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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the pituitary area of the skull base

CPT 70240the billing code this page is about

X-ray imaging focused on the sella turcica, the bony hollow at the base of the skull that holds the pituitary gland.

Hospitals typically charge $159 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,183 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $171. Most fall between $84 and $324 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,183
States
49
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 1,183 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
$54$94$159$273$501

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($54 vs $501).

How the prices are spread

$36 – $49: 40 hospitals$36$49 – $66: 65 hospitals$66 – $90: 101 hospitals$66$90 – $121: 182 hospitals$121 – $164: 172 hospitals$121$164 – $223: 179 hospitals$223 – $302: 127 hospitals$223$302 – $409: 93 hospitals$409 – $554: 68 hospitals$409$554 – $750: 40 hospitals$554median $159price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,067 of 1,183 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$36$4940
$49$6665
$66$90101
$90$121182
$121$164172
$164$223179
$223$302127
$302$40993
$409$55468
$554$75040

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$89
Median cash price$159
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.79×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $159.

Alaska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $163 across 11 hospitalsME$163Vermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $131 across 29 hospitalsWA$131Idaho: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $161 across 49 hospitalsIL$161Wisconsin: median $105 across 38 hospitalsWI$105Michigan: median $120 across 18 hospitalsMI$120New York: median $109 across 46 hospitalsNY$109Massachusetts: median $237 across 16 hospitalsMA$237Oregon: median $60 across 15 hospitalsOR$60Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $165 across 27 hospitalsIA$165Indiana: median $193 across 17 hospitalsIN$193Ohio: median $177 across 61 hospitalsOH$177Pennsylvania: median $166 across 51 hospitalsPA$166New Jersey: median $115 across 27 hospitalsNJ$115Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $405 across 102 hospitalsCA$405Utah: median $156 across 27 hospitalsUT$156Colorado: median $180 across 26 hospitalsCO$180Nebraska: median $187 across 16 hospitalsNE$187Missouri: median $159 across 24 hospitalsMO$159Kentucky: median $102 across 27 hospitalsKY$102West Virginia: median $146 across 16 hospitalsWV$146Virginia: median $159 across 28 hospitalsVA$159Maryland: median $110 across 10 hospitalsMD$110Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $99 across 17 hospitalsAZ$99New Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $215 across 20 hospitalsKS$215Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $69 across 30 hospitalsTN$69North Carolina: median $113 across 29 hospitalsNC$113South Carolina: median $204 across 18 hospitalsSC$204Oklahoma: median $118 across 21 hospitalsOK$118Louisiana: median $85 across 29 hospitalsLA$85Mississippi: median $82 across 13 hospitalsMS$82Alabama: median $86 across 10 hospitalsAL$86Georgia: median $125 across 35 hospitalsGA$125Hawaii: median $247 across 12 hospitalsHI$247Texas: median $157 across 131 hospitalsTX$157Florida: median $317 across 56 hospitalsFL$317
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $159. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA102$405+155%$166 – $605
Florida FL56$317+99%$97 – $1,849
Hawaii HI12$247+55%$207 – $361
Massachusetts MA16$237+49%$104 – $369
Kansas KS20$215+35%$111 – $312
South Carolina SC18$204+28%$51 – $248
Indiana IN17$193+21%$59 – $260
Nebraska NE16$187+18%$129 – $338
Colorado CO26$180+13%$81 – $324
Ohio OH61$177+12%$153 – $265
Pennsylvania PA51$166+4%$88 – $356
Iowa IA27$165+4%$95 – $207
Maine ME11$163+3%$74 – $259
Illinois IL49$161+1%$55 – $325
Missouri MO24$1590%$67 – $240
Virginia VA28$1590%$133 – $211
Texas TX131$157−1%$92 – $500
Utah UT27$156−2%$156 – $156
West Virginia WV16$146−8%$93 – $218
Washington WA29$131−18%$90 – $185
Georgia GA35$125−22%$25 – $381
Michigan MI18$120−25%$44 – $292
Oklahoma OK21$118−26%$15 – $183
New Jersey NJ27$115−28%$98 – $534
North Carolina NC29$113−29%$72 – $132
Maryland MD10$110−31%$90 – $186
New York NY46$109−32%$103 – $295
Wisconsin WI38$105−34%$44 – $249
Kentucky KY27$102−36%$72 – $437
Arizona AZ17$99−38%$64 – $282
Alabama AL10$86−46%$32 – $179
Louisiana LA29$85−46%$45 – $178
Mississippi MS13$82−49%$40 – $215
Tennessee TN30$69−56%$53 – $101
Oregon OR15$60−62%$21 – $189
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not 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 $159.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care938$160$86 – $354
Children’s24$197$81 – $410
Critical access218$156$70 – $261
Ownership
For-profit175$244$94 – $819
Government178$130$73 – $248
Non-profit827$157$81 – $299
System affiliation
Part of a system981$159$85 – $331
Independent202$160$84 – $310

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$263
Median cash price$159
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

810 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $164 and the average of the middle 60% is $173; most fall between $78 and $310.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 810 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
$53$92$164$265$490

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($53 vs $490).

Of the 908 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 810 gave a usable cash price; 55 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 43 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,183 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (30%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,328 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,183
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here94
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 — excluded51
Hospitals that filed this code1,328

Sections not shown for this setting

  • 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 July 20, 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 Radiologic Examination Sella Turcica|PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT.

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, “X-ray of the pituitary area of the skull base (CPT 70240) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70240-x-ray-of-the-pituitary-area-of-the-skull-base