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

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of a lesion, each added lesion

CPT 76979the billing code this page is about

Billed once for each additional lesion studied with microbubble contrast ultrasound during the same session, in addition to the first lesion.

Hospitals typically charge $337 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 399 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $367. Most fall between $134 and $671 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
399
States
40
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 399 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
$75$155$337$666$1,158

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 15× what the cheapest tenth charges ($75 vs $1,158).

How the prices are spread

$52 – $75: 27 hospitals$52$75 – $109: 23 hospitals$109 – $157: 33 hospitals$109$157 – $226: 40 hospitals$226 – $327: 53 hospitals$226$327 – $471: 61 hospitals$471 – $680: 77 hospitals$471$680 – $980: 20 hospitals$980 – $1,414: 13 hospitals$980$1,414 – $2,040: 14 hospitals$1,414median $337price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (361 of 399 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$52$7527
$75$10923
$109$15733
$157$22640
$226$32753
$327$47161
$471$68077
$680$98020
$980$1,41413
$1,414$2,04014

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $337.

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 $237 across 10 hospitalsWA$237Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: median $163 across 10 hospitalsMN$163Illinois: median $585 across 24 hospitalsIL$585Wisconsin: median $343 across 15 hospitalsWI$343Michigan: median $219 across 10 hospitalsMI$219New York: median $468 across 19 hospitalsNY$468Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 1 hospital 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 $75 across 13 hospitalsIA$75Indiana: median $177 across 17 hospitalsIN$177Ohio: median $498 across 10 hospitalsOH$498Pennsylvania: median $73 across 27 hospitalsPA$73New Jersey: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNJConnecticut: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $666 across 38 hospitalsCA$666Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 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 $337 across 11 hospitalsMO$337Kentucky: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $304 across 25 hospitalsVA$304Maryland: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 1 hospital 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: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $598 across 16 hospitalsNC$598South Carolina: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $295 across 31 hospitalsTX$295Florida: median $465 across 37 hospitalsFL$465
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $337. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA38$666+98%$395 – $666
North Carolina NC16$598+78%$89 – $680
Illinois IL24$585+74%$109 – $4,035
Ohio OH10$498+48%$221 – $2,040
New York NY19$468+39%$102 – $615
Florida FL37$465+38%$177 – $671
Wisconsin WI15$343+2%$343 – $343
Missouri MO11$3370%$265 – $358
Virginia VA25$304−10%$146 – $434
Texas TX31$295−12%$295 – $2,047
Washington WA10$237−30%$127 – $482
Michigan MI10$219−35%$90 – $734
Indiana IN17$177−47%$153 – $277
Minnesota MN10$163−52%$137 – $175
Iowa IA13$75−78%$75 – $569
Pennsylvania PA27$73−78%$26 – $804
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $337.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care344$304$129 – $666
Children’s24$493$180 – $1,112
Critical access29$277$143 – $712
Ownership
For-profit21$302$295 – $734
Government42$302$85 – $666
Non-profit334$337$137 – $666
System affiliation
Part of a system357$302$131 – $666
Independent42$404$216 – $780

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$585
Median cash price$337
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

325 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $337 and the average of the middle 60% is $370; most fall between $143 and $666.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 325 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
$85$170$337$574$804

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($85 vs $804).

Of the 371 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 325 gave a usable cash price; 28 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 18 a list price only.

How complete is this

399 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (10%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 465 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted399
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here27
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 — excluded39
Hospitals that filed this code465

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 Ultrasound Trgt Dynamic Microbubble Ea Addl Les|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, each added lesion (CPT 76979) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76979-contrast-enhanced-ultrasound-of-a-lesion-each-added-lesion