How much does a level 3 (moderate) emergency room visit cost in the US?

Across 1,220 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $307, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $258 and $517. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $495 across the 995 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.

Why do ER Visit (Level 3) prices vary so much?

Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 5.8 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $244 in Alabama to $1,287 in Utah.

Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?

Sometimes. At 330 of the 995 hospitals that list a cash price (33%), it is lower than that hospital's own median negotiated rate. If you have a high deductible, ask the hospital for its self-pay price before you book.

What is the Medicare rate shown here?

$279 is the CMS national outpatient (OPPS) payment rate for this service (July 2026). We show it as a government baseline: the national median negotiated rate is 1.1 times it.

All procedures / ER Visit (Level 3)

ER Visit (Level 3) Cost in the US (2026): What 1,220 Hospitals NegotiatedNPI VERIFIED

Across 1,220 US hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate for a level 3 (moderate) emergency room visit is $307 — 1.1× the Medicare outpatient rate of $279. The middle half of hospitals negotiated between $258 and $517; the priciest tenth negotiated more than $924, 5.8× the cheapest tenth (under $161). Hospitals that list a self-pay price ask a median of $495 (995 hospitals).

Code CPT 99283 · Source: hospital machine-readable files (45 CFR §180), file dates 2022-11-12 to 2026-09-28 (median 2026-04-01) · Medicare baseline: CMS OPPS Addendum B, July 2026 · Data extracted 2026-10-06 · Page updated 2026-10-07

National median

$307

all plan types · 1,220 hospitals

Middle half

$258–$517

25th–75th percentile of hospitals

Median cash price

$495

self-pay · 995 hospitals list one

Medicare baseline

$279

CMS OPPS national · July 2026

1,220 hospitals, one bar per price band

median $307Medicare $279

$0$1,000$2,000

Each bar counts hospitals whose median rate falls in that price band; the last, dashed bar holds the 11 at $2,000 or more. The cheapest tenth negotiated under $161, the priciest tenth over $924 — 5.8× apart for the same procedure.

These are contract reference rates, not your bill. A median across hospitals is not a quote for your plan or network. Your out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network status.

This is the hospital's facility fee for the visit level only. Tests, imaging, medication and the emergency physician's own fee are billed separately.

Coverage: 1,220 of the 5,419 hospitals in the CMS roster have an identity-verified price file with this procedure in our data. It is not a random sample, and a hospital missing here has not been judged non-compliant — we may simply not have its file yet. 96 of these 1,220 hospital files were more than 12 months old at extraction — hospitals must update yearly; we keep the figures and say so rather than hide them.

By insurance type

Insurance type	Hospitals	Median	Middle half	× Medicare
Commercial (plan type not stated)	702	$595	$352 – $946	2.1×
PPO	723	$696	$404 – $1,107	2.5×
HMO	492	$616	$360 – $1,041	2.2×
EPO	115	$719	$520 – $1,456	2.6×
POS	65	$684	$439 – $987	2.5×
ACA Marketplace	453	$477	$356 – $672	1.7×
Medicare Advantage	730	$269	$212 – $300	1.0×
Medicare (as listed)	691	$277	$252 – $305	1.0×
Medicaid	745	$247	$113 – $368	0.9×
Federal employees (FEP)	23	$1,138	$1,120 – $1,526	4.1×
Workers' comp	129	$460	$326 – $809	1.7×

Plan types are grouped from each hospital's plan names. Each figure is a median of hospital-level medians; types with fewer than 20 hospitals are left out.

