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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Spine fracture check by bone density scanner

CPT 77086the billing code this page is about

Low-dose X-ray (DXA) imaging of the spine done only to look for collapsed or fractured vertebrae, without a bone density measurement.

Hospitals typically charge $165 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,243 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $175. Most fall between $90 and $337 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,243
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 1,243 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
$66$100$165$277$492

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($66 vs $492).

How the prices are spread

$52 – $67: 67 hospitals$52$67 – $87: 108 hospitals$87 – $113: 182 hospitals$87$113 – $147: 154 hospitals$147 – $191: 168 hospitals$147$191 – $249: 109 hospitals$249 – $323: 131 hospitals$249$323 – $420: 101 hospitals$420 – $547: 48 hospitals$420$547 – $711: 52 hospitals$547median $165price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,120 of 1,243 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$52$6767
$67$87108
$87$113182
$113$147154
$147$191168
$191$249109
$249$323131
$323$420101
$420$54748
$547$71152

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$89
Median cash price$165
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.86×

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 $165.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 6 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 $193 across 35 hospitalsWA$193Idaho: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $90 across 25 hospitalsMN$90Illinois: median $253 across 49 hospitalsIL$253Wisconsin: median $136 across 60 hospitalsWI$136Michigan: median $120 across 35 hospitalsMI$120New York: median $104 across 53 hospitalsNY$104Massachusetts: median $288 across 29 hospitalsMA$288Oregon: median $189 across 22 hospitalsOR$189Nevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $41 across 21 hospitalsIA$41Indiana: median $118 across 42 hospitalsIN$118Ohio: median $324 across 99 hospitalsOH$324Pennsylvania: median $170 across 63 hospitalsPA$170New Jersey: median $97 across 23 hospitalsNJ$97Connecticut: 5 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 $257 across 91 hospitalsCA$257Utah: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $178 across 29 hospitalsCO$178Nebraska: median $136 across 13 hospitalsNE$136Missouri: median $137 across 24 hospitalsMO$137Kentucky: median $147 across 23 hospitalsKY$147West Virginia: median $259 across 12 hospitalsWV$259Virginia: median $160 across 27 hospitalsVA$160Maryland: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $116 across 27 hospitalsAZ$116New Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $76 across 26 hospitalsTN$76North Carolina: median $168 across 34 hospitalsNC$168South Carolina: median $169 across 25 hospitalsSC$169Oklahoma: median $180 across 16 hospitalsOK$180Louisiana: median $73 across 16 hospitalsLA$73Mississippi: median $93 across 17 hospitalsMS$93Alabama: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $104 across 47 hospitalsGA$104Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $208 across 103 hospitalsTX$208Florida: median $168 across 50 hospitalsFL$168
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $165. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Ohio OH99$324+96%$116 – $722
Massachusetts MA29$288+74%$205 – $355
West Virginia WV12$259+57%$105 – $422
California CA91$257+56%$111 – $389
Illinois IL49$253+53%$84 – $412
Texas TX103$208+26%$118 – $450
Washington WA35$193+17%$162 – $254
Oregon OR22$189+15%$112 – $267
Oklahoma OK16$180+9%$87 – $251
Colorado CO29$178+8%$64 – $399
Pennsylvania PA63$170+3%$99 – $256
South Carolina SC25$169+2%$134 – $169
Florida FL50$168+2%$52 – $471
North Carolina NC34$168+1%$97 – $596
Virginia VA27$160−3%$150 – $330
Kentucky KY23$147−11%$105 – $627
Missouri MO24$137−17%$92 – $190
Nebraska NE13$136−18%$56 – $383
Wisconsin WI60$136−18%$120 – $283
Michigan MI35$120−28%$76 – $160
Indiana IN42$118−29%$88 – $186
Arizona AZ27$116−30%$78 – $451
New York NY53$104−37%$73 – $239
Georgia GA47$104−37%$91 – $235
New Jersey NJ23$97−41%$64 – $116
Mississippi MS17$93−44%$41 – $120
Minnesota MN25$90−46%$74 – $151
Tennessee TN26$76−54%$51 – $133
Louisiana LA16$73−56%$46 – $119
Iowa IA21$41−75%$15 – $200
Idaho ID9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $165.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,003$162$88 – $352
Children’s28$272$210 – $471
Critical access208$152$88 – $317
Ownership
For-profit139$268$95 – $527
Government172$147$83 – $317
Non-profit928$165$89 – $304
System affiliation
Part of a system1,085$168$90 – $356
Independent158$150$88 – $264

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$297
Median cash price$165
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

926 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $175 and the average of the middle 60% is $187; most fall between $97 and $352.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 926 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
$67$105$175$290$484

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($67 vs $484).

Of the 1,016 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 926 gave a usable cash price; 55 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 35 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,243 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (31%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,394 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,243
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here104
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 — excluded47
Hospitals that filed this code1,394

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 Vertebral Fracture Assessment via DXA|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, “Spine fracture check by bone density scanner (CPT 77086) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-77086-spine-fracture-check-by-bone-density-scanner