CPT20680

How Much Does Orthopedic Hardware Removal Cost in Connecticut?

Removal of implant deep

$3,362Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facility

Under 2026 Medicare rates, orthopedic hardware removal costs up to about $3,362 in total at a hospital outpatient department or about $1,643 at an ambulatory surgery center, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). The physician's own fee in Connecticut averages $418.

Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers. For example 06001.
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Connecticut Medicare physician rate (2026)

+6.7% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Connecticut (Hospital)
$418.49
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$877–$1,349
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$539–$1,011
~80–150% of Medicare

What the whole procedure costs

The rate above is the physician’s fee on its own. The facility bills separately, and for most procedures the facility is the larger half of the bill. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.

Surgery center, total
$1,643
$394 physician + $1,248 facility
Physician fee alone
$394
Only 12% of the hospital total

Choosing a surgery center over a hospital saves about $1,719 on the Medicare allowed amount for orthopedic hardware removal. Ask whether your procedure can be done at an ambulatory surgery center.

Medicare may pay the facility separately for this code or package it into another service on the same day, so treat the facility share as an upper bound. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.

Your ZIP in Connecticut

Look up your ZIP code for local detail across Connecticut, including the New Haven and Hartford areas, Fairfield County and Stamford, and the quieter eastern and northwestern corners.

What orthopedic hardware removal costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Connecticut moves the bill more than anything else you control.

Locked

Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.

For example 06001.

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What these numbers are

Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery center rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again. In Connecticut the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $255.76.

National vs Connecticut

National office$631.95
National hospital (physician)$394.46
Connecticut vs national7% above the national office rate of $631.95

Where Connecticut ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#44 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($558.02)
Highest stateAlaska ($739.24)

Orthopedic Hardware Removal and how Connecticut is priced

Despite sitting between two of the priciest metros in America, Connecticut is priced as one statewide Medicare locality, with geographic indices well above the national average. Every town from Stamford to Storrs shares the same adjustments, which are pushed up by the state's high wages, rents, and insurance costs. The uniform locality means Fairfield County's proximity to New York does not add a further Medicare premium beyond the statewide level. In practice Connecticut's Medicare-approved amounts rank among the higher states outside the biggest coastal cities.

Connecticut's hospital market has consolidated around a few large systems, and a major academic medical center in New Haven draws complex cases from across the state. Residents of Fairfield County routinely cross into New York for care, while some in the north lean toward Springfield or Boston providers. High commercial prices in the state make Medicare rates and transparent cash pricing especially useful comparison points here.

This procedure: CPT 20680 is the removal of deep orthopedic hardware, such as a rod, plate, screws or pins that were placed to fix a broken bone. Hardware is taken out when it causes pain or irritation, becomes infected, or limits movement, and sometimes after a fracture has fully healed in younger patients. It is usually an outpatient operation under anesthesia, and the size of the job depends on the implant: removing a long rod from the thigh bone is a bigger operation than taking out a few screws from the ankle.

What Is Orthopedic Hardware Removal?

CPT 20680 is the removal of deep orthopedic hardware, such as a rod, plate, screws or pins that were placed to fix a broken bone. Hardware is taken out when it causes pain or irritation, becomes infected, or limits movement, and sometimes after a fracture has fully healed in younger patients. It is usually an outpatient operation under anesthesia, and the size of the job depends on the implant: removing a long rod from the thigh bone is a bigger operation than taking out a few screws from the ankle.

What Affects the Cost

  • –The size and location of the implant drive operating time: removing an intramedullary rod from the femur takes longer than removing a small ankle plate.
  • –Hardware removed through separate incisions can be billed more than once in the same operation.
  • –Anesthesia is billed separately by the anesthesia provider.
  • –Surgery centers typically have lower facility fees than hospital outpatient departments.
  • –If infection is found, cultures, antibiotics and sometimes a hospital stay add to the total.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

  • 1.What is causing my symptoms, and is removal likely to help?
  • 2.Is all of the hardware coming out, and through how many incisions?
  • 3.Will this be done at a surgery center or a hospital?
  • 4.Will I need crutches, a brace or physical therapy afterward?
  • 5.Is the anesthesia group in my network?

Orthopedic Hardware Removal in Connecticut: questions

Under 2026 Medicare rates, orthopedic hardware removal costs up to about $3,362 in total at a hospital outpatient department or about $1,643 at an ambulatory surgery center, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). The physician's own fee in Connecticut averages $418. Connecticut is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Connecticut uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.

After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $135 for the office physician line or $84 for the hospital physician line in Connecticut. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

No. $418.49 is only the physician's share. Adding Medicare's facility payment brings the total to up to about $3,362 in a hospital outpatient department, or about $1,643 at an ambulatory surgery center. Anesthesia, pathology and other codes billed the same day are extra. Connecticut ranks #44 of 51 states on the physician line (7% above the national office rate of $631.95).

Data source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (CMS PPRRVU26B, released March 2026). Conversion factor: $33.4009. Prices shown are Medicare allowed amounts for the physician service and may not match what you are billed. Private insurance and self-pay ranges, when shown, are labeled estimates (typical multiples of Medicare), not quotes. This site is an independent cost tool, not medical advice.