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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Dye injection for lymph vessel imaging

CPT 38790the billing code this page is about

Injection of contrast material into the lymph system so the lymph vessels can be seen on imaging; covers the injection only, not the X-ray images.

Hospitals typically charge $643 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,063 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $744. Most fall between $225 and $1,711 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,063
States
50
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 1,063 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$142$257$643$1,440$2,563

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 18× what the cheapest tenth charges ($142 vs $2,563).

How the prices are spread

$108 – $153: 72 hospitals$108$153 – $219: 73 hospitals$219 – $313: 100 hospitals$219$313 – $447: 137 hospitals$447 – $638: 92 hospitals$447$638 – $911: 116 hospitals$911 – $1,301: 114 hospitals$911$1,301 – $1,857: 136 hospitals$1,857 – $2,652: 68 hospitals$1,857$2,652 – $3,786: 49 hospitals$2,652median $643price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (957 of 1,063 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$108$15372
$153$21973
$219$313100
$313$447137
$447$63892
$638$911116
$911$1,301114
$1,301$1,857136
$1,857$2,65268
$2,652$3,78649

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $643.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $292 across 32 hospitalsWA$292Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $362 across 18 hospitalsMN$362Illinois: median $823 across 46 hospitalsIL$823Wisconsin: median $330 across 41 hospitalsWI$330Michigan: median $839 across 45 hospitalsMI$839New York: median $255 across 33 hospitalsNY$255Massachusetts: median $552 across 17 hospitalsMA$552Oregon: median $460 across 19 hospitalsOR$460Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $371 across 20 hospitalsIA$371Indiana: median $320 across 29 hospitalsIN$320Ohio: median $1,323 across 62 hospitalsOH$1,323Pennsylvania: median $600 across 52 hospitalsPA$600New Jersey: median $4,627 across 22 hospitalsNJ$4,627Connecticut: median $831 across 12 hospitalsCT$831Rhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $581 across 94 hospitalsCA$581Utah: median $1,281 across 23 hospitalsUT$1,281Colorado: median $324 across 28 hospitalsCO$324Nebraska: median $232 across 11 hospitalsNE$232Missouri: median $422 across 23 hospitalsMO$422Kentucky: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: median $86 across 10 hospitalsWV$86Virginia: median $640 across 31 hospitalsVA$640Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $256 across 11 hospitalsAZ$256New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $470 across 21 hospitalsTN$470North Carolina: median $2,258 across 21 hospitalsNC$2,258South Carolina: median $1,703 across 20 hospitalsSC$1,703Oklahoma: median $134 across 15 hospitalsOK$134Louisiana: median $257 across 17 hospitalsLA$257Mississippi: median $351 across 16 hospitalsMS$351Alabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,390 across 36 hospitalsGA$1,390Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $870 across 95 hospitalsTX$870Florida: median $602 across 61 hospitalsFL$602
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $643. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ22$4,627+619%$3,354 – $5,855
North Carolina NC21$2,258+251%$148 – $2,258
South Carolina SC20$1,703+165%$1,703 – $8,170
Georgia GA36$1,390+116%$838 – $1,719
Ohio OH62$1,323+106%$694 – $2,442
Utah UT23$1,281+99%$1,281 – $1,507
Texas TX95$870+35%$326 – $1,849
Michigan MI45$839+30%$330 – $1,971
Connecticut CT12$831+29%$575 – $962
Illinois IL46$823+28%$223 – $1,719
Virginia VA31$640−1%$513 – $1,085
Florida FL61$602−6%$368 – $1,208
Pennsylvania PA52$600−7%$107 – $1,711
California CA94$581−10%$225 – $1,440
Massachusetts MA17$552−14%$258 – $1,738
Tennessee TN21$470−27%$162 – $662
Oregon OR19$460−28%$150 – $1,749
Missouri MO23$422−34%$184 – $1,172
Iowa IA20$371−42%$311 – $935
Minnesota MN18$362−44%$362 – $2,988
Mississippi MS16$351−45%$237 – $1,283
Wisconsin WI41$330−49%$195 – $913
Colorado CO28$324−50%$175 – $1,727
Indiana IN29$320−50%$158 – $1,211
Washington WA32$292−55%$211 – $682
Louisiana LA17$257−60%$90 – $650
Arizona AZ11$256−60%$204 – $762
New York NY33$255−60%$138 – $955
Nebraska NE11$232−64%$129 – $260
Oklahoma OK15$134−79%$134 – $927
West Virginia WV10$86−87%$86 – $226
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $643.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care905$643$225 – $1,703
Children’s38$1,160$482 – $2,824
Critical access112$367$166 – $1,711
Ownership
For-profit83$743$255 – $1,849
Government118$448$180 – $1,108
Non-profit854$643$225 – $1,717
System affiliation
Part of a system952$646$225 – $1,717
Independent111$519$166 – $1,584

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,065
Median cash price$643
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

874 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $662 and the average of the middle 60% is $792; most fall between $251 and $1,717.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 874 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$150$326$662$1,480$2,442

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($150 vs $2,442).

Of the 943 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 874 gave a usable cash price; 22 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 47 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,063 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (27%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,184 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,063
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here49
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded72
Hospitals that filed this code1,184

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Injection for Lymphatic Xray.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Dye injection for lymph vessel imaging (CPT 38790) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-38790-dye-injection-for-lymph-vessel-imaging