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Procedure price report · CT scan chest

CT scan of the chest without and with contrast

CPT 71270the billing code this page is about

Cross-sectional CT imaging of the chest taken first without contrast dye and then repeated after contrast is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,754 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,275 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,858. Most fall between $815 and $3,216 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,275
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 3,275 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
$506$998$1,754$2,900$4,501

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($506 vs $4,501).

How the prices are spread

$268 – $371: 51 hospitals$268$371 – $512: 118 hospitals$512 – $707: 170 hospitals$512$707 – $977: 297 hospitals$977 – $1,350: 387 hospitals$977$1,350 – $1,866: 550 hospitals$1,866 – $2,578: 562 hospitals$1,866$2,578 – $3,561: 465 hospitals$3,561 – $4,920: 214 hospitals$3,561$4,920 – $6,798: 135 hospitals$4,920median $1,754price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,949 of 3,275 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$268$37151
$371$512118
$512$707170
$707$977297
$977$1,350387
$1,350$1,866550
$1,866$2,578562
$2,578$3,561465
$3,561$4,920214
$4,920$6,798135

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$1,754
Cash as a multiple of Medicare9.8×

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 $1,754.

Alaska: median $3,354 across 17 hospitalsAK$3,354Maine: median $1,328 across 24 hospitalsME$1,328Vermont: median $1,969 across 12 hospitalsVT$1,969New Hampshire: median $1,592 across 18 hospitalsNH$1,592Washington: median $1,989 across 68 hospitalsWA$1,989Idaho: median $1,093 across 22 hospitalsID$1,093Montana: median $1,962 across 19 hospitalsMT$1,962North Dakota: median $1,726 across 32 hospitalsND$1,726Minnesota: median $1,446 across 94 hospitalsMN$1,446Illinois: median $2,742 across 134 hospitalsIL$2,742Wisconsin: median $1,800 across 107 hospitalsWI$1,800Michigan: median $1,678 across 86 hospitalsMI$1,678New York: median $1,179 across 96 hospitalsNY$1,179Massachusetts: median $2,059 across 48 hospitalsMA$2,059Oregon: median $1,598 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,598Nevada: median $2,120 across 21 hospitalsNV$2,120Wyoming: median $2,038 across 14 hospitalsWY$2,038South Dakota: median $3,224 across 34 hospitalsSD$3,224Iowa: median $1,900 across 79 hospitalsIA$1,900Indiana: median $974 across 95 hospitalsIN$974Ohio: median $1,478 across 137 hospitalsOH$1,478Pennsylvania: median $1,424 across 113 hospitalsPA$1,424New Jersey: median $738 across 58 hospitalsNJ$738Connecticut: median $1,756 across 21 hospitalsCT$1,756Rhode Island: median $1,541 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,541California: median $3,024 across 214 hospitalsCA$3,024Utah: median $3,216 across 39 hospitalsUT$3,216Colorado: median $1,840 across 66 hospitalsCO$1,840Nebraska: median $2,852 across 82 hospitalsNE$2,852Missouri: median $1,358 across 74 hospitalsMO$1,358Kentucky: median $1,752 across 66 hospitalsKY$1,752West Virginia: median $1,433 across 41 hospitalsWV$1,433Virginia: median $1,802 across 69 hospitalsVA$1,802Maryland: median $273 across 37 hospitalsMD$273Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,428 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,428New Mexico: median $2,009 across 30 hospitalsNM$2,009Kansas: median $1,238 across 85 hospitalsKS$1,238Arkansas: median $778 across 38 hospitalsAR$778Tennessee: median $920 across 77 hospitalsTN$920North Carolina: median $2,064 across 91 hospitalsNC$2,064South Carolina: median $2,125 across 53 hospitalsSC$2,125Oklahoma: median $1,293 across 70 hospitalsOK$1,293Louisiana: median $1,055 across 55 hospitalsLA$1,055Mississippi: median $1,053 across 49 hospitalsMS$1,053Alabama: median $1,547 across 39 hospitalsAL$1,547Georgia: median $1,519 across 109 hospitalsGA$1,519Hawaii: median $1,604 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,604Texas: median $2,611 across 242 hospitalsTX$2,611Florida: median $3,952 across 168 hospitalsFL$3,952
