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Procedure price report · Lower gastrointestinal X-ray

Barium and air enema X-ray of the colon

CPT 74280the billing code this page is about

X-ray examination of the large intestine using both barium and air introduced through the rectum to outline the bowel lining in more detail.

Hospitals typically charge $748 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,823 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $772. Most fall between $379 and $1,353 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,823
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 2,823 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
$260$437$748$1,186$2,003

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($260 vs $2,003).

How the prices are spread

$197 – $258: 140 hospitals$197$258 – $337: 171 hospitals$337 – $441: 260 hospitals$337$441 – $577: 316 hospitals$577 – $755: 393 hospitals$577$755 – $987: 475 hospitals$987 – $1,291: 327 hospitals$987$1,291 – $1,689: 223 hospitals$1,689 – $2,209: 149 hospitals$1,689$2,209 – $2,890: 87 hospitals$2,209median $748price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,541 of 2,823 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$197$258140
$258$337171
$337$441260
$441$577316
$577$755393
$755$987475
$987$1,291327
$1,291$1,689223
$1,689$2,209149
$2,209$2,89087

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$748
Cash as a multiple of Medicare4.2×

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 $748.

Alaska: median $1,211 across 14 hospitalsAK$1,211Maine: median $496 across 22 hospitalsME$496Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $929 across 16 hospitalsNH$929Washington: median $823 across 56 hospitalsWA$823Idaho: median $589 across 19 hospitalsID$589Montana: median $623 across 11 hospitalsMT$623North Dakota: median $749 across 15 hospitalsND$749Minnesota: median $344 across 57 hospitalsMN$344Illinois: median $1,047 across 108 hospitalsIL$1,047Wisconsin: median $615 across 95 hospitalsWI$615Michigan: median $562 across 77 hospitalsMI$562New York: median $479 across 90 hospitalsNY$479Massachusetts: median $960 across 39 hospitalsMA$960Oregon: median $651 across 40 hospitalsOR$651Nevada: median $882 across 17 hospitalsNV$882Wyoming: median $713 across 12 hospitalsWY$713South Dakota: median $1,421 across 17 hospitalsSD$1,421Iowa: median $570 across 55 hospitalsIA$570Indiana: median $699 across 85 hospitalsIN$699Ohio: median $798 across 139 hospitalsOH$798Pennsylvania: median $652 across 117 hospitalsPA$652New Jersey: median $245 across 57 hospitalsNJ$245Connecticut: median $678 across 18 hospitalsCT$678Rhode Island: median $490 across 10 hospitalsRI$490California: median $1,070 across 203 hospitalsCA$1,070Utah: median $971 across 34 hospitalsUT$971Colorado: median $745 across 54 hospitalsCO$745Nebraska: median $842 across 42 hospitalsNE$842Missouri: median $618 across 69 hospitalsMO$618Kentucky: median $715 across 58 hospitalsKY$715West Virginia: median $602 across 33 hospitalsWV$602Virginia: median $655 across 63 hospitalsVA$655Maryland: median $1,429 across 37 hospitalsMD$1,429Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $564 across 48 hospitalsAZ$564New Mexico: median $819 across 26 hospitalsNM$819Kansas: median $1,048 across 52 hospitalsKS$1,048Arkansas: median $227 across 26 hospitalsAR$227Tennessee: median $388 across 72 hospitalsTN$388North Carolina: median $702 across 87 hospitalsNC$702South Carolina: median $931 across 48 hospitalsSC$931Oklahoma: median $573 across 51 hospitalsOK$573Louisiana: median $330 across 49 hospitalsLA$330Mississippi: median $341 across 45 hospitalsMS$341Alabama: median $600 across 40 hospitalsAL$600Georgia: median $645 across 93 hospitalsGA$645Hawaii: median $544 across 16 hospitalsHI$544Texas: median $786 across 213 hospitalsTX$786Florida: median $1,355 across 164 hospitalsFL$1,355
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $748. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD37$1,429+91%$981 – $1,748
South Dakota SD17$1,421+90%$1,122 – $1,550
Florida FL164$1,355+81%$690 – $4,630
Alaska AK14$1,211+62%$814 – $1,781
California CA203$1,070+43%$469 – $1,887
Kansas KS52$1,048+40%$538 – $1,526
Illinois IL108$1,047+40%$531 – $1,432
Utah UT34$971+30%$802 – $971
Massachusetts MA39$960+28%$466 – $1,377
South Carolina SC48$931+25%$703 – $1,180
New Hampshire NH16$929+24%$710 – $1,869
Nevada NV17$882+18%$418 – $3,571
Nebraska NE42$842+13%$587 – $1,170
Washington WA56$823+10%$518 – $1,146
New Mexico NM26$819+10%$653 – $1,140
Ohio OH139$798+7%$503 – $1,015
Texas TX213$786+5%$472 – $2,433
North Dakota ND15$7490%$552 – $856
Colorado CO54$7450%$380 – $1,100
Kentucky KY58$715−4%$481 – $1,243
Wyoming WY12$713−5%$491 – $1,034
North Carolina NC87$702−6%$481 – $874
Indiana IN85$699−7%$416 – $887
Connecticut CT18$678−9%$474 – $828
Virginia VA63$655−12%$468 – $1,658
Pennsylvania PA117$652−13%$237 – $1,293
Oregon OR40$651−13%$392 – $1,068
Georgia GA93$645−14%$306 – $1,445
Montana MT11$623−17%$482 – $910
Missouri MO69$618−17%$447 – $1,105
Wisconsin WI95$615−18%$296 – $989
West Virginia WV33$602−20%$496 – $954
Alabama AL40$600−20%$252 – $1,425
Idaho ID19$589−21%$473 – $971
Oklahoma OK51$573−23%$363 – $1,017
Iowa IA55$570−24%$426 – $748
Arizona AZ48$564−25%$272 – $1,975
Michigan MI77$562−25%$351 – $989
Hawaii HI16$544−27%$514 – $777
Maine ME22$496−34%$216 – $1,730
Rhode Island RI10$490−34%$177 – $562
New York NY90$479−36%$219 – $1,260
Tennessee TN72$388−48%$182 – $830
Minnesota MN57$344−54%$229 – $899
Mississippi MS45$341−54%$264 – $460
Louisiana LA49$330−56%$198 – $576
New Jersey NJ57$245−67%$197 – $641
Arkansas AR26$227−70%$189 – $646
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $748.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,204$767$371 – $1,390
Children’s45$899$486 – $1,448
Critical access564$719$406 – $1,146
Ownership
For-profit427$1,070$473 – $3,222
Government428$645$344 – $1,087
Non-profit1,958$737$371 – $1,253
System affiliation
Part of a system2,350$768$381 – $1,363
Independent473$690$367 – $1,236

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,295
Median cash price$748
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

1,996 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $786 and the average of the middle 60% is $798; most fall between $421 and $1,289.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,996 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
$293$491$786$1,168$1,738

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($293 vs $1,738).

Of the 2,205 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,996 gave a usable cash price; 112 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 97 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,823 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (71%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,112 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,823
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here181
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 — excluded107
Hospitals that filed this code3,112

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 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, “Barium and air enema X-ray of the colon (CPT 74280) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-74280-barium-and-air-enema-x-ray-of-the-colon