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Chest Tube Insertion For Drainage

Louisiana rates for HCPCS 32551

Places a tube through the chest wall into the space around the lung to drain air, blood, pus or other fluid. The tube is put in through a small open incision and connected to a collection and suction system that keeps the space empty while it heals. It is used for a collapsed lung or a build-up of fluid pressing on the lung.

Rates data updated October 2026.

How much does Chest Tube Insertion For Drainage cost?

$1,394

Typical total for the visit. In Louisiana, October 2026.

Insurers have agreed to pay about $1,394 for this procedure. That total is two separate charges: $219 to the doctor who performs it, and $1,175 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$219$174 to $251
Facility feeThe hospital or surgery center$1,175$398 to $1,660

How much rates vary

Facilitymedian $1,175 · 10th to 90th $214 to $2,951Professionalmedian $219 · 10th to 90th $155 to $309
$200$500$1K$2K$5Kfacility $1,175professional $219

Distribution of negotiated rates across all payers (price axis is log-scale). Need provider-level prices or 24+ months of history? Contact us.

Rates by insurance carrier

Insurance Carrier
Aetna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$457.09
Median
$1,513.56
Typical High
$3,548.13
Aetna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$190.55
Median
$239.88
Typical High
$295.12
Ambetter
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$158.49
Median
$158.49
Typical High
$165.96
BCBS Louisiana
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$954.99
Median
$1,318.26
Typical High
$3,235.94
BCBS Louisiana
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$177.83
Median
$218.78
Typical High
$245.47
Christus
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$213.80
Median
$213.80
Typical High
$213.80
Cigna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$446.68
Median
$645.65
Typical High
$1,148.15
Cigna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$120.23
Median
$213.80
Typical High
$269.15
United
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$275.42
Median
$630.96
Typical High
$2,398.83
United
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$144.54
Median
$204.17
Typical High
$309.03
1 more rate with less common billing modifiers

A modifier changes what was billed, for example a reduced or repeated service. Each of these modifiers carries under 10% of the published rates for this code. Modifier combinations, and modifiers with fewer than 30 rates for a carrier, are not listed.

Insurance Carrier
Aetna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
54 · Surgery only
Typical Low
$144.54
Median
$177.83
Typical High
$218.78

Where Louisiana sits

The same service costs 9.1 times more in Colorado 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

Louisiana· 22nd of 51

$1,394

$219 physician + $1,175 facility

CO $4,120WV $453

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.