HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · CT scan chest

CT scan of the chest with contrast

CPT 71260the billing code this page is about

Cross-sectional CT imaging of the chest performed after contrast dye is given to highlight blood vessels and tissues.

Hospitals typically charge $1,521 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,364 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,592. Most fall between $719 and $2,765 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,364
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 3,364 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
$456$869$1,521$2,507$3,971

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($456 vs $3,971).

How the prices are spread

$265 – $361: 65 hospitals$265$361 – $494: 148 hospitals$494 – $674: 239 hospitals$494$674 – $921: 291 hospitals$921 – $1,258: 408 hospitals$921$1,258 – $1,718: 599 hospitals$1,718 – $2,347: 538 hospitals$1,718$2,347 – $3,205: 401 hospitals$3,205 – $4,378: 218 hospitals$3,205$4,378 – $5,980: 121 hospitals$4,378median $1,521price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,028 of 3,364 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$265$36165
$361$494148
$494$674239
$674$921291
$921$1,258408
$1,258$1,718599
$1,718$2,347538
$2,347$3,205401
$3,205$4,378218
$4,378$5,980121

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$1,521
Cash as a multiple of Medicare8.5×

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 $1,521.

Alaska: median $3,014 across 17 hospitalsAK$3,014Maine: median $1,130 across 25 hospitalsME$1,130Vermont: median $2,465 across 12 hospitalsVT$2,465New Hampshire: median $1,467 across 22 hospitalsNH$1,467Washington: median $1,713 across 71 hospitalsWA$1,713Idaho: median $1,093 across 22 hospitalsID$1,093Montana: median $1,639 across 19 hospitalsMT$1,639North Dakota: median $1,445 across 32 hospitalsND$1,445Minnesota: median $1,372 across 101 hospitalsMN$1,372Illinois: median $2,331 across 135 hospitalsIL$2,331Wisconsin: median $1,539 across 109 hospitalsWI$1,539Michigan: median $1,366 across 86 hospitalsMI$1,366New York: median $846 across 111 hospitalsNY$846Massachusetts: median $1,681 across 53 hospitalsMA$1,681Oregon: median $1,401 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,401Nevada: median $1,750 across 21 hospitalsNV$1,750Wyoming: median $1,651 across 14 hospitalsWY$1,651South Dakota: median $2,970 across 43 hospitalsSD$2,970Iowa: median $1,786 across 89 hospitalsIA$1,786Indiana: median $855 across 95 hospitalsIN$855Ohio: median $1,240 across 142 hospitalsOH$1,240Pennsylvania: median $1,314 across 114 hospitalsPA$1,314New Jersey: median $560 across 58 hospitalsNJ$560Connecticut: median $1,412 across 19 hospitalsCT$1,412Rhode Island: median $1,459 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,459California: median $2,654 across 215 hospitalsCA$2,654Utah: median $2,648 across 42 hospitalsUT$2,648Colorado: median $1,557 across 66 hospitalsCO$1,557Nebraska: median $2,565 across 84 hospitalsNE$2,565Missouri: median $1,301 across 75 hospitalsMO$1,301Kentucky: median $1,328 across 67 hospitalsKY$1,328West Virginia: median $1,229 across 42 hospitalsWV$1,229Virginia: median $1,497 across 71 hospitalsVA$1,497Maryland: median $221 across 38 hospitalsMD$221Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,185 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,185New Mexico: median $1,821 across 30 hospitalsNM$1,821Kansas: median $1,118 across 87 hospitalsKS$1,118Arkansas: median $604 across 38 hospitalsAR$604Tennessee: median $832 across 77 hospitalsTN$832North Carolina: median $1,609 across 95 hospitalsNC$1,609South Carolina: median $1,895 across 53 hospitalsSC$1,895Oklahoma: median $1,178 across 71 hospitalsOK$1,178Louisiana: median $856 across 56 hospitalsLA$856Mississippi: median $944 across 49 hospitalsMS$944Alabama: median $1,378 across 42 hospitalsAL$1,378Georgia: median $1,279 across 109 hospitalsGA$1,279Hawaii: median $1,493 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,493Texas: median $2,151 across 245 hospitalsTX$2,151Florida: median $3,599 across 170 hospitalsFL$3,599
