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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Scoliosis spine X-ray, single view

CPT 72081the billing code this page is about

A one-view X-ray of the entire thoracic and lumbar spine, including the skull, neck and tailbone areas if imaged, typically used to look at spinal curvature.

Hospitals typically charge $218 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,795 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $226. Most fall between $111 and $385 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,795
States
50
Filings dated
Dec 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 2,795 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
$86$126$218$339$605

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($86 vs $605).

How the prices are spread

$66 – $85: 128 hospitals$66$85 – $109: 278 hospitals$109 – $141: 269 hospitals$109$141 – $181: 288 hospitals$181 – $234: 386 hospitals$181$234 – $302: 446 hospitals$302 – $390: 313 hospitals$302$390 – $502: 173 hospitals$502 – $648: 163 hospitals$502$648 – $836: 73 hospitals$648median $218price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,517 of 2,795 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$66$85128
$85$109278
$109$141269
$141$181288
$181$234386
$234$302446
$302$390313
$390$502173
$502$648163
$648$83673

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$89
Median cash price$218
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.5×

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 $218.

Alaska: median $456 across 14 hospitalsAK$456Maine: median $125 across 23 hospitalsME$125Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $226 across 18 hospitalsNH$226Washington: median $207 across 63 hospitalsWA$207Idaho: median $288 across 18 hospitalsID$288Montana: median $173 across 12 hospitalsMT$173North Dakota: median $149 across 20 hospitalsND$149Minnesota: median $209 across 86 hospitalsMN$209Illinois: median $273 across 113 hospitalsIL$273Wisconsin: median $176 across 93 hospitalsWI$176Michigan: median $135 across 75 hospitalsMI$135New York: median $202 across 90 hospitalsNY$202Massachusetts: median $278 across 47 hospitalsMA$278Oregon: median $189 across 43 hospitalsOR$189Nevada: median $278 across 11 hospitalsNV$278Wyoming: median $244 across 14 hospitalsWY$244South Dakota: median $321 across 18 hospitalsSD$321Iowa: median $178 across 56 hospitalsIA$178Indiana: median $186 across 87 hospitalsIN$186Ohio: median $231 across 133 hospitalsOH$231Pennsylvania: median $306 across 114 hospitalsPA$306New Jersey: median $113 across 52 hospitalsNJ$113Connecticut: median $199 across 21 hospitalsCT$199Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $273 across 200 hospitalsCA$273Utah: median $286 across 39 hospitalsUT$286Colorado: median $270 across 55 hospitalsCO$270Nebraska: median $251 across 56 hospitalsNE$251Missouri: median $236 across 63 hospitalsMO$236Kentucky: median $186 across 42 hospitalsKY$186West Virginia: median $184 across 37 hospitalsWV$184Virginia: median $196 across 63 hospitalsVA$196Maryland: median $246 across 29 hospitalsMD$246Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $149 across 47 hospitalsAZ$149New Mexico: median $199 across 23 hospitalsNM$199Kansas: median $188 across 54 hospitalsKS$188Arkansas: median $104 across 28 hospitalsAR$104Tennessee: median $97 across 64 hospitalsTN$97North Carolina: median $205 across 88 hospitalsNC$205South Carolina: median $361 across 46 hospitalsSC$361Oklahoma: median $182 across 59 hospitalsOK$182Louisiana: median $109 across 44 hospitalsLA$109Mississippi: median $88 across 39 hospitalsMS$88Alabama: median $175 across 38 hospitalsAL$175Georgia: median $182 across 87 hospitalsGA$182Hawaii: median $247 across 18 hospitalsHI$247Texas: median $264 across 200 hospitalsTX$264Florida: median $328 across 133 hospitalsFL$328
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $218. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK14$456+109%$116 – $647
South Carolina SC46$361+65%$203 – $466
Florida FL133$328+50%$131 – $1,133
South Dakota SD18$321+47%$319 – $511
Pennsylvania PA114$306+40%$105 – $635
Idaho ID18$288+32%$228 – $365
Utah UT39$286+31%$212 – $286
Nevada NV11$278+27%$94 – $702
Massachusetts MA47$278+27%$154 – $369
California CA200$273+25%$185 – $541
Illinois IL113$273+25%$112 – $606
Colorado CO55$270+24%$156 – $430
Texas TX200$264+21%$147 – $524
Nebraska NE56$251+15%$102 – $346
Hawaii HI18$247+13%$201 – $300
Maryland MD29$246+13%$148 – $295
Wyoming WY14$244+12%$106 – $432
Missouri MO63$236+8%$109 – $324
Ohio OH133$231+6%$163 – $395
New Hampshire NH18$226+4%$187 – $421
Minnesota MN86$209−4%$109 – $306
Washington WA63$207−5%$137 – $585
North Carolina NC88$205−6%$139 – $334
New York NY90$202−8%$104 – $517
Connecticut CT21$199−9%$145 – $385
New Mexico NM23$199−9%$137 – $425
Virginia VA63$196−10%$123 – $385
Oregon OR43$189−13%$104 – $295
Kansas KS54$188−14%$98 – $298
Kentucky KY42$186−15%$124 – $300
Indiana IN87$186−15%$118 – $319
West Virginia WV37$184−16%$125 – $333
Georgia GA87$182−17%$95 – $318
Oklahoma OK59$182−17%$143 – $361
Iowa IA56$178−18%$128 – $222
Wisconsin WI93$176−19%$111 – $315
Alabama AL38$175−20%$81 – $628
Montana MT12$173−21%$113 – $252
Arizona AZ47$149−32%$92 – $1,448
North Dakota ND20$149−32%$75 – $186
Michigan MI75$135−38%$97 – $208
Maine ME23$125−43%$84 – $301
New Jersey NJ52$113−48%$97 – $232
Louisiana LA44$109−50%$52 – $249
Arkansas AR28$104−52%$46 – $185
Tennessee TN64$97−56%$66 – $210
Mississippi MS39$88−60%$69 – $157
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $218.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,060$215$109 – $410
Children’s66$286$180 – $425
Critical access659$219$112 – $335
Ownership
For-profit394$291$120 – $850
Government440$205$106 – $330
Non-profit1,951$215$110 – $365
System affiliation
Part of a system2,350$222$111 – $395
Independent445$203$102 – $347

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$360
Median cash price$218
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

1,957 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $231 and the average of the middle 60% is $234; most fall between $119 and $386.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,957 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
$88$135$231$347$575

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($88 vs $575).

Of the 2,140 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,957 gave a usable cash price; 105 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 78 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,795 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (71%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,070 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,795
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here187
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 — excluded87
Hospitals that filed this code3,070

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 Entir Thrc Lmbr Crv Sac Spi W/Skull 1 Vw|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, “Scoliosis spine X-ray, single view (CPT 72081) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72081-scoliosis-spine-x-ray-single-view