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Opening a Toe Joint to Drain or Explore

North Carolina rates for HCPCS 28024

A toe joint is opened surgically so the surgeon can look inside it, wash out and drain infection, or take out a loose fragment of bone or cartilage or a foreign object. It is most often done for a joint infection that will not settle with antibiotics alone.

Rates data updated July 2026.

How much does Opening a Toe Joint to Drain or Explore cost?

$1,147

Typical total for the visit. In North Carolina, July 2026.

Insurers have agreed to pay about $1,147 for this procedure. That total is two separate charges: $501 to the doctor who performs it, and $646 to the hospital or surgery center where it takes place. Done somewhere without a facility charge, you pay only the first.

These are rates insurers have negotiated with providers, not the amount a patient is billed. What you owe depends on your plan's deductible and coinsurance. Based on rates published by 6 insurance carriers under federal price transparency rules.

What's inside this number

Part of the billTypicalRange
Physician feeThe doctor who performs it$501$398 to $741
Facility feeThe hospital or surgery center$646$447 to $1,660

How much rates vary

Facilitymedian $646 · 10th to 90th $324 to $6,761Professionalmedian $501 · 10th to 90th $302 to $1,023
$500$1K$2K$5K$10Kfacility $646professional $501

Distribution of negotiated rates across all payers (price axis is log-scale). Each curve is scaled to its own total: facility and professional rates are different services, shown together to compare where they cluster. Need provider-level prices or 24+ months of history? Contact us.

Rates by insurance carrier

Insurance Carrier
Aetna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$398.11
Median
$1,202.26
Typical High
$7,244.36
Aetna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$295.12
Median
$467.74
Typical High
$891.25
BCBS
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$389.05
Median
$575.44
Typical High
$1,174.90
Cigna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$512.86
Median
$524.81
Typical High
$1,513.56
Cigna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$346.74
Median
$537.03
Typical High
$933.25
Medcost
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$630.96
Median
$630.96
Typical High
$1,071.52
Medcost
Setting
Facility
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$316.23
Median
$478.63
Typical High
$794.33
United
Setting
Facility
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$1,778.28
Median
$6,309.57
Typical High
$10,715.19
United
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$275.42
Median
$436.52
Typical High
$794.33
Wellcare
Setting
Facility
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$4,897.79
Median
$4,897.79
Typical High
$28,840.32
Wellcare
Setting
Professional
Modifier
Global
Typical Low
$3,388.44
Median
$3,388.44
Typical High
$3,890.45

Where North Carolina sits

The same service costs 8.6 times more in Indiana than in West Virginia. Every bar is a state, most expensive first. Touch or drag across it to read any state, then open that state for its carriers and full range.

Physician feeFacility fee

North Carolina· 46th of 50

$1,147

$501 physician + $646 facility

IN $7,168WV $834

Median negotiated rate in each state, from every insurer that publishes one. States where no insurer publishes a rate for this service are not shown.