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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the neck spine, two or three views

CPT 72040the billing code this page is about

X-ray imaging of the cervical spine in the neck, using two or three views.

Hospitals typically charge $274 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,367 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $282. Most fall between $134 and $469 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,367
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 3,367 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
$92$158$274$423$725

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($92 vs $725).

How the prices are spread

$70 – $92: 169 hospitals$70$92 – $122: 263 hospitals$122 – $160: 259 hospitals$122$160 – $211: 332 hospitals$211 – $277: 515 hospitals$211$277 – $365: 514 hospitals$365 – $480: 492 hospitals$365$480 – $631: 225 hospitals$631 – $831: 154 hospitals$631$831 – $1,093: 108 hospitals$831median $274price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,031 of 3,367 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$70$92169
$92$122263
$122$160259
$160$211332
$211$277515
$277$365514
$365$480492
$480$631225
$631$831154
$831$1,093108

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$89
Median cash price$274
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.1×

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 $274.

Alaska: median $438 across 17 hospitalsAK$438Maine: median $189 across 25 hospitalsME$189Vermont: median $455 across 12 hospitalsVT$455New Hampshire: median $256 across 22 hospitalsNH$256Washington: median $280 across 70 hospitalsWA$280Idaho: median $270 across 22 hospitalsID$270Montana: median $218 across 19 hospitalsMT$218North Dakota: median $163 across 34 hospitalsND$163Minnesota: median $222 across 101 hospitalsMN$222Illinois: median $360 across 126 hospitalsIL$360Wisconsin: median $240 across 110 hospitalsWI$240Michigan: median $212 across 86 hospitalsMI$212New York: median $164 across 111 hospitalsNY$164Massachusetts: median $352 across 52 hospitalsMA$352Oregon: median $256 across 46 hospitalsOR$256Nevada: median $375 across 21 hospitalsNV$375Wyoming: median $286 across 14 hospitalsWY$286South Dakota: median $435 across 42 hospitalsSD$435Iowa: median $252 across 88 hospitalsIA$252Indiana: median $236 across 91 hospitalsIN$236Ohio: median $279 across 143 hospitalsOH$279Pennsylvania: median $235 across 116 hospitalsPA$235New Jersey: median $120 across 58 hospitalsNJ$120Connecticut: median $217 across 22 hospitalsCT$217Rhode Island: median $227 across 10 hospitalsRI$227California: median $432 across 218 hospitalsCA$432Utah: median $373 across 42 hospitalsUT$373Colorado: median $288 across 66 hospitalsCO$288Nebraska: median $340 across 85 hospitalsNE$340Missouri: median $275 across 77 hospitalsMO$275Kentucky: median $317 across 67 hospitalsKY$317West Virginia: median $194 across 43 hospitalsWV$194Virginia: median $320 across 71 hospitalsVA$320Maryland: median $191 across 39 hospitalsMD$191Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $152 across 53 hospitalsAZ$152New Mexico: median $263 across 29 hospitalsNM$263Kansas: median $238 across 90 hospitalsKS$238Arkansas: median $90 across 37 hospitalsAR$90Tennessee: median $134 across 77 hospitalsTN$134North Carolina: median $299 across 96 hospitalsNC$299South Carolina: median $345 across 53 hospitalsSC$345Oklahoma: median $205 across 70 hospitalsOK$205Louisiana: median $144 across 56 hospitalsLA$144Mississippi: median $129 across 50 hospitalsMS$129Alabama: median $197 across 41 hospitalsAL$197Georgia: median $239 across 110 hospitalsGA$239Hawaii: median $277 across 19 hospitalsHI$277Texas: median $365 across 240 hospitalsTX$365Florida: median $676 across 174 hospitalsFL$676
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $274. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL174$676+147%$329 – $2,138
Vermont VT12$455+66%$314 – $672
Alaska AK17$438+60%$226 – $715
South Dakota SD42$435+59%$354 – $646
California CA218$432+58%$224 – $711
Nevada NV21$375+37%$106 – $638
Utah UT42$373+36%$302 – $411
Texas TX240$365+33%$204 – $741
Illinois IL126$360+31%$190 – $666
Massachusetts MA52$352+29%$215 – $491
South Carolina SC53$345+26%$163 – $469
Nebraska NE85$340+24%$208 – $406
Virginia VA71$320+17%$186 – $614
Kentucky KY67$317+16%$188 – $567
North Carolina NC96$299+9%$227 – $504
Colorado CO66$288+5%$212 – $456
Wyoming WY14$286+5%$84 – $439
Washington WA70$280+2%$162 – $383
Ohio OH143$279+2%$196 – $433
Hawaii HI19$277+1%$250 – $317
Missouri MO77$2750%$157 – $410
Idaho ID22$270−1%$173 – $365
New Mexico NM29$263−4%$162 – $399
New Hampshire NH22$256−6%$213 – $744
Oregon OR46$256−6%$131 – $354
Iowa IA88$252−8%$136 – $317
Wisconsin WI110$240−12%$99 – $365
Georgia GA110$239−13%$105 – $460
Kansas KS90$238−13%$170 – $368
Indiana IN91$236−14%$132 – $329
Pennsylvania PA116$235−14%$112 – $537
Rhode Island RI10$227−17%$94 – $286
Minnesota MN101$222−19%$127 – $323
Montana MT19$218−20%$182 – $295
Connecticut CT22$217−21%$118 – $440
Michigan MI86$212−23%$120 – $392
Oklahoma OK70$205−25%$148 – $366
Alabama AL41$197−28%$93 – $324
West Virginia WV43$194−29%$141 – $333
Maryland MD39$191−30%$128 – $246
Maine ME25$189−31%$85 – $307
New York NY111$164−40%$104 – $438
North Dakota ND34$163−40%$133 – $233
Arizona AZ53$152−44%$104 – $441
Louisiana LA56$144−47%$83 – $231
Tennessee TN77$134−51%$69 – $295
Mississippi MS50$129−53%$75 – $171
New Jersey NJ58$120−56%$101 – $230
Arkansas AR37$90−67%$71 – $207
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 $274.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,366$283$128 – $535
Children’s66$299$208 – $551
Critical access925$252$141 – $379
Ownership
For-profit492$365$164 – $1,312
Government612$251$120 – $373
Non-profit2,253$268$135 – $443
System affiliation
Part of a system2,760$282$141 – $494
Independent607$237$116 – $391

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$444
Median cash price$274
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

2,311 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $295 and the average of the middle 60% is $299; most fall between $151 and $468.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,311 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
$102$180$295$427$640

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($102 vs $640).

Of the 2,574 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,311 gave a usable cash price; 154 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 109 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,367 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 3,742 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,367
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here251
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 code3,742

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 Radex Spine Cervical 2 or 3 Views|TECHNICAL 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 neck spine, two or three views (CPT 72040) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72040-x-ray-of-the-neck-spine-two-or-three-views