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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Bone density scan of wrist, forearm or heel

CPT 77081the billing code this page is about

Low-dose X-ray (DXA) scan measuring bone mineral density at one or more sites in the arms or legs, such as the forearm, wrist or heel.

Hospitals typically charge $187 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,261 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $202. Most fall between $98 and $371 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,261
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 2,261 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$109$187$322$493

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($70 vs $493).

How the prices are spread

$56 – $73: 134 hospitals$56$73 – $94: 161 hospitals$94 – $121: 240 hospitals$94$121 – $156: 279 hospitals$156 – $202: 291 hospitals$156$202 – $261: 273 hospitals$261 – $337: 243 hospitals$261$337 – $435: 212 hospitals$435 – $562: 139 hospitals$435$562 – $726: 63 hospitals$562median $187price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,035 of 2,261 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$56$73134
$73$94161
$94$121240
$121$156279
$156$202291
$202$261273
$261$337243
$337$435212
$435$562139
$562$72663

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$89
Median cash price$187
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.1×

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 $187.

Alaska: median $244 across 12 hospitalsAK$244Maine: median $119 across 18 hospitalsME$119Vermont: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $245 across 14 hospitalsNH$245Washington: median $165 across 44 hospitalsWA$165Idaho: median $213 across 16 hospitalsID$213Montana: median $144 across 12 hospitalsMT$144North Dakota: median $127 across 18 hospitalsND$127Minnesota: median $193 across 77 hospitalsMN$193Illinois: median $240 across 100 hospitalsIL$240Wisconsin: median $161 across 92 hospitalsWI$161Michigan: median $155 across 72 hospitalsMI$155New York: median $153 across 84 hospitalsNY$153Massachusetts: median $251 across 49 hospitalsMA$251Oregon: median $155 across 37 hospitalsOR$155Nevada: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: median $236 across 15 hospitalsSD$236Iowa: median $229 across 52 hospitalsIA$229Indiana: median $145 across 79 hospitalsIN$145Ohio: median $257 across 121 hospitalsOH$257Pennsylvania: median $167 across 103 hospitalsPA$167New Jersey: median $113 across 47 hospitalsNJ$113Connecticut: median $195 across 19 hospitalsCT$195Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $277 across 148 hospitalsCA$277Utah: median $378 across 31 hospitalsUT$378Colorado: median $218 across 48 hospitalsCO$218Nebraska: median $193 across 42 hospitalsNE$193Missouri: median $157 across 59 hospitalsMO$157Kentucky: median $261 across 41 hospitalsKY$261West Virginia: median $173 across 25 hospitalsWV$173Virginia: median $269 across 45 hospitalsVA$269Maryland: median $186 across 21 hospitalsMD$186Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $206 across 33 hospitalsAZ$206New Mexico: median $150 across 19 hospitalsNM$150Kansas: median $128 across 36 hospitalsKS$128Arkansas: median $51 across 17 hospitalsAR$51Tennessee: median $76 across 54 hospitalsTN$76North Carolina: median $188 across 64 hospitalsNC$188South Carolina: median $137 across 22 hospitalsSC$137Oklahoma: median $118 across 37 hospitalsOK$118Louisiana: median $106 across 40 hospitalsLA$106Mississippi: median $117 across 23 hospitalsMS$117Alabama: median $96 across 19 hospitalsAL$96Georgia: median $175 across 76 hospitalsGA$175Hawaii: median $146 across 12 hospitalsHI$146Texas: median $220 across 124 hospitalsTX$220Florida: median $260 across 109 hospitalsFL$260
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $187. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT31$378+103%$378 – $378
California CA148$277+48%$149 – $447
Virginia VA45$269+44%$114 – $332
Kentucky KY41$261+40%$122 – $558
Florida FL109$260+40%$97 – $838
Ohio OH121$257+38%$154 – $395
Massachusetts MA49$251+34%$137 – $369
New Hampshire NH14$245+31%$147 – $1,414
Alaska AK12$244+31%$129 – $408
Illinois IL100$240+29%$94 – $411
South Dakota SD15$236+26%$117 – $370
Iowa IA52$229+23%$124 – $315
Texas TX124$220+18%$134 – $542
Colorado CO48$218+17%$125 – $462
Idaho ID16$213+14%$135 – $365
Arizona AZ33$206+10%$80 – $682
Connecticut CT19$195+5%$118 – $270
Nebraska NE42$193+3%$93 – $299
Minnesota MN77$193+3%$85 – $284
North Carolina NC64$188+1%$114 – $227
Maryland MD21$1860%$126 – $233
Georgia GA76$175−6%$71 – $339
West Virginia WV25$173−7%$84 – $414
Pennsylvania PA103$167−11%$103 – $323
Washington WA44$165−11%$107 – $235
Wisconsin WI92$161−14%$103 – $304
Missouri MO59$157−16%$113 – $276
Oregon OR37$155−17%$70 – $359
Michigan MI72$155−17%$104 – $313
New York NY84$153−18%$99 – $559
New Mexico NM19$150−19%$78 – $312
Hawaii HI12$146−22%$146 – $247
Indiana IN79$145−22%$88 – $213
Montana MT12$144−23%$95 – $222
South Carolina SC22$137−26%$73 – $422
Kansas KS36$128−32%$68 – $187
North Dakota ND18$127−32%$95 – $258
Maine ME18$119−36%$75 – $289
Oklahoma OK37$118−37%$80 – $223
Mississippi MS23$117−37%$83 – $162
New Jersey NJ47$113−40%$96 – $257
Louisiana LA40$106−43%$58 – $200
Alabama AL19$96−48%$77 – $171
Tennessee TN54$76−59%$69 – $137
Arkansas AR17$51−73%$39 – $144
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not 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 $187.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,694$184$97 – $378
Children’s47$193$161 – $554
Critical access510$188$98 – $323
Ownership
For-profit269$220$103 – $627
Government356$175$91 – $289
Non-profit1,626$186$99 – $369
System affiliation
Part of a system1,906$189$102 – $374
Independent355$168$87 – $327

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$331
Median cash price$187
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

1,622 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $203 and the average of the middle 60% is $218; most fall between $104 and $378.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,622 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$122$203$339$480

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($70 vs $480).

Of the 1,780 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,622 gave a usable cash price; 89 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 69 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,261 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (57%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,495 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,261
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here159
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 — excluded74
Hospitals that filed this code2,495

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 radiology and related techniques family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as DXA Bone Density Study 1/>Sites Appendiclr Skel.

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, “Bone density scan of wrist, forearm or heel (CPT 77081) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-77081-bone-density-scan-of-wrist-forearm-or-heel