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,521. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL170$3,599+137%$1,352 – $11,977
Alaska AK17$3,014+98%$1,354 – $3,787
South Dakota SD43$2,970+95%$2,669 – $3,803
California CA215$2,654+75%$1,495 – $4,947
Utah UT42$2,648+74%$1,451 – $2,648
Nebraska NE84$2,565+69%$1,786 – $3,000
Vermont VT12$2,465+62%$1,045 – $2,787
Illinois IL135$2,331+53%$955 – $3,174
Texas TX245$2,151+41%$1,190 – $3,932
South Carolina SC53$1,895+25%$770 – $2,771
New Mexico NM30$1,821+20%$1,245 – $2,119
Iowa IA89$1,786+17%$1,283 – $2,218
Nevada NV21$1,750+15%$771 – $2,860
Washington WA71$1,713+13%$905 – $2,347
Massachusetts MA53$1,681+11%$921 – $2,171
Wyoming WY14$1,651+9%$579 – $2,570
Montana MT19$1,639+8%$1,159 – $2,047
North Carolina NC95$1,609+6%$1,063 – $2,223
Colorado CO66$1,557+2%$1,154 – $2,951
Wisconsin WI109$1,539+1%$562 – $1,902
Virginia VA71$1,497−2%$1,029 – $2,931
Hawaii HI17$1,493−2%$1,269 – $1,748
New Hampshire NH22$1,467−4%$1,093 – $3,169
Rhode Island RI10$1,459−4%$488 – $1,466
North Dakota ND32$1,445−5%$1,245 – $1,702
Connecticut CT19$1,412−7%$705 – $1,801
Oregon OR46$1,401−8%$803 – $1,994
Alabama AL42$1,378−9%$800 – $2,263
Minnesota MN101$1,372−10%$456 – $2,086
Michigan MI86$1,366−10%$543 – $2,156
Kentucky KY67$1,328−13%$758 – $2,848
Pennsylvania PA114$1,314−14%$308 – $3,054
Missouri MO75$1,301−14%$877 – $2,098
Georgia GA109$1,279−16%$834 – $2,270
Ohio OH142$1,240−18%$798 – $1,748
West Virginia WV42$1,229−19%$825 – $1,964
Arizona AZ53$1,185−22%$487 – $5,351
Oklahoma OK71$1,178−23%$716 – $1,795
Maine ME25$1,130−26%$526 – $1,688
Kansas KS87$1,118−27%$682 – $1,892
Idaho ID22$1,093−28%$907 – $1,724
Mississippi MS49$944−38%$522 – $1,249
Louisiana LA56$856−44%$424 – $1,446
Indiana IN95$855−44%$508 – $1,675
New York NY111$846−44%$264 – $2,507
Tennessee TN77$832−45%$560 – $1,612
Arkansas AR38$604−60%$384 – $1,336
New Jersey NJ58$560−63%$210 – $999
Maryland MD38$221−85%$161 – $321
Delaware DE6not 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 $1,521.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,360$1,473$640 – $2,975
Children’s64$2,113$1,509 – $3,323
Critical access930$1,586$892 – $2,506
Ownership
For-profit486$2,253$955 – $7,775
Government610$1,463$760 – $2,322
Non-profit2,258$1,475$677 – $2,648
System affiliation
Part of a system2,769$1,555$725 – $2,846
Independent595$1,386$711 – $2,359

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,617
Median cash price$1,521
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,301 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,581 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,659; most fall between $798 and $2,765.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,301 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
$542$946$1,581$2,580$3,763

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($542 vs $3,763).

Of the 2,549 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,301 gave a usable cash price; 135 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 113 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,364 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (85%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,723 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,364
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here235
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded123
Hospitals that filed this code3,723

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 CT scan chest family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Diagnostic Computed Tomography Thorax W/Contrast.

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, “CT scan of the chest with contrast (CPT 71260) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-71260-ct-scan-of-the-chest-with-contrast