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Procedure price report · Diagnostic ultrasound or optical coherence tomography (OCT) of head and neck

Ultrasound of the neck, including thyroid

CPT 76536the billing code this page is about

A real-time ultrasound of the soft tissues of the head and neck, such as the thyroid, parathyroid or salivary glands, with images saved.

Hospitals typically charge $510 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,335 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $518. Most fall between $250 and $860 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,335
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 3,335 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
$148$309$510$761$1,251

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($148 vs $1,251).

How the prices are spread

$110 – $145: 149 hospitals$110$145 – $191: 151 hospitals$191 – $252: 208 hospitals$191$252 – $332: 232 hospitals$332 – $437: 447 hospitals$332$437 – $577: 592 hospitals$577 – $761: 555 hospitals$577$761 – $1,004: 343 hospitals$1,004 – $1,323: 189 hospitals$1,004$1,323 – $1,745: 137 hospitals$1,323median $510price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,003 of 3,335 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$110$145149
$145$191151
$191$252208
$252$332232
$332$437447
$437$577592
$577$761555
$761$1,004343
$1,004$1,323189
$1,323$1,745137

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$510
Cash as a multiple of Medicare4.8×

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 $510.

Alaska: median $823 across 17 hospitalsAK$823Maine: median $221 across 25 hospitalsME$221Vermont: median $674 across 12 hospitalsVT$674New Hampshire: median $476 across 22 hospitalsNH$476Washington: median $440 across 69 hospitalsWA$440Idaho: median $441 across 22 hospitalsID$441Montana: median $408 across 16 hospitalsMT$408North Dakota: median $480 across 34 hospitalsND$480Minnesota: median $395 across 100 hospitalsMN$395Illinois: median $675 across 127 hospitalsIL$675Wisconsin: median $498 across 109 hospitalsWI$498Michigan: median $490 across 85 hospitalsMI$490New York: median $334 across 110 hospitalsNY$334Massachusetts: median $528 across 53 hospitalsMA$528Oregon: median $380 across 45 hospitalsOR$380Nevada: median $679 across 21 hospitalsNV$679Wyoming: median $516 across 13 hospitalsWY$516South Dakota: median $829 across 41 hospitalsSD$829Iowa: median $468 across 87 hospitalsIA$468Indiana: median $353 across 92 hospitalsIN$353Ohio: median $545 across 140 hospitalsOH$545Pennsylvania: median $405 across 113 hospitalsPA$405New Jersey: median $223 across 57 hospitalsNJ$223Connecticut: median $399 across 21 hospitalsCT$399Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $827 across 218 hospitalsCA$827Utah: median $524 across 42 hospitalsUT$524Colorado: median $529 across 65 hospitalsCO$529Nebraska: median $602 across 82 hospitalsNE$602Missouri: median $526 across 77 hospitalsMO$526Kentucky: median $624 across 67 hospitalsKY$624West Virginia: median $366 across 41 hospitalsWV$366Virginia: median $589 across 71 hospitalsVA$589Maryland: median $777 across 39 hospitalsMD$777Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $360 across 53 hospitalsAZ$360New Mexico: median $454 across 29 hospitalsNM$454Kansas: median $581 across 86 hospitalsKS$581Arkansas: median $174 across 38 hospitalsAR$174Tennessee: median $240 across 78 hospitalsTN$240North Carolina: median $545 across 95 hospitalsNC$545South Carolina: median $677 across 53 hospitalsSC$677Oklahoma: median $399 across 68 hospitalsOK$399Louisiana: median $253 across 54 hospitalsLA$253Mississippi: median $223 across 50 hospitalsMS$223Alabama: median $327 across 42 hospitalsAL$327Georgia: median $610 across 109 hospitalsGA$610Hawaii: median $397 across 18 hospitalsHI$397Texas: median $631 across 241 hospitalsTX$631Florida: median $1,115 across 173 hospitalsFL$1,115
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $510. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL173$1,115+118%$515 – $3,190
South Dakota SD41$829+62%$709 – $1,065
California CA218$827+62%$367 – $1,281
Alaska AK17$823+61%$397 – $1,044
Maryland MD39$777+52%$533 – $1,024
Nevada NV21$679+33%$321 – $972
South Carolina SC53$677+33%$316 – $950
Illinois IL127$675+32%$331 – $1,102
Vermont VT12$674+32%$130 – $1,120
Texas TX241$631+24%$355 – $1,419
Kentucky KY67$624+22%$360 – $816
Georgia GA109$610+20%$209 – $913
Nebraska NE82$602+18%$480 – $770
Virginia VA71$589+15%$375 – $946
Kansas KS86$581+14%$364 – $808
Ohio OH140$545+7%$436 – $764
North Carolina NC95$545+7%$363 – $783
Colorado CO65$529+4%$359 – $727
Massachusetts MA53$528+3%$319 – $807
Missouri MO77$526+3%$227 – $767
Utah UT42$524+3%$389 – $617
Wyoming WY13$516+1%$125 – $797
Wisconsin WI109$498−2%$209 – $695
Michigan MI85$490−4%$244 – $654
North Dakota ND34$480−6%$362 – $574
New Hampshire NH22$476−7%$374 – $1,011
Iowa IA87$468−8%$351 – $587
New Mexico NM29$454−11%$305 – $634
Idaho ID22$441−14%$370 – $532
Washington WA69$440−14%$338 – $653
Montana MT16$408−20%$251 – $540
Pennsylvania PA113$405−21%$157 – $953
Oklahoma OK68$399−22%$222 – $534
Connecticut CT21$399−22%$125 – $543
Hawaii HI18$397−22%$317 – $575
Minnesota MN100$395−23%$256 – $565
Oregon OR45$380−26%$250 – $603
West Virginia WV41$366−28%$291 – $541
Arizona AZ53$360−29%$204 – $1,215
Indiana IN92$353−31%$165 – $640
New York NY110$334−35%$126 – $708
Alabama AL42$327−36%$144 – $535
Louisiana LA54$253−50%$146 – $492
Tennessee TN78$240−53%$138 – $491
New Jersey NJ57$223−56%$125 – $571
Mississippi MS50$223−56%$138 – $380
Maine ME25$221−57%$121 – $544
Arkansas AR38$174−66%$153 – $454
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
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 $510.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,345$517$238 – $943
Children’s64$606$374 – $1,074
Critical access916$492$289 – $714
Ownership
For-profit479$665$302 – $2,013
Government608$474$221 – $703
Non-profit2,238$497$253 – $818
System affiliation
Part of a system2,741$522$268 – $886
Independent594$454$200 – $740

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$822
Median cash price$510
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,304 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $524 and the average of the middle 60% is $532; most fall between $270 and $855.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,304 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
$177$324$524$764$1,158

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($177 vs $1,158).

Of the 2,559 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,304 gave a usable cash price; 149 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 106 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,335 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (84%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,703 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,335
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here245
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 — excluded122
Hospitals that filed this code3,703

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 Diagnostic ultrasound or optical coherence tomography (OCT) of head and neck family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as US Soft Tissue Head & Neck Real Time Imge Docm.

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, “Ultrasound of the neck, including thyroid (CPT 76536) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76536-ultrasound-of-the-neck-including-thyroid