HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

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

Ultrasound stiffness scan of an organ

CPT 76981the billing code this page is about

Ultrasound elastography that measures the stiffness of the tissue of an organ such as the liver, covering the whole organ rather than a single lesion.

Hospitals typically charge $287 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,589 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $313. Most fall between $146 and $580 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,589
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2024 – 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 1,589 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
$107$163$287$482$870

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($107 vs $870).

How the prices are spread

$85 – $110: 87 hospitals$85$110 – $141: 132 hospitals$141 – $182: 142 hospitals$141$182 – $234: 196 hospitals$234 – $301: 175 hospitals$234$301 – $388: 196 hospitals$388 – $499: 197 hospitals$388$499 – $642: 106 hospitals$642 – $826: 89 hospitals$642$826 – $1,062: 111 hospitals$826median $287price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,431 of 1,589 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$85$11087
$110$141132
$141$182142
$182$234196
$234$301175
$301$388196
$388$499197
$499$642106
$642$82689
$826$1,062111

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$287
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.7×

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 $287.

Alaska: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $232 across 13 hospitalsME$232Vermont: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $262 across 41 hospitalsWA$262Idaho: median $426 across 12 hospitalsID$426Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $239 across 29 hospitalsMN$239Illinois: median $352 across 61 hospitalsIL$352Wisconsin: median $346 across 61 hospitalsWI$346Michigan: median $301 across 55 hospitalsMI$301New York: median $210 across 61 hospitalsNY$210Massachusetts: median $362 across 30 hospitalsMA$362Oregon: median $286 across 29 hospitalsOR$286Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $120 across 21 hospitalsIA$120Indiana: median $218 across 62 hospitalsIN$218Ohio: median $393 across 93 hospitalsOH$393Pennsylvania: median $200 across 84 hospitalsPA$200New Jersey: median $135 across 44 hospitalsNJ$135Connecticut: median $245 across 14 hospitalsCT$245Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $426 across 85 hospitalsCA$426Utah: median $914 across 25 hospitalsUT$914Colorado: median $243 across 35 hospitalsCO$243Nebraska: median $120 across 14 hospitalsNE$120Missouri: median $318 across 30 hospitalsMO$318Kentucky: median $261 across 34 hospitalsKY$261West Virginia: median $187 across 16 hospitalsWV$187Virginia: median $332 across 52 hospitalsVA$332Maryland: median $784 across 15 hospitalsMD$784Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $153 across 15 hospitalsAZ$153New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $279 across 12 hospitalsKS$279Arkansas: median $75 across 14 hospitalsAR$75Tennessee: median $111 across 35 hospitalsTN$111North Carolina: median $262 across 42 hospitalsNC$262South Carolina: median $358 across 39 hospitalsSC$358Oklahoma: median $217 across 29 hospitalsOK$217Louisiana: median $207 across 29 hospitalsLA$207Mississippi: median $94 across 19 hospitalsMS$94Alabama: median $250 across 18 hospitalsAL$250Georgia: median $570 across 52 hospitalsGA$570Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $399 across 116 hospitalsTX$399Florida: median $381 across 86 hospitalsFL$381
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $287. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT25$914+219%$914 – $1,076
Maryland MD15$784+174%$643 – $993
Georgia GA52$570+99%$98 – $669
Idaho ID12$426+49%$272 – $441
California CA85$426+48%$226 – $771
Texas TX116$399+39%$232 – $840
Ohio OH93$393+37%$235 – $539
Florida FL86$381+33%$221 – $873
Massachusetts MA30$362+26%$162 – $678
South Carolina SC39$358+25%$199 – $403
Illinois IL61$352+23%$150 – $506
Wisconsin WI61$346+21%$147 – $388
Virginia VA52$332+16%$215 – $455
Missouri MO30$318+11%$157 – $574
Michigan MI55$301+5%$147 – $689
Oregon OR29$2860%$158 – $603
Kansas KS12$279−3%$165 – $410
North Carolina NC42$262−9%$159 – $293
Washington WA41$262−9%$190 – $495
Kentucky KY34$261−9%$127 – $943
Alabama AL18$250−13%$115 – $1,701
Connecticut CT14$245−14%$209 – $518
Colorado CO35$243−15%$140 – $387
Minnesota MN29$239−17%$161 – $406
Maine ME13$232−19%$103 – $324
Indiana IN62$218−24%$121 – $419
Oklahoma OK29$217−24%$114 – $302
New York NY61$210−27%$126 – $397
Louisiana LA29$207−28%$132 – $386
Pennsylvania PA84$200−30%$124 – $577
West Virginia WV16$187−35%$62 – $368
Arizona AZ15$153−47%$103 – $224
New Jersey NJ44$135−53%$118 – $390
Iowa IA21$120−58%$53 – $520
Nebraska NE14$120−58%$64 – $223
Tennessee TN35$111−61%$102 – $241
Mississippi MS19$94−67%$94 – $145
Arkansas AR14$75−74%$52 – $253
Alaska AK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not 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 $287.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,335$286$140 – $570
Children’s38$575$263 – $957
Critical access207$274$165 – $560
Ownership
For-profit166$299$150 – $675
Government209$276$145 – $548
Non-profit1,205$289$145 – $572
System affiliation
Part of a system1,374$300$144 – $591
Independent215$275$160 – $480

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$509
Median cash price$287
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

1,190 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $332 and the average of the middle 60% is $339; most fall between $161 and $603.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,190 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
$120$190$332$539$866

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($120 vs $866).

Of the 1,304 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,190 gave a usable cash price; 62 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 52 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,589 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (40%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,752 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,589
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here98
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 — excluded64
Hospitals that filed this code1,752

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 Elastography Parenchyma|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, “Ultrasound stiffness scan of an organ (CPT 76981) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-76981-ultrasound-stiffness-scan-of-an-organ