CPT20680

How Much Does Orthopedic Hardware Removal Cost in Minnesota?

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 Minnesota averages $374.

Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers. For example 55001.
Complete Cost Report + Letters
Adds the letters that get a price in writing before you book.
$6.99
  • ✓Everything in the Premium report
  • ✓15 nearby hospitals instead of five
  • ✓Filled good-faith-estimate request letter
  • ✓Bill-negotiation letter
  • ✓Printable PDF download
🔒 Secure checkout⚡ Instant link✓ One-off, no account✓ No records, no insurance card

Minnesota Medicare physician rate (2026)

-2.1% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Minnesota (Hospital)
$374.32
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$804–$1,237
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$495–$928
~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 Minnesota

Check your ZIP code for your part of Minnesota, whether Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, or the farm and lake country beyond.

What orthopedic hardware removal costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Minnesota 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 55001.

One-off payment, no account and no subscription. You get a private link and an email. No medical records and no insurance card, ever.

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 Minnesota the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $244.37.

National vs Minnesota

National office$631.95
National hospital (physician)$394.46
Minnesota vs national2% below the national office rate of $631.95

Where Minnesota ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#27 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($558.02)
Highest stateAlaska ($739.24)

Orthopedic Hardware Removal and how Minnesota is priced

Minnesota's physician fees are set through a small number of Medicare payment localities rather than a single statewide one, distinguishing the Twin Cities region from the rest of the state. Geographic adjustments in the metro run higher than in greater Minnesota, though the gap is modest by coastal standards. The state is otherwise notable for how its practice patterns, historically efficient and integrated, have featured in national Medicare policy debates. From Duluth to Worthington, non-metro Minnesota prices off common lower-cost factors.

The Twin Cities host a dense, integrated medical market, and Rochester is home to one of the most famous referral centers in the world, drawing patients from every state and abroad. Greater Minnesota relies on regional hubs like Duluth, St. Cloud, and Mankato, with long winter drives a real factor in care planning. Minnesota's tradition of integrated group practice tends to make billing more coordinated than in many states.

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 Minnesota: 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 Minnesota averages $374. Minnesota is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Minnesota 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 $124 for the office physician line or $75 for the hospital physician line in Minnesota. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

No. $374.32 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. Minnesota ranks #27 of 51 states on the physician line (2% below 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.