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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal X-ray

Barium swallow X-ray of the esophagus, single contrast

CPT 74220the billing code this page is about

X-ray study of the swallowing tube after drinking a single contrast agent such as barium, including any scout and delayed images taken.

Hospitals typically charge $437 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,025 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $457. Most fall between $240 and $793 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,025
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 3,025 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
$177$273$437$686$1,103

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($177 vs $1,103).

How the prices are spread

$130 – $167: 100 hospitals$130$167 – $214: 249 hospitals$214 – $274: 260 hospitals$214$274 – $351: 364 hospitals$351 – $451: 438 hospitals$351$451 – $578: 473 hospitals$578 – $741: 326 hospitals$578$741 – $950: 256 hospitals$950 – $1,219: 136 hospitals$950$1,219 – $1,563: 121 hospitals$1,219median $437price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,723 of 3,025 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$130$167100
$167$214249
$214$274260
$274$351364
$351$451438
$451$578473
$578$741326
$741$950256
$950$1,219136
$1,219$1,563121

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$437
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.4×

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 $437.

Alaska: median $773 across 13 hospitalsAK$773Maine: median $339 across 23 hospitalsME$339Vermont: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $456 across 20 hospitalsNH$456Washington: median $559 across 61 hospitalsWA$559Idaho: median $449 across 20 hospitalsID$449Montana: median $342 across 10 hospitalsMT$342North Dakota: median $415 across 18 hospitalsND$415Minnesota: median $292 across 70 hospitalsMN$292Illinois: median $620 across 117 hospitalsIL$620Wisconsin: median $410 across 103 hospitalsWI$410Michigan: median $289 across 81 hospitalsMI$289New York: median $298 across 105 hospitalsNY$298Massachusetts: median $642 across 52 hospitalsMA$642Oregon: median $552 across 42 hospitalsOR$552Nevada: median $511 across 18 hospitalsNV$511Wyoming: median $437 across 12 hospitalsWY$437South Dakota: median $842 across 18 hospitalsSD$842Iowa: median $359 across 71 hospitalsIA$359Indiana: median $402 across 88 hospitalsIN$402Ohio: median $434 across 141 hospitalsOH$434Pennsylvania: median $396 across 116 hospitalsPA$396New Jersey: median $227 across 56 hospitalsNJ$227Connecticut: median $556 across 22 hospitalsCT$556Rhode Island: median $349 across 10 hospitalsRI$349California: median $595 across 214 hospitalsCA$595Utah: median $553 across 38 hospitalsUT$553Colorado: median $508 across 58 hospitalsCO$508Nebraska: median $611 across 56 hospitalsNE$611Missouri: median $393 across 73 hospitalsMO$393Kentucky: median $452 across 62 hospitalsKY$452West Virginia: median $369 across 37 hospitalsWV$369Virginia: median $437 across 69 hospitalsVA$437Maryland: median $574 across 35 hospitalsMD$574Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $374 across 49 hospitalsAZ$374New Mexico: median $483 across 27 hospitalsNM$483Kansas: median $397 across 59 hospitalsKS$397Arkansas: median $185 across 29 hospitalsAR$185Tennessee: median $195 across 74 hospitalsTN$195North Carolina: median $400 across 92 hospitalsNC$400South Carolina: median $478 across 52 hospitalsSC$478Oklahoma: median $338 across 57 hospitalsOK$338Louisiana: median $237 across 51 hospitalsLA$237Mississippi: median $189 across 48 hospitalsMS$189Alabama: median $276 across 39 hospitalsAL$276Georgia: median $344 across 102 hospitalsGA$344Hawaii: median $448 across 16 hospitalsHI$448Texas: median $501 across 219 hospitalsTX$501Florida: median $825 across 168 hospitalsFL$825
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $437. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD18$842+93%$667 – $907
Florida FL168$825+89%$420 – $2,508
Alaska AK13$773+77%$144 – $1,115
Massachusetts MA52$642+47%$401 – $911
Illinois IL117$620+42%$313 – $898
Nebraska NE56$611+40%$368 – $734
California CA214$595+36%$283 – $1,132
Maryland MD35$574+31%$380 – $724
Washington WA61$559+28%$442 – $774
Connecticut CT22$556+27%$474 – $714
Utah UT38$553+27%$503 – $614
Oregon OR42$552+26%$289 – $708
Nevada NV18$511+17%$276 – $1,549
Colorado CO58$508+16%$279 – $687
Texas TX219$501+15%$307 – $1,379
New Mexico NM27$483+11%$350 – $615
South Carolina SC52$478+9%$363 – $609
New Hampshire NH20$456+4%$368 – $1,065
Kentucky KY62$452+3%$306 – $740
Idaho ID20$449+3%$326 – $589
Hawaii HI16$448+3%$257 – $530
Wyoming WY12$4370%$316 – $642
Virginia VA69$4370%$297 – $968
Ohio OH141$434−1%$323 – $785
North Dakota ND18$415−5%$341 – $617
Wisconsin WI103$410−6%$194 – $519
Indiana IN88$402−8%$292 – $532
North Carolina NC92$400−8%$288 – $502
Kansas KS59$397−9%$287 – $628
Pennsylvania PA116$396−9%$219 – $833
Missouri MO73$393−10%$215 – $611
Arizona AZ49$374−14%$150 – $1,286
West Virginia WV37$369−16%$272 – $582
Iowa IA71$359−18%$255 – $497
Rhode Island RI10$349−20%$177 – $446
Georgia GA102$344−21%$181 – $587
Montana MT10$342−22%$186 – $396
Maine ME23$339−22%$173 – $756
Oklahoma OK57$338−23%$222 – $547
New York NY105$298−32%$211 – $775
Minnesota MN70$292−33%$145 – $419
Michigan MI81$289−34%$211 – $618
Alabama AL39$276−37%$210 – $543
Louisiana LA51$237−46%$126 – $412
New Jersey NJ56$227−48%$195 – $432
Tennessee TN74$195−55%$104 – $432
Mississippi MS48$189−57%$140 – $286
Arkansas AR29$185−58%$115 – $393
Vermont VT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $437.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,304$442$235 – $830
Children’s62$609$369 – $981
Critical access649$409$252 – $640
Ownership
For-profit458$549$265 – $1,795
Government476$374$210 – $626
Non-profit2,081$437$248 – $740
System affiliation
Part of a system2,519$443$245 – $808
Independent506$415$224 – $685

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$761
Median cash price$437
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

2,115 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $464 and the average of the middle 60% is $472; most fall between $258 and $747.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,115 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
$179$292$464$679$1,014

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($179 vs $1,014).

Of the 2,327 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,115 gave a usable cash price; 116 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 96 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,025 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 3,336 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,025
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here204
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 — excluded106
Hospitals that filed this code3,336

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 Upper gastrointestinal X-ray family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Radiologic Exam Esophagus Single 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, “Barium swallow X-ray of the esophagus, single contrast (CPT 74220) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74220-barium-swallow-x-ray-of-the-esophagus-single-contrast