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Procedure price report · Lower gastrointestinal X-ray

Barium enema X-ray of the colon

CPT 74270the billing code this page is about

X-ray examination of the large intestine after barium contrast is placed through the rectum, with or without an added plain abdominal image.

Hospitals typically charge $581 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,914 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $615. Most fall between $308 and $1,066 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,914
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 2,914 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
$217$354$581$951$1,569

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($217 vs $1,569).

How the prices are spread

$176 – $227: 188 hospitals$176$227 – $294: 210 hospitals$294 – $379: 284 hospitals$294$379 – $490: 349 hospitals$490 – $633: 399 hospitals$490$633 – $818: 418 hospitals$818 – $1,057: 330 hospitals$818$1,057 – $1,366: 232 hospitals$1,366 – $1,764: 130 hospitals$1,366$1,764 – $2,279: 86 hospitals$1,764median $581price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,626 of 2,914 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$176$227188
$227$294210
$294$379284
$379$490349
$490$633399
$633$818418
$818$1,057330
$1,057$1,366232
$1,366$1,764130
$1,764$2,27986

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$581
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.2×

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 $581.

Alaska: median $1,047 across 13 hospitalsAK$1,047Maine: median $323 across 23 hospitalsME$323Vermont: median $1,225 across 11 hospitalsVT$1,225New Hampshire: median $659 across 18 hospitalsNH$659Washington: median $696 across 58 hospitalsWA$696Idaho: median $550 across 19 hospitalsID$550Montana: median $481 across 11 hospitalsMT$481North Dakota: median $578 across 17 hospitalsND$578Minnesota: median $375 across 65 hospitalsMN$375Illinois: median $767 across 113 hospitalsIL$767Wisconsin: median $473 across 99 hospitalsWI$473Michigan: median $378 across 81 hospitalsMI$378New York: median $432 across 93 hospitalsNY$432Massachusetts: median $775 across 50 hospitalsMA$775Oregon: median $568 across 42 hospitalsOR$568Nevada: median $657 across 17 hospitalsNV$657Wyoming: median $590 across 12 hospitalsWY$590South Dakota: median $1,100 across 17 hospitalsSD$1,100Iowa: median $437 across 59 hospitalsIA$437Indiana: median $516 across 88 hospitalsIN$516Ohio: median $568 across 141 hospitalsOH$568Pennsylvania: median $500 across 111 hospitalsPA$500New Jersey: median $231 across 57 hospitalsNJ$231Connecticut: median $678 across 21 hospitalsCT$678Rhode Island: median $349 across 10 hospitalsRI$349California: median $905 across 212 hospitalsCA$905Utah: median $914 across 38 hospitalsUT$914Colorado: median $647 across 57 hospitalsCO$647Nebraska: median $741 across 45 hospitalsNE$741Missouri: median $467 across 72 hospitalsMO$467Kentucky: median $578 across 56 hospitalsKY$578West Virginia: median $427 across 32 hospitalsWV$427Virginia: median $596 across 66 hospitalsVA$596Maryland: median $994 across 37 hospitalsMD$994Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $389 across 49 hospitalsAZ$389New Mexico: median $642 across 25 hospitalsNM$642Kansas: median $962 across 51 hospitalsKS$962Arkansas: median $216 across 28 hospitalsAR$216Tennessee: median $299 across 75 hospitalsTN$299North Carolina: median $566 across 89 hospitalsNC$566South Carolina: median $755 across 51 hospitalsSC$755Oklahoma: median $426 across 52 hospitalsOK$426Louisiana: median $254 across 49 hospitalsLA$254Mississippi: median $266 across 44 hospitalsMS$266Alabama: median $422 across 40 hospitalsAL$422Georgia: median $540 across 97 hospitalsGA$540Hawaii: median $574 across 16 hospitalsHI$574Texas: median $742 across 214 hospitalsTX$742Florida: median $1,184 across 167 hospitalsFL$1,184
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $581. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Vermont VT11$1,225+111%$967 – $1,635
Florida FL167$1,184+104%$602 – $4,280
South Dakota SD17$1,100+89%$858 – $1,269
Alaska AK13$1,047+80%$675 – $1,262
Maryland MD37$994+71%$682 – $1,216
Kansas KS51$962+66%$467 – $1,339
Utah UT38$914+57%$775 – $914
California CA212$905+56%$396 – $1,535
Massachusetts MA50$775+33%$426 – $1,187
Illinois IL113$767+32%$404 – $1,226
South Carolina SC51$755+30%$508 – $944
Texas TX214$742+28%$362 – $1,755
Nebraska NE45$741+28%$417 – $949
Washington WA58$696+20%$468 – $1,006
Connecticut CT21$678+17%$474 – $714
New Hampshire NH18$659+14%$520 – $1,761
Nevada NV17$657+13%$471 – $2,342
Colorado CO57$647+11%$319 – $998
New Mexico NM25$642+10%$497 – $923
Virginia VA66$596+3%$391 – $1,242
Wyoming WY12$590+2%$477 – $926
North Dakota ND17$578−1%$444 – $873
Kentucky KY56$578−1%$334 – $1,019
Hawaii HI16$574−1%$509 – $690
Ohio OH141$568−2%$396 – $798
Oregon OR42$568−2%$335 – $826
North Carolina NC89$566−3%$363 – $650
Idaho ID19$550−5%$323 – $703
Georgia GA97$540−7%$227 – $1,077
Indiana IN88$516−11%$337 – $679
Pennsylvania PA111$500−14%$280 – $954
Montana MT11$481−17%$378 – $623
Wisconsin WI99$473−19%$271 – $757
Missouri MO72$467−20%$360 – $934
Iowa IA59$437−25%$324 – $628
New York NY93$432−26%$211 – $1,006
West Virginia WV32$427−27%$386 – $705
Oklahoma OK52$426−27%$288 – $673
Alabama AL40$422−27%$252 – $754
Arizona AZ49$389−33%$234 – $1,921
Michigan MI81$378−35%$259 – $700
Minnesota MN65$375−35%$243 – $603
Rhode Island RI10$349−40%$177 – $497
Maine ME23$323−44%$173 – $1,066
Tennessee TN75$299−48%$159 – $645
Mississippi MS44$266−54%$206 – $383
Louisiana LA49$254−56%$141 – $502
New Jersey NJ57$231−60%$197 – $641
Arkansas AR28$216−63%$180 – $466
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 $581.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,264$589$298 – $1,119
Children’s64$663$444 – $1,310
Critical access576$568$329 – $904
Ownership
For-profit443$864$373 – $2,749
Government439$506$271 – $826
Non-profit2,022$574$307 – $998
System affiliation
Part of a system2,429$585$313 – $1,084
Independent485$548$288 – $993

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,023
Median cash price$581
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

2,047 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $618 and the average of the middle 60% is $632; most fall between $337 and $1,006.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,047 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
$248$375$618$914$1,310

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($248 vs $1,310).

Of the 2,256 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,047 gave a usable cash price; 109 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 100 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,914 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (74%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,206 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,914
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here182
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 — excluded109
Hospitals that filed this code3,206

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 Colon 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 enema X-ray of the colon (CPT 74270) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74270-barium-enema-x-ray-of-the-colon