Surgery and procedures CPT 43248 Outpatient

Upper endoscopy with wire-guided dilation cost in Duluth, MN

In Duluth, MN-WI, 10 hospitals list a cash price for upper endoscopy (EGD) with widening of the esophagus over a guide wire: from $391.04 to $2,157.14, with a median of $1,769.46. The lowest listed price is at Community Memorial Hospital — $1,378.42 less than the median here. Across Minnesota, the median is $1,614.06 at 35 hospitals.

  • The median here, $1,769.46, is 4% above the US median of $1,698.96.
  • That is 1.9× Medicare's 2026 national rate for the same service ($926.63).
  • Duluth, MN ranks 2nd of 2 metro areas in Minnesota by median, cheapest first.
  • Every hospital here lists a cash price below its full list price.

Cash prices at 10 facilities across 7 cities for code 43248, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 27, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Jan 1, 2026 and Sep 1, 2026.

Lowest$391.04Community Memorial Hospital
Median$1,769.46half of hospitals charge less
Highest$2,157.14in this market
Difference5.5×highest vs lowest

Where each hospital's price falls

Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Duluth, MN-WI.

median
Lowest $391.04Highest $2,157.14

Hospitals, cheapest first

HospitalCash priceList priceInsurers payOff list
Community Memorial Hospital lowest Cloquet, MN · (218) 879-4641 GS UPPER GASTR ENDO W/GUIDE WI File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file $391.04 $611.00 $611.00 36%
Aspirus St. Luke’s Hospital Duluth, MN · (218) 249-2449 Fac Egd Insert Guide Wire Dilator Passage Esophagus File of Apr 1, 2026 · source file $1,550.94 $2,851.00 — 46%
Essentia Health Virginia Virginia, MN · (218) 741-3340 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $1,683.67 $2,681.00 $616.63–$2,423.62 37%
Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital Ely, MN · (218) 365-3271 Insertion of guide wire with dilation of esophagus using a flexible endoscope File of Sep 1, 2026 · source file $1,697.76 $2,096.00 $716.62–$2,096.00 19%
Essentia Health Duluth Duluth, MN · (218) 786-2652 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $1,769.46 $2,681.00 $887.41–$2,305.66 34%
Essentia Health St. Mary's Medical Center Duluth, MN · (218) 786-3574 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $1,769.46 $2,681.00 $887.41–$2,305.66 34%
Essentia Health St. Mary's Children's Hospital Duluth, MN UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $1,769.46 $2,681.00 $887.41–$2,305.66 34%
Essentia Health St Marys Hospital-Superior Superior, WI · (715) 817-7000 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $2,157.14 $2,919.00 $934.08–$2,641.70 26%
Essentia Health Moose Lake Moose Lake, MN · (218) 786-1367 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $2,157.14 $2,919.00 $1,161.76–$2,641.70 26%
Essentia Health Northern Pines Aurora, MN · (218) 229-4222 UP GI ENDOSCOPY,DILATN W GUIDE File of Jan 1, 2026 · source file $2,157.14 $2,919.00 $1,120.60–$2,919.00 26%
Hospital The hospital that published the price, its city and the line exactly as written in its price file.
Cash price The hospital's own price for a patient paying without insurance (“discounted cash” in its price file). Hospitals must publish it under federal law, 45 CFR 180.50. Call to confirm it before booking. More
List price The hospital's full chargemaster price (“gross charge”) before any discount. Almost nobody pays it; the gap to the cash price shows what the self-pay discount is worth. More
Insurers pay The lowest and highest rates this hospital has agreed with insurance plans for the same item, from its price file. If the cash price is below what your plan pays and you have not met your deductible, paying cash can cost you less. More
Off list How much lower the cash price is than the list price.
At or below Medicare This cash price is at or below what Medicare pays a hospital for the same service, which is unusually low. It is what the hospital's file says; confirm it and what it includes before booking. More
Check the item The description in the hospital file looks like a supply or device (a catheter, a brace, an implant), not this procedure. The hospital may have filed it under the wrong code: ask before relying on this price.

Outpatient: lowest $391.04, median $1,769.46, highest $2,157.14 — a 5.5× difference within the same market.

As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 5 facilities here, median $1,769.46. 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 9 of 9 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 upper endoscopy with wire-guided dilation is, what the price covers and why prices differ: Upper endoscopy with wire-guided dilation explained.