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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic ultrasound or optical coherence tomography (OCT)

Complete ultrasound of an arm or leg joint or soft tissue

CPT 76881the billing code this page is about

Full ultrasound examination of all soft tissue structures of one arm or leg region, not including blood vessel flow studies.

Hospitals typically charge $472 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,844 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $473. Most fall between $206 and $823 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,844
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 2,844 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
$131$247$472$725$1,217

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($131 vs $1,217).

How the prices are spread

$104 – $137: 158 hospitals$104$137 – $180: 159 hospitals$180 – $237: 220 hospitals$180$237 – $312: 236 hospitals$312 – $411: 315 hospitals$312$411 – $541: 466 hospitals$541 – $712: 425 hospitals$541$712 – $937: 275 hospitals$937 – $1,233: 172 hospitals$937$1,233 – $1,623: 135 hospitals$1,233median $472price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,561 of 2,844 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$104$137158
$137$180159
$180$237220
$237$312236
$312$411315
$411$541466
$541$712425
$712$937275
$937$1,233172
$1,233$1,623135

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$472
Cash as a multiple of Medicare4.4×

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 $472.

Alaska: median $626 across 16 hospitalsAK$626Maine: median $207 across 25 hospitalsME$207Vermont: median $654 across 12 hospitalsVT$654New Hampshire: median $387 across 20 hospitalsNH$387Washington: median $421 across 57 hospitalsWA$421Idaho: median $441 across 22 hospitalsID$441Montana: median $430 across 15 hospitalsMT$430North Dakota: median $410 across 17 hospitalsND$410Minnesota: median $398 across 65 hospitalsMN$398Illinois: median $588 across 110 hospitalsIL$588Wisconsin: median $375 across 100 hospitalsWI$375Michigan: median $549 across 74 hospitalsMI$549New York: median $312 across 110 hospitalsNY$312Massachusetts: median $465 across 44 hospitalsMA$465Oregon: median $491 across 42 hospitalsOR$491Nevada: median $486 across 18 hospitalsNV$486Wyoming: median $362 across 12 hospitalsWY$362South Dakota: median $623 across 24 hospitalsSD$623Iowa: median $392 across 62 hospitalsIA$392Indiana: median $335 across 75 hospitalsIN$335Ohio: median $514 across 122 hospitalsOH$514Pennsylvania: median $394 across 106 hospitalsPA$394New Jersey: median $142 across 45 hospitalsNJ$142Connecticut: median $253 across 21 hospitalsCT$253Rhode Island: median $177 across 10 hospitalsRI$177California: median $758 across 182 hospitalsCA$758Utah: median $597 across 40 hospitalsUT$597Colorado: median $479 across 61 hospitalsCO$479Nebraska: median $603 across 57 hospitalsNE$603Missouri: median $437 across 65 hospitalsMO$437Kentucky: median $394 across 58 hospitalsKY$394West Virginia: median $269 across 34 hospitalsWV$269Virginia: median $628 across 64 hospitalsVA$628Maryland: median $800 across 36 hospitalsMD$800Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $360 across 49 hospitalsAZ$360New Mexico: median $383 across 27 hospitalsNM$383Kansas: median $326 across 69 hospitalsKS$326Arkansas: median $156 across 20 hospitalsAR$156Tennessee: median $236 across 58 hospitalsTN$236North Carolina: median $423 across 80 hospitalsNC$423South Carolina: median $727 across 50 hospitalsSC$727Oklahoma: median $321 across 56 hospitalsOK$321Louisiana: median $203 across 47 hospitalsLA$203Mississippi: median $183 across 37 hospitalsMS$183Alabama: median $249 across 37 hospitalsAL$249Georgia: median $494 across 99 hospitalsGA$494Hawaii: median $466 across 15 hospitalsHI$466Texas: median $545 across 217 hospitalsTX$545Florida: median $890 across 156 hospitalsFL$890
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $472. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL156$890+89%$391 – $1,944
Maryland MD36$800+70%$550 – $1,024
California CA182$758+61%$433 – $1,224
South Carolina SC50$727+54%$263 – $898
Vermont VT12$654+39%$371 – $970
Virginia VA64$628+33%$353 – $784
Alaska AK16$626+33%$416 – $906
South Dakota SD24$623+32%$566 – $1,067
Nebraska NE57$603+28%$444 – $725
Utah UT40$597+27%$507 – $706
Illinois IL110$588+25%$275 – $1,237
Michigan MI74$549+16%$202 – $775
Texas TX217$545+15%$265 – $1,436
Ohio OH122$514+9%$416 – $764
Georgia GA99$494+5%$160 – $783
Oregon OR42$491+4%$176 – $528
Nevada NV18$486+3%$125 – $707
Colorado CO61$479+2%$297 – $705
Hawaii HI15$466−1%$314 – $509
Massachusetts MA44$465−1%$245 – $701
Idaho ID22$441−6%$340 – $528
Missouri MO65$437−7%$236 – $627
Montana MT15$430−9%$206 – $538
North Carolina NC80$423−10%$288 – $611
Washington WA57$421−11%$268 – $568
North Dakota ND17$410−13%$249 – $570
Minnesota MN65$398−16%$144 – $534
Kentucky KY58$394−16%$246 – $666
Pennsylvania PA106$394−16%$127 – $785
Iowa IA62$392−17%$270 – $590
New Hampshire NH20$387−18%$294 – $696
New Mexico NM27$383−19%$153 – $658
Wisconsin WI100$375−20%$202 – $695
Wyoming WY12$362−23%$283 – $761
Arizona AZ49$360−24%$156 – $945
Indiana IN75$335−29%$120 – $530
Kansas KS69$326−31%$173 – $517
Oklahoma OK56$321−32%$217 – $542
New York NY110$312−34%$124 – $635
West Virginia WV34$269−43%$118 – $482
Connecticut CT21$253−46%$163 – $399
Alabama AL37$249−47%$155 – $620
Tennessee TN58$236−50%$131 – $454
Maine ME25$207−56%$129 – $560
Louisiana LA47$203−57%$135 – $400
Mississippi MS37$183−61%$125 – $268
Rhode Island RI10$177−63%$116 – $409
Arkansas AR20$156−67%$103 – $464
New Jersey NJ45$142−70%$121 – $522
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 $472.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,077$485$204 – $919
Children’s61$589$326 – $1,024
Critical access697$427$204 – $639
Ownership
For-profit426$627$249 – $1,638
Government489$383$192 – $643
Non-profit1,920$477$206 – $780
System affiliation
Part of a system2,361$485$213 – $868
Independent483$365$190 – $678

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$748
Median cash price$472
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

1,953 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $485 and the average of the middle 60% is $493; most fall between $233 and $806.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,953 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
$151$275$485$727$1,071

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($151 vs $1,071).

Of the 2,164 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,953 gave a usable cash price; 120 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 91 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,844 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 3,155 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,844
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here198
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 — excluded112
Hospitals that filed this code3,155

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 Other diagnostic ultrasound or optical coherence tomography (OCT) family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as US Compl Joint R-T W/Image Documentation|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, “Complete ultrasound of an arm or leg joint or soft tissue (CPT 76881) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76881-complete-ultrasound-of-an-arm-or-leg-joint-or-soft-tissue