How Much Does a Skin Biopsy (Tangential) Cost in Hawaii?
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$95.76In-office total2026 Medicare, Hawaii averageUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a skin biopsy (tangential) in a doctor's office costs about $96 in Hawaii, with no separate facility fee. In a facility the national total is about $445 at a hospital outpatient department or about $103 at an ambulatory surgery center, because the facility is paid its own rate on top of the physician.
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Hawaii Medicare physician rate (2026)
+0.2% vs nationalSingle statewide locality.
What it costs in a hospital or surgery center
In a doctor’s office, the office rate above is the whole Medicare payment. When the same procedure is done in a hospital or surgery center, the facility bills its own fee on top of the physician, which is what these totals show. They are 2026 national Medicare amounts.
Choosing a surgery center over a hospital saves about $343 on the Medicare allowed amount for skin biopsy (tangential). Ask whether your procedure can be done at an ambulatory surgery center.
This is Medicare's separate payment to the facility on top of the physician's fee. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.
Your ZIP in Hawaii
Enter your ZIP code for Hawaii figures, whether you live on Oahu, in Hilo or Kona on the Big Island, or on Maui or Kauai where a Honolulu trip is often part of the plan.
What skin biopsy (tangential) costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Hawaii moves the bill more than anything else you control.
Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.
For example 96701.
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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 Hawaii the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $65.47.
National vs Hawaii
Where Hawaii ranks for this CPT
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) and how Hawaii is priced
Hawaii is priced through a single locality with geographic adjustments well above the mainland norm, driven largely by the practice expense side: rent, staff wages, and supplies all cost more across the islands. Unlike Alaska, Hawaii does not carry a special statutory floor, but its indices still place it among the higher-cost states in the fee schedule. Every island shares the same locality, so Honolulu and Hilo publish the same Medicare-approved amounts. The real variable for residents is which island the care is on, not the rate itself.
Oahu holds the bulk of Hawaii's hospital capacity and nearly all of its subspecialty care, so neighbor island residents routinely fly to Honolulu for procedures, adding airfare and hotel costs to the medical bill. A small number of systems dominate the market, and physician recruitment to the islands is a chronic challenge. For complex or rare conditions, some patients travel on to the mainland West Coast.
This procedure: A tangential skin biopsy removes a thin shaving from the surface of a suspicious spot using a flexible blade, without cutting deep into the skin. It is the go-to technique when a dermatologist wants to test a raised or scaly lesion for skin cancer or another skin condition. The area is numbed with a small injection, the shave itself takes seconds, and no stitches are needed; the site heals like a scrape over one to two weeks.
What Is Skin Biopsy (Tangential)?
A tangential skin biopsy removes a thin shaving from the surface of a suspicious spot using a flexible blade, without cutting deep into the skin. It is the go-to technique when a dermatologist wants to test a raised or scaly lesion for skin cancer or another skin condition. The area is numbed with a small injection, the shave itself takes seconds, and no stitches are needed; the site heals like a scrape over one to two weeks.
What Affects the Cost
- –The pathologist who examines the tissue under a microscope bills a separate professional fee, and that charge often exceeds the biopsy itself.
- –Each additional lesion shaved at the same visit is billed with an add-on code (11103), so multiple spots multiply the cost.
- –If the shave visit also includes a full skin exam, an office visit charge is typically billed alongside the biopsy.
- –Special pathology stains or a second dermatopathologist opinion on an ambiguous mole add further lab charges.
- –Hospital-owned dermatology clinics can add a facility fee that a private dermatology office would not charge.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Which pathology lab will read my biopsy, and is it in my insurance network?
- 2.Roughly what does the pathology reading cost in addition to the biopsy fee?
- 3.If you biopsy more than one spot today, how does that change my bill?
- 4.Will today's skin check be billed as a separate office visit on top of the biopsy?
- 5.Is this being coded as medically necessary rather than cosmetic?
Other featured procedures in Hawaii
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) in other states
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) in Hawaii: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a skin biopsy (tangential) in a doctor's office costs about $96 in Hawaii, with no separate facility fee. In a facility the national total is about $445 at a hospital outpatient department or about $103 at an ambulatory surgery center, because the facility is paid its own rate on top of the physician. Hawaii is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Hawaii 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 $19 for the office physician line or $6 for the hospital physician line in Hawaii. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.
In a doctor's office, $95.76 is Medicare's whole payment in Hawaii: it covers the physician, the room and the supplies, with no separate facility fee. If it is done in a hospital outpatient department instead, the physician is paid about $30.29 and the hospital adds its own facility payment, bringing the national total to about $445. Services billed under other codes, such as lab work, are extra. Hawaii ranks #36 of 51 states on the office rate (within 2% of the national office rate of $95.53).