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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the throat and upper esophagus with contrast

CPT 74210the billing code this page is about

Contrast X-ray study of the pharynx and the neck portion of the swallowing tube, including any scout neck image and delayed images taken.

Hospitals typically charge $349 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 777 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $367. Most fall between $183 and $685 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
777
States
49
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 777 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
$114$202$349$560$969

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($114 vs $969).

How the prices are spread

$59 – $80: 8 hospitals$59$80 – $108: 25 hospitals$108 – $146: 34 hospitals$108$146 – $197: 62 hospitals$197 – $266: 128 hospitals$197$266 – $359: 104 hospitals$359 – $485: 115 hospitals$359$485 – $656: 100 hospitals$656 – $886: 67 hospitals$656$886 – $1,197: 58 hospitals$886median $349price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (701 of 777 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$59$808
$80$10825
$108$14634
$146$19762
$197$266128
$266$359104
$359$485115
$485$656100
$656$88667
$886$1,19758

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$349
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.95×

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 $349.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $514 across 19 hospitalsWA$514Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $250 across 28 hospitalsIL$250Wisconsin: median $277 across 11 hospitalsWI$277Michigan: median $354 across 34 hospitalsMI$354New York: median $265 across 55 hospitalsNY$265Massachusetts: median $578 across 21 hospitalsMA$578Oregon: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $52 across 18 hospitalsIA$52Indiana: median $378 across 19 hospitalsIN$378Ohio: median $265 across 15 hospitalsOH$265Pennsylvania: median $253 across 47 hospitalsPA$253New Jersey: median $210 across 20 hospitalsNJ$210Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $452 across 90 hospitalsCA$452Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $419 across 10 hospitalsNE$419Missouri: median $371 across 15 hospitalsMO$371Kentucky: median $308 across 17 hospitalsKY$308West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: median $607 across 16 hospitalsMD$607Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $134 across 12 hospitalsAZ$134New Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $510 across 14 hospitalsKS$510Arkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $324 across 24 hospitalsNC$324South Carolina: median $230 across 10 hospitalsSC$230Oklahoma: median $46 across 15 hospitalsOK$46Louisiana: median $144 across 24 hospitalsLA$144Mississippi: median $144 across 15 hospitalsMS$144Alabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $426 across 19 hospitalsGA$426Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $272 across 65 hospitalsTX$272Florida: median $694 across 57 hospitalsFL$694
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $349. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL57$694+99%$393 – $1,197
Maryland MD16$607+74%$483 – $767
Massachusetts MA21$578+65%$429 – $706
Washington WA19$514+47%$205 – $616
Kansas KS14$510+46%$129 – $977
California CA90$452+30%$313 – $969
Georgia GA19$426+22%$242 – $1,061
Nebraska NE10$419+20%$147 – $498
Indiana IN19$378+8%$283 – $538
Missouri MO15$371+6%$202 – $2,147
Michigan MI34$354+1%$226 – $686
North Carolina NC24$324−7%$171 – $338
Kentucky KY17$308−12%$197 – $845
Wisconsin WI11$277−21%$276 – $332
Texas TX65$272−22%$200 – $579
Ohio OH15$265−24%$165 – $532
New York NY55$265−24%$208 – $491
Pennsylvania PA47$253−27%$154 – $507
Illinois IL28$250−28%$175 – $493
South Carolina SC10$230−34%$107 – $456
New Jersey NJ20$210−40%$197 – $283
Mississippi MS15$144−59%$112 – $385
Louisiana LA24$144−59%$97 – $311
Arizona AZ12$134−62%$97 – $215
Iowa IA18$52−85%$52 – $243
Oklahoma OK15$46−87%$46 – $363
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $349.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care636$349$185 – $694
Children’s25$522$347 – $695
Critical access115$306$173 – $510
Ownership
For-profit100$449$200 – $1,070
Government105$269$141 – $534
Non-profit571$354$196 – $651
System affiliation
Part of a system659$354$195 – $689
Independent118$299$165 – $534

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$597
Median cash price$349
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

558 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $393 and the average of the middle 60% is $406; most fall between $199 and $694.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 558 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
$130$223$393$646$982

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($130 vs $982).

Of the 634 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 558 gave a usable cash price; 45 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 31 a list price only.

How complete is this

777 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (20%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 894 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted777
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here82
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded35
Hospitals that filed this code894

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 Radiologic Exam Phrnx&/Crv Esoph Contrast Study|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, “X-ray of the throat and upper esophagus with contrast (CPT 74210) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74210-x-ray-of-the-throat-and-upper-esophagus-with-contrast