 [ Symptoms ] what is the standard charge for cpt code 19081 i had a stereotactic needle biopsy of a breast cpt code 19081 and the provider billed the insurance company 6 000 this seems really exhorbitant for a simple needle biopsy i have been attempting to find out if this is a realistic charge for this procedure [ Disease ] unfortunately there is no standard charge however there are some price transparency tools that can help give you an idea if you get insurance at work check to see if your employer offers one your insurer may also have a pricing tool and then there are sites such as fairhealthconsumer org healthbluebook com and newchoicehealth com these generally offer you pricing information based on past insurance claims submitted in your area hospitals are contracted with insurance companys hospitals can charge whatever they want but insurances tell the hospital per contract what the hospital is allowed to charge then the hospital does the contractual adjustment and writes off the difference i e  bx costs 20 000 insurance says no contracted rate is 4 000 hospital writes off 16 000 and bills insurance the 4000 every insurance has a contracted rate for the procedure again the insurance tells the hospital what it is allowed to charge one insurance says hospital can bill 4000 another says contracted rate is 5000 another says contracted rate is 3000 so it all really depends on what insurance policy you have and what your insurance states the hospital can charge bc al allowable is 909 93 and medicare allowable is  606 62