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

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of a lesion, first lesion

CPT 76978the billing code this page is about

Ultrasound using an injected microbubble contrast agent to study blood flow within a specific lesion outside the heart; covers the first lesion examined.

Hospitals typically charge $489 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 555 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $507. Most fall between $238 and $914 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
555
States
43
Filings dated
Oct 2025 – 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 555 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
$185$285$489$767$1,408

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($185 vs $1,408).

How the prices are spread

$127 – $169: 25 hospitals$127$169 – $224: 44 hospitals$224 – $298: 48 hospitals$224$298 – $395: 68 hospitals$395 – $524: 76 hospitals$395$524 – $695: 112 hospitals$695 – $922: 45 hospitals$695$922 – $1,224: 31 hospitals$1,224 – $1,624: 38 hospitals$1,224$1,624 – $2,155: 15 hospitals$1,624median $489price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (502 of 555 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$127$16925
$169$22444
$224$29848
$298$39568
$395$52476
$524$695112
$695$92245
$922$1,22431
$1,224$1,62438
$1,624$2,15515

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$356
Median cash price$489
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.37×

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 $489.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $473 across 13 hospitalsWA$473Idaho: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: median $333 across 12 hospitalsMN$333Illinois: median $1,168 across 24 hospitalsIL$1,168Wisconsin: median $685 across 15 hospitalsWI$685Michigan: median $480 across 10 hospitalsMI$480New York: median $356 across 35 hospitalsNY$356Massachusetts: median $745 across 12 hospitalsMA$745Oregon: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $142 across 13 hospitalsIA$142Indiana: median $258 across 18 hospitalsIN$258Ohio: median $303 across 20 hospitalsOH$303Pennsylvania: median $402 across 37 hospitalsPA$402New Jersey: median $197 across 13 hospitalsNJ$197Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $644 across 41 hospitalsCA$644Utah: median $489 across 24 hospitalsUT$489Colorado: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $439 across 11 hospitalsMO$439Kentucky: median $943 across 12 hospitalsKY$943West Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $678 across 25 hospitalsVA$678Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $598 across 18 hospitalsNC$598South Carolina: median $256 across 11 hospitalsSC$256Oklahoma: median $439 across 10 hospitalsOK$439Louisiana: median $164 across 12 hospitalsLA$164Mississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $623 across 55 hospitalsTX$623Florida: median $725 across 46 hospitalsFL$725
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $489. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Illinois IL24$1,168+139%$325 – $3,213
Kentucky KY12$943+93%$373 – $943
Massachusetts MA12$745+52%$334 – $1,623
Florida FL46$725+48%$354 – $1,253
Wisconsin WI15$685+40%$685 – $685
Virginia VA25$678+39%$238 – $688
California CA41$644+32%$644 – $803
Texas TX55$623+27%$238 – $1,383
North Carolina NC18$598+22%$356 – $680
Utah UT24$4890%$489 – $575
Michigan MI10$480−2%$417 – $734
Washington WA13$473−3%$254 – $648
Missouri MO11$439−10%$439 – $666
Oklahoma OK10$439−10%$439 – $439
Pennsylvania PA37$402−18%$56 – $587
New York NY35$356−27%$211 – $731
Minnesota MN12$333−32%$249 – $333
Ohio OH20$303−38%$303 – $803
Indiana IN18$258−47%$224 – $549
South Carolina SC11$256−48%$223 – $625
New Jersey NJ13$197−60%$195 – $234
Louisiana LA12$164−67%$133 – $267
Iowa IA13$142−71%$142 – $758
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $489.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care479$485$238 – $865
Children’s28$806$303 – $1,533
Critical access45$489$238 – $1,168
Ownership
For-profit37$503$303 – $865
Government67$414$190 – $873
Non-profit448$489$238 – $943
System affiliation
Part of a system504$489$238 – $896
Independent51$518$298 – $1,007

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$905
Median cash price$489
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

419 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $575 and the average of the middle 60% is $557; most fall between $298 and $896.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 419 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
$199$333$575$767$1,342

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($199 vs $1,342).

Of the 465 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 419 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 16 a list price only.

How complete is this

555 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (14%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 605 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted555
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here29
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded21
Hospitals that filed this code605

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 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 Ultrasound Trgt Dynamic Microbubble 1st Lesion|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, “Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of a lesion, first lesion (CPT 76978) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76978-contrast-enhanced-ultrasound-of-a-lesion-first-lesion