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,754. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL168$3,952+125%$1,610 – $14,605
Alaska AK17$3,354+91%$1,796 – $4,455
South Dakota SD34$3,224+84%$2,862 – $3,985
Utah UT39$3,216+83%$1,807 – $3,216
California CA214$3,024+72%$1,548 – $4,967
Nebraska NE82$2,852+63%$1,821 – $3,541
Illinois IL134$2,742+56%$1,275 – $3,577
Texas TX242$2,611+49%$1,317 – $4,691
South Carolina SC53$2,125+21%$1,400 – $3,182
Nevada NV21$2,120+21%$943 – $3,119
North Carolina NC91$2,064+18%$1,307 – $2,469
Massachusetts MA48$2,059+17%$919 – $2,717
Wyoming WY14$2,038+16%$694 – $2,950
New Mexico NM30$2,009+14%$1,436 – $2,580
Washington WA68$1,989+13%$1,106 – $2,625
Vermont VT12$1,969+12%$1,124 – $3,487
Montana MT19$1,962+12%$1,221 – $2,458
Iowa IA79$1,900+8%$1,370 – $2,383
Colorado CO66$1,840+5%$1,231 – $3,013
Virginia VA69$1,802+3%$1,078 – $3,594
Wisconsin WI107$1,800+3%$715 – $2,305
Connecticut CT21$1,7560%$886 – $1,801
Kentucky KY66$1,7520%$854 – $3,404
North Dakota ND32$1,726−2%$1,541 – $2,185
Michigan MI86$1,678−4%$998 – $2,638
Hawaii HI17$1,604−9%$1,481 – $2,242
Oregon OR46$1,598−9%$1,014 – $2,311
New Hampshire NH18$1,592−9%$1,143 – $4,935
Alabama AL39$1,547−12%$720 – $2,656
Rhode Island RI10$1,541−12%$415 – $2,096
Georgia GA109$1,519−13%$798 – $2,372
Ohio OH137$1,478−16%$1,070 – $1,944
Minnesota MN94$1,446−18%$456 – $2,249
West Virginia WV41$1,433−18%$984 – $2,422
Arizona AZ53$1,428−19%$584 – $5,963
Pennsylvania PA113$1,424−19%$562 – $3,395
Missouri MO74$1,358−23%$974 – $2,623
Maine ME24$1,328−24%$613 – $2,649
Oklahoma OK70$1,293−26%$876 – $2,193
Kansas KS85$1,238−29%$731 – $2,277
New York NY96$1,179−33%$219 – $2,975
Idaho ID22$1,093−38%$1,003 – $1,736
Louisiana LA55$1,055−40%$491 – $1,718
Mississippi MS49$1,053−40%$635 – $1,589
Indiana IN95$974−44%$542 – $1,953
Tennessee TN77$920−48%$588 – $2,160
Arkansas AR38$778−56%$384 – $1,741
New Jersey NJ58$738−58%$210 – $1,189
Maryland MD37$273−84%$199 – $383
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 $1,754.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,315$1,718$762 – $3,396
Children’s64$2,446$1,761 – $4,132
Critical access886$1,786$1,021 – $2,826
Ownership
For-profit477$2,635$1,072 – $8,531
Government591$1,655$795 – $2,638
Non-profit2,197$1,711$795 – $3,012
System affiliation
Part of a system2,697$1,801$842 – $3,263
Independent578$1,607$752 – $2,692

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,995
Median cash price$1,754
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

2,220 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,847 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,946; most fall between $917 and $3,216.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,220 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
$588$1,082$1,847$2,964$4,158

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($588 vs $4,158).

Of the 2,458 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,220 gave a usable cash price; 133 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,275 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,628 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,275
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here233
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 — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code3,628

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 C-/C+|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, “CT scan of the chest without and with contrast (CPT 71270) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-71270-ct-scan-of-the-chest-without-and-with-contrast