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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal X-ray

Video X-ray swallowing study

CPT 74230the billing code this page is about

Moving X-ray recording of swallowing from the mouth through the esophagus, used to see how food and liquid pass through.

Hospitals typically charge $454 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,961 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $479. Most fall between $243 and $809 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,961
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 2,961 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
$181$282$454$732$1,196

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($181 vs $1,196).

How the prices are spread

$140 – $180: 148 hospitals$140$180 – $232: 246 hospitals$232 – $298: 283 hospitals$232$298 – $383: 367 hospitals$383 – $493: 427 hospitals$383$493 – $634: 404 hospitals$634 – $815: 356 hospitals$634$815 – $1,047: 182 hospitals$1,047 – $1,346: 162 hospitals$1,047$1,346 – $1,731: 90 hospitals$1,346median $454price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,665 of 2,961 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$140$180148
$180$232246
$232$298283
$298$383367
$383$493427
$493$634404
$634$815356
$815$1,047182
$1,047$1,346162
$1,346$1,73190

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$454
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 $454.

Alaska: median $766 across 13 hospitalsAK$766Maine: median $331 across 22 hospitalsME$331Vermont: median $754 across 10 hospitalsVT$754New Hampshire: median $473 across 17 hospitalsNH$473Washington: median $487 across 56 hospitalsWA$487Idaho: median $480 across 18 hospitalsID$480Montana: median $433 across 11 hospitalsMT$433North Dakota: median $502 across 16 hospitalsND$502Minnesota: median $311 across 74 hospitalsMN$311Illinois: median $592 across 114 hospitalsIL$592Wisconsin: median $403 across 103 hospitalsWI$403Michigan: median $377 across 78 hospitalsMI$377New York: median $410 across 102 hospitalsNY$410Massachusetts: median $626 across 52 hospitalsMA$626Oregon: median $539 across 43 hospitalsOR$539Nevada: median $553 across 17 hospitalsNV$553Wyoming: median $466 across 11 hospitalsWY$466South Dakota: median $758 across 21 hospitalsSD$758Iowa: median $402 across 72 hospitalsIA$402Indiana: median $297 across 90 hospitalsIN$297Ohio: median $428 across 139 hospitalsOH$428Pennsylvania: median $433 across 115 hospitalsPA$433New Jersey: median $228 across 58 hospitalsNJ$228Connecticut: median $506 across 22 hospitalsCT$506Rhode Island: median $349 across 10 hospitalsRI$349California: median $642 across 208 hospitalsCA$642Utah: median $782 across 38 hospitalsUT$782Colorado: median $469 across 58 hospitalsCO$469Nebraska: median $547 across 52 hospitalsNE$547Missouri: median $380 across 73 hospitalsMO$380Kentucky: median $505 across 58 hospitalsKY$505West Virginia: median $397 across 33 hospitalsWV$397Virginia: median $486 across 62 hospitalsVA$486Maryland: median $892 across 39 hospitalsMD$892Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $406 across 47 hospitalsAZ$406New Mexico: median $503 across 25 hospitalsNM$503Kansas: median $464 across 53 hospitalsKS$464Arkansas: median $150 across 30 hospitalsAR$150Tennessee: median $201 across 72 hospitalsTN$201North Carolina: median $364 across 91 hospitalsNC$364South Carolina: median $455 across 50 hospitalsSC$455Oklahoma: median $327 across 54 hospitalsOK$327Louisiana: median $254 across 47 hospitalsLA$254Mississippi: median $201 across 45 hospitalsMS$201Alabama: median $354 across 35 hospitalsAL$354Georgia: median $340 across 100 hospitalsGA$340Hawaii: median $433 across 16 hospitalsHI$433Texas: median $601 across 219 hospitalsTX$601Florida: median $879 across 166 hospitalsFL$879
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $454. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD39$892+96%$597 – $1,126
Florida FL166$879+93%$366 – $2,930
Utah UT38$782+72%$538 – $782
Alaska AK13$766+69%$491 – $1,115
South Dakota SD21$758+67%$661 – $831
Vermont VT10$754+66%$580 – $1,181
California CA208$642+41%$348 – $1,276
Massachusetts MA52$626+38%$334 – $871
Texas TX219$601+32%$369 – $1,248
Illinois IL114$592+30%$283 – $842
Nevada NV17$553+22%$190 – $2,131
Nebraska NE52$547+20%$320 – $657
Oregon OR43$539+19%$292 – $752
Connecticut CT22$506+11%$270 – $714
Kentucky KY58$505+11%$287 – $1,107
New Mexico NM25$503+11%$350 – $717
North Dakota ND16$502+11%$420 – $662
Washington WA56$487+7%$392 – $653
Virginia VA62$486+7%$303 – $771
Idaho ID18$480+6%$359 – $589
New Hampshire NH17$473+4%$390 – $1,060
Colorado CO58$469+3%$293 – $726
Wyoming WY11$466+2%$391 – $703
Kansas KS53$464+2%$312 – $770
South Carolina SC50$4550%$363 – $557
Montana MT11$433−5%$263 – $532
Hawaii HI16$433−5%$402 – $531
Pennsylvania PA115$433−5%$223 – $873
Ohio OH139$428−6%$301 – $742
New York NY102$410−10%$211 – $780
Arizona AZ47$406−11%$164 – $1,595
Wisconsin WI103$403−11%$216 – $633
Iowa IA72$402−11%$305 – $541
West Virginia WV33$397−13%$303 – $674
Missouri MO73$380−16%$267 – $723
Michigan MI78$377−17%$241 – $629
North Carolina NC91$364−20%$227 – $434
Alabama AL35$354−22%$252 – $883
Rhode Island RI10$349−23%$177 – $446
Georgia GA100$340−25%$222 – $938
Maine ME22$331−27%$173 – $729
Oklahoma OK54$327−28%$240 – $582
Minnesota MN74$311−32%$187 – $564
Indiana IN90$297−35%$212 – $491
Louisiana LA47$254−44%$149 – $420
New Jersey NJ58$228−50%$195 – $432
Mississippi MS45$201−56%$143 – $307
Tennessee TN72$201−56%$90 – $522
Arkansas AR30$150−67%$99 – $383
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 $454.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,276$452$238 – $874
Children’s64$620$414 – $1,158
Critical access611$447$262 – $707
Ownership
For-profit448$634$270 – $1,881
Government452$388$214 – $647
Non-profit2,051$450$248 – $782
System affiliation
Part of a system2,483$458$248 – $831
Independent478$425$219 – $727

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$787
Median cash price$454
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

2,082 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $483 and the average of the middle 60% is $502; most fall between $268 and $798.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,082 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
$197$301$483$733$1,125

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($197 vs $1,125).

Of the 2,291 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,082 gave a usable cash price; 108 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,961 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (75%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,272 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,961
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here202
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 — excluded108
Hospitals that filed this code3,272

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 Swallow Function 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, “Video X-ray swallowing study (CPT 74230) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74230-video-x-ray-swallowing-study