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Procedure price report · Nonoperative urinary system measurements

Contrast injection for bladder X-ray

CPT 51600the billing code this page is about

Placing contrast dye into the bladder so X-ray images of the bladder and urethra can be taken, including during urination; the imaging itself is billed separately.

Hospitals typically charge $403 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,348 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $415. Most fall between $153 and $810 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,348
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 2,348 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
$90$189$403$692$1,219

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($90 vs $1,219).

How the prices are spread

$66 – $91: 123 hospitals$66$91 – $126: 147 hospitals$126 – $174: 162 hospitals$126$174 – $242: 197 hospitals$242 – $335: 237 hospitals$242$335 – $464: 424 hospitals$464 – $644: 276 hospitals$464$644 – $892: 289 hospitals$892 – $1,236: 155 hospitals$892$1,236 – $1,713: 107 hospitals$1,236median $403price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,117 of 2,348 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$66$91123
$91$126147
$126$174162
$174$242197
$242$335237
$335$464424
$464$644276
$644$892289
$892$1,236155
$1,236$1,713107

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $403.

Alaska: median $253 across 10 hospitalsAK$253Maine: median $343 across 21 hospitalsME$343Vermont: median $418 across 12 hospitalsVT$418New Hampshire: median $278 across 15 hospitalsNH$278Washington: median $397 across 52 hospitalsWA$397Idaho: median $325 across 13 hospitalsID$325Montana: median $275 across 16 hospitalsMT$275North Dakota: median $402 across 11 hospitalsND$402Minnesota: median $467 across 73 hospitalsMN$467Illinois: median $421 across 105 hospitalsIL$421Wisconsin: median $456 across 97 hospitalsWI$456Michigan: median $617 across 79 hospitalsMI$617New York: median $300 across 78 hospitalsNY$300Massachusetts: median $313 across 40 hospitalsMA$313Oregon: median $248 across 47 hospitalsOR$248Nevada: median $326 across 13 hospitalsNV$326Wyoming: median $333 across 11 hospitalsWY$333South Dakota: median $595 across 12 hospitalsSD$595Iowa: median $447 across 48 hospitalsIA$447Indiana: median $368 across 77 hospitalsIN$368Ohio: median $498 across 131 hospitalsOH$498Pennsylvania: median $623 across 99 hospitalsPA$623New Jersey: median $761 across 43 hospitalsNJ$761Connecticut: median $469 across 18 hospitalsCT$469Rhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $459 across 165 hospitalsCA$459Utah: median $382 across 29 hospitalsUT$382Colorado: median $336 across 49 hospitalsCO$336Nebraska: median $448 across 33 hospitalsNE$448Missouri: median $463 across 58 hospitalsMO$463Kentucky: median $439 across 35 hospitalsKY$439West Virginia: median $227 across 24 hospitalsWV$227Virginia: median $382 across 50 hospitalsVA$382Maryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $230 across 37 hospitalsAZ$230New Mexico: median $160 across 20 hospitalsNM$160Kansas: median $438 across 27 hospitalsKS$438Arkansas: median $226 across 22 hospitalsAR$226Tennessee: median $140 across 51 hospitalsTN$140North Carolina: median $249 across 64 hospitalsNC$249South Carolina: median $363 across 41 hospitalsSC$363Oklahoma: median $299 across 43 hospitalsOK$299Louisiana: median $145 across 41 hospitalsLA$145Mississippi: median $191 across 45 hospitalsMS$191Alabama: median $246 across 34 hospitalsAL$246Georgia: median $446 across 71 hospitalsGA$446Hawaii: median $242 across 15 hospitalsHI$242Texas: median $390 across 155 hospitalsTX$390Florida: median $487 across 100 hospitalsFL$487
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $403. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ43$761+89%$114 – $4,627
Pennsylvania PA99$623+55%$121 – $1,620
Michigan MI79$617+53%$107 – $1,316
South Dakota SD12$595+48%$595 – $1,663
Ohio OH131$498+24%$225 – $995
Florida FL100$487+21%$190 – $1,418
Connecticut CT18$469+16%$384 – $902
Minnesota MN73$467+16%$241 – $720
Missouri MO58$463+15%$276 – $756
California CA165$459+14%$272 – $1,110
Wisconsin WI97$456+13%$223 – $839
Nebraska NE33$448+11%$242 – $600
Iowa IA48$447+11%$175 – $637
Georgia GA71$446+11%$254 – $890
Kentucky KY35$439+9%$126 – $845
Kansas KS27$438+9%$195 – $626
Illinois IL105$421+4%$162 – $851
Vermont VT12$418+4%$227 – $1,157
North Dakota ND11$4020%$121 – $554
Washington WA52$397−1%$316 – $595
Texas TX155$390−3%$112 – $672
Utah UT29$382−5%$325 – $413
Virginia VA50$382−5%$104 – $577
Indiana IN77$368−9%$155 – $600
South Carolina SC41$363−10%$323 – $559
Maine ME21$343−15%$152 – $518
Colorado CO49$336−17%$151 – $752
Wyoming WY11$333−17%$205 – $469
Nevada NV13$326−19%$140 – $822
Idaho ID13$325−19%$196 – $1,003
Massachusetts MA40$313−22%$97 – $1,299
New York NY78$300−26%$101 – $996
Oklahoma OK43$299−26%$129 – $602
New Hampshire NH15$278−31%$55 – $754
Montana MT16$275−32%$190 – $337
Alaska AK10$253−37%$202 – $378
North Carolina NC64$249−38%$98 – $436
Oregon OR47$248−38%$128 – $784
Alabama AL34$246−39%$95 – $606
Hawaii HI15$242−40%$153 – $397
Arizona AZ37$230−43%$157 – $1,564
West Virginia WV24$227−44%$98 – $845
Arkansas AR22$226−44%$140 – $425
Mississippi MS45$191−53%$95 – $415
New Mexico NM20$160−60%$112 – $558
Louisiana LA41$145−64%$64 – $506
Tennessee TN51$140−65%$67 – $271
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not 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 $403.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,850$413$158 – $845
Children’s62$381$51 – $1,078
Critical access428$329$138 – $681
Ownership
For-profit221$423$155 – $896
Government345$329$130 – $574
Non-profit1,774$414$159 – $839
System affiliation
Part of a system1,968$413$157 – $831
Independent380$329$129 – $741

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$700
Median cash price$403
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

1,832 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $432 and the average of the middle 60% is $452; most fall between $163 and $851.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,832 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
$98$216$432$728$1,219

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($98 vs $1,219).

Of the 1,969 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,832 gave a usable cash price; 44 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 1 gave an estimate, and 91 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,348 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (59%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,590 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,348
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here79
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded8
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded154
Hospitals that filed this code2,590

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 Nonoperative urinary system measurements family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Njx Cstograpy/Voiding Urethrocstograpy.

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, “Contrast injection for bladder X-ray (CPT 51600) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-51600-contrast-injection-for-bladder-x-ray