By state

State	Hospitals	Median	Middle half	× Medicare	Median cash
Alabama	17	$244	$236 – $255	0.9×	$225
Arizona	12	$298	$288 – $312	1.1×	$640
Arkansas	15	$255	$211 – $270	0.9×	$520
California	40	$362	$349 – $442	1.3×	$851
Colorado	8	$281	$264 – $355	1.0×	$552
Florida	50	$304	$300 – $615	1.1×	$855
Georgia	31	$356	$291 – $486	1.3×	$384
Hawaii	9	$458	$274 – $1,066	1.6×	$985
Idaho	14	$446	$206 – $875	1.6×	$653
Illinois	47	$401	$293 – $619	1.4×	$577
Indiana	25	$304	$296 – $977	1.1×	$631
Iowa	49	$269	$167 – $329	1.0×	$348
Kansas	52	$334	$231 – $493	1.2×	$408
Kentucky	49	$284	$233 – $617	1.0×	$348
Louisiana	29	$265	$247 – $319	0.9×	$315
Maine	9	$270	$217 – $470	1.0×	$297
Maryland	9	$289	$252 – $317	1.0×	$283
Massachusetts	9	$459	$339 – $603	1.6×	$709
Michigan	31	$281	$71 – $328	1.0×	$164
Minnesota	31	$362	$281 – $494	1.3×	$478
Mississippi	21	$245	$190 – $254	0.9×	$316
Missouri	31	$268	$255 – $285	1.0×	$510
Montana	20	$326	$224 – $500	1.2×	$472
Nebraska	32	$274	$212 – $342	1.0×	$426
Nevada	9	$629	$536 – $629	2.3×	$1,280
New Hampshire	5	$350	$275 – $2,204	1.3×	$1,744
New Jersey	22	$892	$423 – $1,388	3.2×	$483
New Mexico	11	$285	$268 – $342	1.0×	$364
New York	38	$349	$319 – $428	1.3×	$362
North Carolina	22	$290	$267 – $624	1.0×	$596
North Dakota	11	$266	$211 – $364	1.0×	$321
Ohio	51	$283	$258 – $495	1.0×	$716
Oklahoma	35	$263	$199 – $349	0.9×	$264
Oregon	24	$382	$335 – $560	1.4×	$748
Pennsylvania	60	$306	$273 – $470	1.1×	$581
Rhode Island	5	$502	$367 – $558	1.8×	$650
South Carolina	27	$274	$268 – $377	1.0×	$786
South Dakota	12	$605	$525 – $801	2.2×	$812
Tennessee	22	$267	$264 – $284	1.0×	$232
Texas	102	$353	$261 – $732	1.3×	$515
Utah	21	$1,287	$290 – $1,444	4.6×	$1,383
Vermont	9	$299	$252 – $423	1.1×	$458
Virginia	19	$280	$280 – $755	1.0×	$496
Washington	20	$325	$202 – $470	1.2×	$546
West Virginia	9	$320	$293 – $430	1.1×	$407
Wisconsin	26	$303	$244 – $550	1.1×	$409
Wyoming	10	$579	$309 – $656	2.1×	$673

middle half of hospitalsstate medianMedicare rate · a dotted end means the range runs past $1,000

States with at least 5 hospitals in our data (47 states). 4 smaller states are counted in the national figures but not listed — a median of two or three hospitals says more about those hospitals than about the state.

Get the data

Hospital-level and insurer-level rates for this procedure are in the full dataset. A free three-procedure sample (brain MRI, head CT, diagnostic colonoscopy) is open under CC BY 4.0: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23199844 · Kaggle.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a level 3 (moderate) emergency room visit cost in the US?: Across 1,220 hospitals that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate is $307, and the middle half of hospitals fall between $258 and $517. Self-pay cash prices have a median of $495 across the 995 hospitals that list one. What you pay out of pocket depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network.
Why do ER Visit (Level 3) prices vary so much?: Each hospital negotiates separately with each insurer. In these files the priciest tenth of hospitals negotiated more than 5.8 times what the cheapest tenth did, and state medians run from $244 in Alabama to $1,287 in Utah.
Is the cash price cheaper than using insurance?: Sometimes. At 330 of the 995 hospitals that list a cash price (33%), it is lower than that hospital's own median negotiated rate. If you have a high deductible, ask the hospital for its self-pay price before you book.
What is the Medicare rate shown here?: $279 is the CMS national outpatient (OPPS) payment rate for this service (July 2026). We show it as a government baseline: the national median negotiated rate is 1.1 times it.

Other emergency room prices

ER Visit (Level 4)

median $495 · 1,224 hospitals

ER Visit (Level 5)

median $712 · 1,223 hospitals

See all 30 procedures →