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Procedure price report · Lower gastrointestinal X-ray

X-ray of the small intestine through a feeding tube

CPT 74251the billing code this page is about

X-ray study of the small bowel in which contrast is delivered directly through a tube passed into the intestine rather than swallowed.

Hospitals typically charge $632 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,172 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $695. Most fall between $276 and $1,468 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,172
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 1,172 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
$194$328$632$1,199$2,464

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($194 vs $2,464).

How the prices are spread

$140 – $193: 58 hospitals$140$193 – $267: 114 hospitals$267 – $368: 100 hospitals$267$368 – $507: 139 hospitals$507 – $700: 172 hospitals$507$700 – $966: 168 hospitals$966 – $1,332: 102 hospitals$966$1,332 – $1,838: 77 hospitals$1,838 – $2,536: 73 hospitals$1,838$2,536 – $3,498: 54 hospitals$2,536median $632price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,057 of 1,172 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$140$19358
$193$267114
$267$368100
$368$507139
$507$700172
$700$966168
$966$1,332102
$1,332$1,83877
$1,838$2,53673
$2,536$3,49854

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$632
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.5×

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 $632.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $564 across 38 hospitalsWA$564Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $606 across 10 hospitalsMN$606Illinois: median $872 across 38 hospitalsIL$872Wisconsin: median $1,338 across 31 hospitalsWI$1,338Michigan: median $441 across 21 hospitalsMI$441New York: median $414 across 54 hospitalsNY$414Massachusetts: median $710 across 15 hospitalsMA$710Oregon: median $562 across 16 hospitalsOR$562Nevada: median $1,540 across 11 hospitalsNV$1,540Wyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $294 across 17 hospitalsIA$294Indiana: median $433 across 36 hospitalsIN$433Ohio: median $754 across 51 hospitalsOH$754Pennsylvania: median $276 across 53 hospitalsPA$276New Jersey: median $237 across 27 hospitalsNJ$237Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $987 across 105 hospitalsCA$987Utah: median $922 across 31 hospitalsUT$922Colorado: median $765 across 34 hospitalsCO$765Nebraska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $672 across 23 hospitalsMO$672Kentucky: median $632 across 25 hospitalsKY$632West Virginia: median $562 across 14 hospitalsWV$562Virginia: median $682 across 30 hospitalsVA$682Maryland: median $3,250 across 19 hospitalsMD$3,250Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $820 across 29 hospitalsAZ$820New Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $553 across 12 hospitalsKS$553Arkansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $263 across 25 hospitalsTN$263North Carolina: median $386 across 33 hospitalsNC$386South Carolina: median $790 across 17 hospitalsSC$790Oklahoma: median $363 across 18 hospitalsOK$363Louisiana: median $328 across 15 hospitalsLA$328Mississippi: median $181 across 18 hospitalsMS$181Alabama: median $241 across 11 hospitalsAL$241Georgia: median $760 across 37 hospitalsGA$760Hawaii: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $489 across 100 hospitalsTX$489Florida: median $1,199 across 78 hospitalsFL$1,199
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $632. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD19$3,250+414%$1,568 – $4,422
Nevada NV11$1,540+144%$343 – $2,215
Wisconsin WI31$1,338+112%$705 – $2,013
Florida FL78$1,199+90%$561 – $3,484
California CA105$987+56%$490 – $2,464
Utah UT31$922+46%$572 – $922
Illinois IL38$872+38%$386 – $1,111
Arizona AZ29$820+30%$516 – $2,253
South Carolina SC17$790+25%$175 – $1,128
Colorado CO34$765+21%$379 – $1,847
Georgia GA37$760+20%$424 – $1,715
Ohio OH51$754+19%$581 – $962
Massachusetts MA15$710+12%$362 – $1,280
Virginia VA30$682+8%$263 – $1,117
Missouri MO23$672+6%$253 – $1,592
Kentucky KY25$6320%$348 – $1,381
Minnesota MN10$606−4%$571 – $606
Washington WA38$564−11%$383 – $892
West Virginia WV14$562−11%$384 – $916
Oregon OR16$562−11%$129 – $729
Kansas KS12$553−13%$199 – $2,302
Texas TX100$489−23%$291 – $2,771
Michigan MI21$441−30%$217 – $666
Indiana IN36$433−31%$274 – $616
New York NY54$414−34%$211 – $983
North Carolina NC33$386−39%$296 – $656
Oklahoma OK18$363−43%$90 – $506
Louisiana LA15$328−48%$93 – $406
Iowa IA17$294−53%$102 – $628
Pennsylvania PA53$276−56%$152 – $2,707
Tennessee TN25$263−58%$232 – $527
Alabama AL11$241−62%$139 – $648
New Jersey NJ27$237−62%$197 – $950
Mississippi MS18$181−71%$142 – $390
Arkansas AR9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not 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 $632.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,003$668$291 – $1,587
Children’s24$507$201 – $1,269
Critical access141$537$246 – $1,184
Ownership
For-profit204$832$307 – $3,214
Government132$503$211 – $918
Non-profit832$628$288 – $1,338
System affiliation
Part of a system1,021$666$291 – $1,552
Independent151$490$224 – $1,123

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,170
Median cash price$632
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

832 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $692 and the average of the middle 60% is $729; most fall between $354 and $1,228.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 832 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
$240$425$692$1,090$2,179

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($240 vs $2,179).

Of the 916 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 832 gave a usable cash price; 53 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

1,172 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (30%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,300 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,172
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here91
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 — excluded37
Hospitals that filed this code1,300

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 Lower gastrointestinal X-ray family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Radiologic Exam Small Int 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, “X-ray of the small intestine through a feeding tube (CPT 74251) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74251-x-ray-of-the-small-intestine-through-a-feeding-tube