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

Ultrasound guidance for needle placement

CPT 76942the billing code this page is about

Ultrasound imaging used in real time to guide a needle for a biopsy, fluid drainage, or injection, including a saved image; billed in addition to the needle procedure itself.

Hospitals typically charge $508 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,109 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $524. Most fall between $175 and $954 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,109
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 3,109 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
$102$230$508$870$1,418

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($102 vs $1,418).

How the prices are spread

$66 – $94: 122 hospitals$66$94 – $133: 206 hospitals$133 – $190: 187 hospitals$133$190 – $270: 210 hospitals$270 – $384: 357 hospitals$270$384 – $546: 432 hospitals$546 – $776: 494 hospitals$546$776 – $1,104: 463 hospitals$1,104 – $1,570: 227 hospitals$1,104$1,570 – $2,233: 106 hospitals$1,570median $508price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,804 of 3,109 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$66$94122
$94$133206
$133$190187
$190$270210
$270$384357
$384$546432
$546$776494
$776$1,104463
$1,104$1,570227
$1,570$2,233106

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $508.

Alaska: median $790 across 17 hospitalsAK$790Maine: median $285 across 24 hospitalsME$285Vermont: median $434 across 10 hospitalsVT$434New Hampshire: median $421 across 22 hospitalsNH$421Washington: median $532 across 69 hospitalsWA$532Idaho: median $564 across 21 hospitalsID$564Montana: median $190 across 16 hospitalsMT$190North Dakota: median $462 across 21 hospitalsND$462Minnesota: median $476 across 97 hospitalsMN$476Illinois: median $633 across 120 hospitalsIL$633Wisconsin: median $374 across 107 hospitalsWI$374Michigan: median $339 across 84 hospitalsMI$339New York: median $315 across 101 hospitalsNY$315Massachusetts: median $331 across 52 hospitalsMA$331Oregon: median $170 across 46 hospitalsOR$170Nevada: median $650 across 16 hospitalsNV$650Wyoming: median $195 across 13 hospitalsWY$195South Dakota: median $775 across 24 hospitalsSD$775Iowa: median $440 across 83 hospitalsIA$440Indiana: median $315 across 93 hospitalsIN$315Ohio: median $599 across 135 hospitalsOH$599Pennsylvania: median $526 across 102 hospitalsPA$526New Jersey: median $271 across 44 hospitalsNJ$271Connecticut: median $173 across 22 hospitalsCT$173Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $962 across 204 hospitalsCA$962Utah: median $832 across 41 hospitalsUT$832Colorado: median $473 across 64 hospitalsCO$473Nebraska: median $653 across 75 hospitalsNE$653Missouri: median $524 across 68 hospitalsMO$524Kentucky: median $538 across 63 hospitalsKY$538West Virginia: median $286 across 35 hospitalsWV$286Virginia: median $488 across 69 hospitalsVA$488Maryland: median $100 across 35 hospitalsMD$100Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $482 across 52 hospitalsAZ$482New Mexico: median $486 across 28 hospitalsNM$486Kansas: median $250 across 78 hospitalsKS$250Arkansas: median $149 across 29 hospitalsAR$149Tennessee: median $306 across 74 hospitalsTN$306North Carolina: median $520 across 95 hospitalsNC$520South Carolina: median $884 across 48 hospitalsSC$884Oklahoma: median $433 across 56 hospitalsOK$433Louisiana: median $313 across 50 hospitalsLA$313Mississippi: median $283 across 43 hospitalsMS$283Alabama: median $332 across 37 hospitalsAL$332Georgia: median $572 across 102 hospitalsGA$572Hawaii: median $363 across 17 hospitalsHI$363Texas: median $840 across 228 hospitalsTX$840Florida: median $953 across 164 hospitalsFL$953
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $508. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA204$962+89%$357 – $1,509
Florida FL164$953+88%$314 – $2,945
South Carolina SC48$884+74%$367 – $1,003
Texas TX228$840+65%$404 – $1,512
Utah UT41$832+64%$603 – $979
Alaska AK17$790+56%$438 – $1,467
South Dakota SD24$775+52%$105 – $1,116
Nebraska NE75$653+29%$268 – $832
Nevada NV16$650+28%$341 – $1,143
Illinois IL120$633+25%$226 – $1,173
Ohio OH135$599+18%$296 – $949
Georgia GA102$572+13%$308 – $948
Idaho ID21$564+11%$132 – $905
Kentucky KY63$538+6%$231 – $979
Washington WA69$532+5%$176 – $926
Pennsylvania PA102$526+4%$178 – $1,121
Missouri MO68$524+3%$148 – $770
North Carolina NC95$520+2%$415 – $857
Virginia VA69$488−4%$353 – $1,175
New Mexico NM28$486−4%$152 – $856
Arizona AZ52$482−5%$270 – $1,026
Minnesota MN97$476−6%$174 – $646
Colorado CO64$473−7%$284 – $741
North Dakota ND21$462−9%$135 – $799
Iowa IA83$440−13%$158 – $650
Vermont VT10$434−15%$117 – $861
Oklahoma OK56$433−15%$259 – $687
New Hampshire NH22$421−17%$292 – $551
Wisconsin WI107$374−26%$280 – $751
Hawaii HI17$363−28%$130 – $544
Michigan MI84$339−33%$162 – $567
Alabama AL37$332−35%$120 – $866
Massachusetts MA52$331−35%$125 – $701
New York NY101$315−38%$108 – $1,065
Indiana IN93$315−38%$107 – $552
Louisiana LA50$313−38%$105 – $580
Tennessee TN74$306−40%$126 – $557
West Virginia WV35$286−44%$88 – $553
Maine ME24$285−44%$104 – $760
Mississippi MS43$283−44%$144 – $390
New Jersey NJ44$271−47%$179 – $900
Kansas KS78$250−51%$106 – $451
Wyoming WY13$195−62%$111 – $510
Montana MT16$190−63%$100 – $519
Connecticut CT22$173−66%$112 – $768
Oregon OR46$170−66%$88 – $595
Arkansas AR29$149−71%$132 – $329
Maryland MD35$100−80%$70 – $143
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 $508.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,240$542$211 – $1,068
Children’s67$491$145 – $1,045
Critical access792$386$134 – $766
Ownership
For-profit448$819$311 – $2,340
Government541$368$129 – $723
Non-profit2,110$506$174 – $930
System affiliation
Part of a system2,561$535$205 – $989
Independent548$353$120 – $697

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$847
Median cash price$508
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

2,178 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $557 and the average of the middle 60% is $567; most fall between $227 and $967.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,178 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
$111$285$557$904$1,301

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($111 vs $1,301).

Of the 2,451 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,178 gave a usable cash price; 151 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 121 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,109 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (79%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,544 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,109
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here242
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded191
Hospitals that filed this code3,544

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 Guidance Needle Placement Img S&I|TECHNICAL 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, “Ultrasound guidance for needle placement (CPT 76942) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76942-ultrasound-guidance-for-needle-placement