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

Ultrasound guidance for placing an IV or central line

CPT 76937the billing code this page is about

Real-time ultrasound imaging used to find and enter a vein or artery while a catheter is placed, including a picture saved to the record; billed in addition to the catheter placement itself.

Hospitals typically charge $297 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,842 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $325. Most fall between $104 and $664 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,842
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 2,842 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
$62$128$297$593$1,019

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $1,019).

How the prices are spread

$39 – $56: 107 hospitals$39$56 – $81: 137 hospitals$81 – $116: 241 hospitals$81$116 – $168: 265 hospitals$168 – $243: 314 hospitals$168$243 – $351: 414 hospitals$351 – $507: 375 hospitals$351$507 – $732: 344 hospitals$732 – $1,058: 239 hospitals$732$1,058 – $1,528: 122 hospitals$1,058median $297price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,558 of 2,842 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$39$56107
$56$81137
$81$116241
$116$168265
$168$243314
$243$351414
$351$507375
$507$732344
$732$1,058239
$1,058$1,528122

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $297.

Alaska: median $722 across 13 hospitalsAK$722Maine: median $71 across 22 hospitalsME$71Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $261 across 16 hospitalsNH$261Washington: median $244 across 63 hospitalsWA$244Idaho: median $403 across 18 hospitalsID$403Montana: median $101 across 15 hospitalsMT$101North Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $391 across 86 hospitalsMN$391Illinois: median $372 across 113 hospitalsIL$372Wisconsin: median $192 across 104 hospitalsWI$192Michigan: median $135 across 76 hospitalsMI$135New York: median $136 across 91 hospitalsNY$136Massachusetts: median $239 across 51 hospitalsMA$239Oregon: median $139 across 44 hospitalsOR$139Nevada: median $294 across 15 hospitalsNV$294Wyoming: median $147 across 12 hospitalsWY$147South Dakota: median $521 across 20 hospitalsSD$521Iowa: median $287 across 57 hospitalsIA$287Indiana: median $244 across 85 hospitalsIN$244Ohio: median $260 across 134 hospitalsOH$260Pennsylvania: median $190 across 101 hospitalsPA$190New Jersey: median $138 across 43 hospitalsNJ$138Connecticut: median $74 across 22 hospitalsCT$74Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $660 across 197 hospitalsCA$660Utah: median $237 across 36 hospitalsUT$237Colorado: median $528 across 60 hospitalsCO$528Nebraska: median $503 across 56 hospitalsNE$503Missouri: median $287 across 63 hospitalsMO$287Kentucky: median $411 across 52 hospitalsKY$411West Virginia: median $93 across 35 hospitalsWV$93Virginia: median $308 across 65 hospitalsVA$308Maryland: median $94 across 28 hospitalsMD$94Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $266 across 47 hospitalsAZ$266New Mexico: median $83 across 27 hospitalsNM$83Kansas: median $144 across 61 hospitalsKS$144Arkansas: median $148 across 27 hospitalsAR$148Tennessee: median $211 across 69 hospitalsTN$211North Carolina: median $346 across 90 hospitalsNC$346South Carolina: median $464 across 46 hospitalsSC$464Oklahoma: median $172 across 44 hospitalsOK$172Louisiana: median $243 across 45 hospitalsLA$243Mississippi: median $193 across 44 hospitalsMS$193Alabama: median $306 across 33 hospitalsAL$306Georgia: median $313 across 92 hospitalsGA$313Hawaii: median $179 across 17 hospitalsHI$179Texas: median $606 across 211 hospitalsTX$606Florida: median $757 across 163 hospitalsFL$757
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $297. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL163$757+154%$283 – $2,235
Alaska AK13$722+143%$154 – $1,236
California CA197$660+122%$219 – $1,245
Texas TX211$606+104%$282 – $1,181
Colorado CO60$528+77%$232 – $1,008
South Dakota SD20$521+75%$105 – $839
Nebraska NE56$503+69%$131 – $713
South Carolina SC46$464+56%$315 – $641
Kentucky KY52$411+38%$126 – $875
Idaho ID18$403+36%$221 – $716
Minnesota MN86$391+32%$101 – $519
Illinois IL113$372+25%$134 – $783
North Carolina NC90$346+16%$136 – $512
Georgia GA92$313+5%$238 – $761
Virginia VA65$308+3%$102 – $865
Alabama AL33$306+3%$117 – $528
Nevada NV15$294−1%$166 – $686
Iowa IA57$287−4%$55 – $426
Missouri MO63$287−4%$123 – $468
Arizona AZ47$266−11%$105 – $959
New Hampshire NH16$261−12%$126 – $596
Ohio OH134$260−13%$173 – $512
Washington WA63$244−18%$71 – $450
Indiana IN85$244−18%$107 – $454
Louisiana LA45$243−18%$42 – $350
Massachusetts MA51$239−20%$89 – $430
Utah UT36$237−20%$221 – $344
Tennessee TN69$211−29%$99 – $489
Mississippi MS44$193−35%$98 – $316
Wisconsin WI104$192−35%$122 – $423
Pennsylvania PA101$190−36%$79 – $504
Hawaii HI17$179−40%$69 – $334
Oklahoma OK44$172−42%$92 – $478
Arkansas AR27$148−50%$93 – $303
Wyoming WY12$147−51%$86 – $290
Kansas KS61$144−51%$55 – $331
Oregon OR44$139−53%$62 – $403
New Jersey NJ43$138−54%$98 – $544
New York NY91$136−54%$62 – $305
Michigan MI76$135−55%$52 – $292
Montana MT15$101−66%$44 – $210
Maryland MD28$94−68%$70 – $126
West Virginia WV35$93−69%$38 – $336
New Mexico NM27$83−72%$30 – $357
Connecticut CT22$74−75%$54 – $361
Maine ME22$71−76%$34 – $225
North Dakota ND9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT9not 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 $297.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,138$325$122 – $745
Children’s63$370$125 – $875
Critical access631$192$69 – $464
Ownership
For-profit415$505$193 – $1,450
Government446$258$82 – $528
Non-profit1,971$275$102 – $632
System affiliation
Part of a system2,369$315$116 – $714
Independent473$200$70 – $529

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$532
Median cash price$297
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

2,039 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $313 and the average of the middle 60% is $342; most fall between $112 and $660.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,039 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
$70$143$313$606$970

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($70 vs $970).

Of the 2,288 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,039 gave a usable cash price; 134 carried a plausibility flag, 2 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 113 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,842 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 3,244 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,842
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here219
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded179
Hospitals that filed this code3,244

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 September 4, 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 Vasc Access Sits Vsl Patency Ndl Entry.

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 guidance for placing an IV or central line (CPT 76937) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76937-ultrasound-guidance-for-placing-an-iv-or-central-line