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Procedure price report · CT scan chest

Low-dose CT lung cancer screening

CPT 71271the billing code this page is about

A low-radiation CT scan of the chest used to check for lung cancer in people without symptoms.

Hospitals typically charge $357 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,987 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $415. Most fall between $151 and $962 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,987
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 2023 – 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 2,987 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
$106$179$357$781$1,571

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($106 vs $1,571).

How the prices are spread

$76 – $105: 145 hospitals$76$105 – $146: 272 hospitals$146 – $203: 320 hospitals$146$203 – $283: 366 hospitals$283 – $394: 332 hospitals$283$394 – $548: 342 hospitals$548 – $763: 286 hospitals$548$763 – $1,061: 232 hospitals$1,061 – $1,476: 218 hospitals$1,061$1,476 – $2,054: 176 hospitals$1,476median $357price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,689 of 2,987 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$76$105145
$105$146272
$146$203320
$203$283366
$283$394332
$394$548342
$548$763286
$763$1,061232
$1,061$1,476218
$1,476$2,054176

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$357
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.3×

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 $357.

Alaska: median $293 across 16 hospitalsAK$293Maine: median $182 across 25 hospitalsME$182Vermont: median $911 across 10 hospitalsVT$911New Hampshire: median $776 across 21 hospitalsNH$776Washington: median $258 across 59 hospitalsWA$258Idaho: median $819 across 21 hospitalsID$819Montana: median $419 across 14 hospitalsMT$419North Dakota: median $738 across 29 hospitalsND$738Minnesota: median $666 across 93 hospitalsMN$666Illinois: median $565 across 117 hospitalsIL$565Wisconsin: median $359 across 103 hospitalsWI$359Michigan: median $290 across 79 hospitalsMI$290New York: median $356 across 110 hospitalsNY$356Massachusetts: median $635 across 50 hospitalsMA$635Oregon: median $272 across 42 hospitalsOR$272Nevada: median $415 across 17 hospitalsNV$415Wyoming: median $286 across 12 hospitalsWY$286South Dakota: median $1,579 across 36 hospitalsSD$1,579Iowa: median $421 across 83 hospitalsIA$421Indiana: median $161 across 75 hospitalsIN$161Ohio: median $335 across 139 hospitalsOH$335Pennsylvania: median $252 across 113 hospitalsPA$252New Jersey: median $146 across 57 hospitalsNJ$146Connecticut: median $590 across 19 hospitalsCT$590Rhode Island: median $373 across 10 hospitalsRI$373California: median $381 across 183 hospitalsCA$381Utah: median $1,794 across 38 hospitalsUT$1,794Colorado: median $412 across 59 hospitalsCO$412Nebraska: median $899 across 77 hospitalsNE$899Missouri: median $459 across 66 hospitalsMO$459Kentucky: median $578 across 64 hospitalsKY$578West Virginia: median $185 across 39 hospitalsWV$185Virginia: median $281 across 67 hospitalsVA$281Maryland: median $197 across 25 hospitalsMD$197Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $139 across 34 hospitalsAZ$139New Mexico: median $357 across 22 hospitalsNM$357Kansas: median $550 across 76 hospitalsKS$550Arkansas: median $258 across 30 hospitalsAR$258Tennessee: median $160 across 69 hospitalsTN$160North Carolina: median $236 across 89 hospitalsNC$236South Carolina: median $337 across 51 hospitalsSC$337Oklahoma: median $331 across 56 hospitalsOK$331Louisiana: median $160 across 47 hospitalsLA$160Mississippi: median $63 across 38 hospitalsMS$63Alabama: median $257 across 38 hospitalsAL$257Georgia: median $251 across 104 hospitalsGA$251Hawaii: median $456 across 15 hospitalsHI$456Texas: median $240 across 195 hospitalsTX$240Florida: median $729 across 150 hospitalsFL$729
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $357. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT38$1,794+402%$827 – $1,794
South Dakota SD36$1,579+342%$319 – $3,473
Vermont VT10$911+155%$400 – $2,213
Nebraska NE77$899+152%$247 – $1,757
Idaho ID21$819+129%$417 – $1,272
New Hampshire NH21$776+117%$601 – $1,593
North Dakota ND29$738+107%$468 – $1,018
Florida FL150$729+104%$217 – $2,062
Minnesota MN93$666+86%$278 – $977
Massachusetts MA50$635+78%$266 – $1,096
Connecticut CT19$590+65%$303 – $677
Kentucky KY64$578+62%$223 – $1,773
Illinois IL117$565+58%$202 – $1,062
Kansas KS76$550+54%$206 – $1,003
Missouri MO66$459+28%$170 – $1,111
Hawaii HI15$456+28%$290 – $594
Iowa IA83$421+18%$236 – $1,194
Montana MT14$419+17%$247 – $1,170
Nevada NV17$415+16%$113 – $649
Colorado CO59$412+15%$232 – $1,051
California CA183$381+7%$225 – $1,302
Rhode Island RI10$373+4%$154 – $626
Wisconsin WI103$359+1%$188 – $596
New Mexico NM22$3570%$193 – $715
New York NY110$3560%$131 – $1,488
South Carolina SC51$337−6%$150 – $346
Ohio OH139$335−6%$188 – $623
Oklahoma OK56$331−7%$100 – $953
Alaska AK16$293−18%$222 – $399
Michigan MI79$290−19%$183 – $507
Wyoming WY12$286−20%$210 – $573
Virginia VA67$281−21%$176 – $540
Oregon OR42$272−24%$231 – $1,155
Arkansas AR30$258−28%$73 – $384
Washington WA59$258−28%$133 – $750
Alabama AL38$257−28%$106 – $1,527
Pennsylvania PA113$252−29%$120 – $799
Georgia GA104$251−30%$91 – $567
Texas TX195$240−33%$127 – $1,160
North Carolina NC89$236−34%$155 – $567
Maryland MD25$197−45%$138 – $255
West Virginia WV39$185−48%$120 – $725
Maine ME25$182−49%$125 – $431
Indiana IN75$161−55%$50 – $571
Tennessee TN69$160−55%$91 – $525
Louisiana LA47$160−55%$68 – $300
New Jersey NJ57$146−59%$121 – $428
Arizona AZ34$139−61%$78 – $452
Mississippi MS38$63−82%$43 – $228
Delaware DE5not 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 $357.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,158$313$142 – $878
Children’s16fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access803$482$200 – $1,200
Ownership
For-profit392$406$148 – $1,363
Government530$409$146 – $1,170
Non-profit2,055$346$154 – $858
System affiliation
Part of a system2,482$356$148 – $938
Independent505$396$162 – $1,052

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$561
Median cash price$357
Cash as a share of list, median hospital63%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 37%. 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

2,043 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $348 and the average of the middle 60% is $409; most fall between $159 and $997.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,043 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
$106$185$348$770$1,582

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($106 vs $1,582).

Of the 2,267 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,043 gave a usable cash price; 129 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 95 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,987 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (76%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,312 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,987
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here221
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 — excluded103
Hospitals that filed this code3,312

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 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 CT scan chest family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Computed Tomography Thorax Lw Dose Lng Ca Scr 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, “Low-dose CT lung cancer screening (CPT 71271) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-71271-low-dose-ct-lung-cancer-screening