Joint injection (cortisone shot) cost in Louisville, KY
In Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN, 10 hospitals list a cash price for injection or fluid drainage of a major joint (knee, shoulder, hip), no ultrasound: from $168.00 to $1,507.37, with a median of $218.75. The lowest listed price is at Norton Children's Hospital and 4 other hospitals — $50.75 less than the median here. Across Kentucky, the median is $391.16 at 70 hospitals.
- The median here, $218.75, is 50% below the US median of $439.76.
- That is 0.7× Medicare's 2026 national rate for the same service ($313.60).
- Louisville, KY has the lowest median of 2 metro areas in Kentucky with at least 10 hospitals pricing this code.
- Every hospital here lists a cash price below its full list price.
Cash prices at 10 facilities across 5 cities for code 20610, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Nov 9, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Feb 11, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton Children's Hospital lowest Louisville, KY HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Feb 11, 2026 · source file | $168.00 | $840.00 | $33.29–$714.00 | 80% |
| Norton Hospital lowest Louisville, KY · (502) 629-8000 HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Feb 11, 2026 · source file | $168.00 | $840.00 | $33.29–$1,716.00 | 80% |
| Norton Women's and Kosair Children's Hospital lowest Louisville, KY HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Feb 13, 2026 · source file | $168.00 | $840.00 | $33.29–$1,716.00 | 80% |
| Norton West Louisville Hospital lowest Louisville, KY HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Feb 11, 2026 · source file | $168.00 | $840.00 | $33.29–$1,716.00 | 80% |
| Norton Brownsboro Hospital lowest Louisville, KY HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Feb 11, 2026 · source file | $168.00 | $840.00 | $33.29–$1,716.00 | 80% |
| Norton Clark Hospital Jeffersonville, IN · (812) 283-2147 HB DRAIN/INJ JNT/BURSA MAJ - OR File of Jun 3, 2026 · source file | $269.50 | $1,925.00 | $309.24–$2,048.00 | 86% |
| CHI Saint Joseph Flaget Memorial Hospital Bardstown, KY · (502) 350-5000 HC Aspiration/Injection Major Joint File of Sep 30, 2026 · source file | $494.16 | $1,171.00 | $216.87–$933.29 | 58% |
| CHI Saint Joseph Flaget Memorial Hospital Bardstown, KY · (502) 350-5000 HC Aspir/Inj Joint Major File of Sep 30, 2026 · source file | $531.30 | $1,259.00 | $233.17–$1,003.42 | 58% |
| Baptist Health Louisville Louisville, KY · (502) 897-8100 Aspiration and/or injection of fluid from large joint File of Sep 25, 2026 · source file | $1,507.37 | $2,009.82 | $221.08–$4,019.64 | 25% |
| Baptist Health Floyd New Albany, IN · (812) 944-7701 Aspiration and/or injection of fluid from large joint File of Sep 25, 2026 · source file | $1,507.37 | $2,009.82 | $487.14–$3,643.00 | 25% |
| Baptist Health LaGrange La Grange, KY · (502) 222-5388 Aspiration and/or injection of fluid from large joint File of Sep 25, 2026 · source file | $1,507.37 | $2,009.82 | $180.88–$4,019.64 | 25% |
Outpatient: lowest $168.00, median $218.75, highest $1,507.37 — a 9.0× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 7 facilities here, median $168.00. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
Cash or insurance?
At 10 of 10 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at 1 it is below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What joint injection (cortisone shot) is, what the price covers and why prices differ: Joint injection (cortisone shot) explained.