroscopy (meniscectomy), the hospital's published self-pay price is a ceiling you can negotiate from, not a fixed quote. Bring the figure above (and the source file) to billing and ask for the cash / prompt-pay rate. Free-standing imaging centers and ASCs are often well below hospital outpatient rates.