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Procedure price report · Upper gastrointestinal X-ray

Double-contrast barium X-ray of upper digestive tract

CPT 74246the billing code this page is about

X-ray study of the esophagus, stomach and upper small intestine using both high-density barium and gas for air contrast, with or without medication to relax the bowel.

Hospitals typically charge $589 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,837 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $609. Most fall between $316 and $1,040 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,837
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 2,837 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
$216$363$589$918$1,516

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($216 vs $1,516).

How the prices are spread

$180 – $230: 178 hospitals$180$230 – $295: 187 hospitals$295 – $378: 255 hospitals$295$378 – $485: 352 hospitals$485 – $622: 381 hospitals$485$622 – $798: 449 hospitals$798 – $1,023: 302 hospitals$798$1,023 – $1,311: 246 hospitals$1,311 – $1,681: 142 hospitals$1,311$1,681 – $2,155: 64 hospitals$1,681median $589price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,556 of 2,837 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$180$230178
$230$295187
$295$378255
$378$485352
$485$622381
$622$798449
$798$1,023302
$1,023$1,311246
$1,311$1,681142
$1,681$2,15564

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$589
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.3×

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 $589.

Alaska: median $795 across 14 hospitalsAK$795Maine: median $365 across 23 hospitalsME$365Vermont: median $1,201 across 11 hospitalsVT$1,201New Hampshire: median $672 across 19 hospitalsNH$672Washington: median $643 across 58 hospitalsWA$643Idaho: median $545 across 18 hospitalsID$545Montana: median $433 across 12 hospitalsMT$433North Dakota: median $581 across 17 hospitalsND$581Minnesota: median $301 across 56 hospitalsMN$301Illinois: median $746 across 113 hospitalsIL$746Wisconsin: median $599 across 95 hospitalsWI$599Michigan: median $387 across 80 hospitalsMI$387New York: median $437 across 90 hospitalsNY$437Massachusetts: median $677 across 47 hospitalsMA$677Oregon: median $639 across 42 hospitalsOR$639Nevada: median $643 across 14 hospitalsNV$643Wyoming: median $780 across 11 hospitalsWY$780South Dakota: median $1,266 across 17 hospitalsSD$1,266Iowa: median $489 across 65 hospitalsIA$489Indiana: median $575 across 90 hospitalsIN$575Ohio: median $644 across 137 hospitalsOH$644Pennsylvania: median $472 across 115 hospitalsPA$472New Jersey: median $238 across 56 hospitalsNJ$238Connecticut: median $678 across 22 hospitalsCT$678Rhode Island: median $466 across 10 hospitalsRI$466California: median $739 across 203 hospitalsCA$739Utah: median $1,027 across 36 hospitalsUT$1,027Colorado: median $508 across 57 hospitalsCO$508Nebraska: median $649 across 40 hospitalsNE$649Missouri: median $574 across 65 hospitalsMO$574Kentucky: median $641 across 58 hospitalsKY$641West Virginia: median $407 across 36 hospitalsWV$407Virginia: median $678 across 66 hospitalsVA$678Maryland: median $829 across 33 hospitalsMD$829Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $460 across 47 hospitalsAZ$460New Mexico: median $546 across 26 hospitalsNM$546Kansas: median $592 across 49 hospitalsKS$592Arkansas: median $185 across 22 hospitalsAR$185Tennessee: median $283 across 73 hospitalsTN$283North Carolina: median $527 across 90 hospitalsNC$527South Carolina: median $759 across 49 hospitalsSC$759Oklahoma: median $455 across 49 hospitalsOK$455Louisiana: median $307 across 46 hospitalsLA$307Mississippi: median $307 across 38 hospitalsMS$307Alabama: median $427 across 38 hospitalsAL$427Georgia: median $605 across 93 hospitalsGA$605Hawaii: median $531 across 16 hospitalsHI$531Texas: median $704 across 212 hospitalsTX$704Florida: median $1,103 across 158 hospitalsFL$1,103
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $589. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
South Dakota SD17$1,266+115%$910 – $1,522
Vermont VT11$1,201+104%$1,112 – $1,419
Florida FL158$1,103+87%$471 – $3,710
Utah UT36$1,027+74%$732 – $1,141
Maryland MD33$829+41%$554 – $1,045
Alaska AK14$795+35%$411 – $1,442
Wyoming WY11$780+32%$622 – $1,288
South Carolina SC49$759+29%$455 – $1,021
Illinois IL113$746+27%$389 – $1,073
California CA203$739+26%$386 – $1,510
Texas TX212$704+20%$459 – $1,732
Connecticut CT22$678+15%$460 – $742
Virginia VA66$678+15%$494 – $1,577
Massachusetts MA47$677+15%$417 – $1,293
New Hampshire NH19$672+14%$524 – $1,491
Nebraska NE40$649+10%$381 – $975
Ohio OH137$644+9%$415 – $813
Nevada NV14$643+9%$264 – $2,160
Washington WA58$643+9%$503 – $918
Kentucky KY58$641+9%$261 – $1,134
Oregon OR42$639+9%$383 – $781
Georgia GA93$605+3%$234 – $1,148
Wisconsin WI95$599+2%$338 – $799
Kansas KS49$592+1%$361 – $987
North Dakota ND17$581−1%$408 – $868
Indiana IN90$575−2%$378 – $704
Missouri MO65$574−3%$322 – $895
New Mexico NM26$546−7%$468 – $780
Idaho ID18$545−7%$413 – $589
Hawaii HI16$531−10%$297 – $690
North Carolina NC90$527−10%$354 – $746
Colorado CO57$508−14%$301 – $893
Iowa IA65$489−17%$362 – $672
Pennsylvania PA115$472−20%$213 – $939
Rhode Island RI10$466−21%$177 – $513
Arizona AZ47$460−22%$173 – $1,559
Oklahoma OK49$455−23%$322 – $636
New York NY90$437−26%$219 – $886
Montana MT12$433−27%$306 – $623
Alabama AL38$427−28%$253 – $1,132
West Virginia WV36$407−31%$313 – $753
Michigan MI80$387−34%$254 – $695
Maine ME23$365−38%$212 – $1,065
Louisiana LA46$307−48%$199 – $500
Mississippi MS38$307−48%$250 – $407
Minnesota MN56$301−49%$209 – $588
Tennessee TN73$283−52%$183 – $703
New Jersey NJ56$238−60%$207 – $444
Arkansas AR22$185−69%$158 – $471
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 $589.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,218$590$301 – $1,077
Children’s39$676$374 – $1,320
Critical access570$585$350 – $918
Ownership
For-profit424$809$386 – $2,597
Government422$527$277 – $882
Non-profit1,981$579$312 – $975
System affiliation
Part of a system2,375$600$322 – $1,065
Independent462$538$287 – $940

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,026
Median cash price$589
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

2,018 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $634 and the average of the middle 60% is $631; most fall between $344 and $1,015.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,018 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
$246$387$634$904$1,318

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($246 vs $1,318).

Of the 2,226 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,018 gave a usable cash price; 107 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

2,837 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (72%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,133 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,837
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here184
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 — excluded111
Hospitals that filed this code3,133

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 Upr GI Trc Double 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, “Double-contrast barium X-ray of upper digestive tract (CPT 74246) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74246-double-contrast-barium-x-ray-of-upper-digestive-tract