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Procedure price report · Therapeutic radiology

Placement of a radiation source on a body surface

CPT 77789the billing code this page is about

Application of a radioactive source onto the skin or another body surface, such as with a mold or plaque, for a course of radiation treatment.

Hospitals typically charge $288 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 568 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $319. Most fall between $129 and $700 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
568
States
47
Filings dated
Sep 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 568 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
$100$131$288$555$1,109

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($100 vs $1,109).

How the prices are spread

$59 – $85: 20 hospitals$59$85 – $121: 45 hospitals$121 – $172: 73 hospitals$121$172 – $246: 62 hospitals$246 – $351: 106 hospitals$246$351 – $501: 77 hospitals$501 – $715: 45 hospitals$501$715 – $1,021: 30 hospitals$1,021 – $1,458: 39 hospitals$1,021$1,458 – $2,082: 15 hospitals$1,458median $288price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (512 of 568 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$59$8520
$85$12145
$121$17273
$172$24662
$246$351106
$351$50177
$501$71545
$715$1,02130
$1,021$1,45839
$1,458$2,08215

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$104
Median cash price$288
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.8×

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 $288.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 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 $320 across 12 hospitalsWA$320Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $283 across 30 hospitalsIL$283Wisconsin: median $4,418 across 15 hospitalsWI$4,418Michigan: median $332 across 23 hospitalsMI$332New York: median $130 across 28 hospitalsNY$130Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $113 across 15 hospitalsIA$113Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $211 across 10 hospitalsOH$211Pennsylvania: median $72 across 21 hospitalsPA$72New Jersey: median $121 across 18 hospitalsNJ$121Connecticut: 4 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 $765 across 53 hospitalsCA$765Utah: median $459 across 10 hospitalsUT$459Colorado: median $1,526 across 19 hospitalsCO$1,526Nebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $436 across 13 hospitalsKY$436West Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $261 across 26 hospitalsVA$261Maryland: median $432 across 11 hospitalsMD$432Delaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $74 across 10 hospitalsTN$74North Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $208 across 19 hospitalsOK$208Louisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $470 across 24 hospitalsGA$470Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $285 across 56 hospitalsTX$285Florida: median $192 across 36 hospitalsFL$192
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $288. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI15$4,418+1434%$414 – $4,562
Colorado CO19$1,526+430%$318 – $3,771
California CA53$765+166%$226 – $1,109
Georgia GA24$470+63%$252 – $1,091
Utah UT10$459+59%$459 – $459
Kentucky KY13$436+51%$123 – $436
Maryland MD11$432+50%$308 – $608
Michigan MI23$332+15%$140 – $422
Washington WA12$320+11%$237 – $353
Texas TX56$285−1%$131 – $550
Illinois IL30$283−2%$106 – $730
Virginia VA26$261−9%$246 – $558
Ohio OH10$211−27%$150 – $361
Oklahoma OK19$208−28%$123 – $223
Florida FL36$192−33%$129 – $555
New York NY28$130−55%$121 – $336
New Jersey NJ18$121−58%$120 – $462
Iowa IA15$113−61%$113 – $283
Tennessee TN10$74−74%$64 – $128
Pennsylvania PA21$72−75%$39 – $360
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $288.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care526$285$129 – $694
Children’s7fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access35$314$51 – $555
Ownership
For-profit60$314$131 – $1,236
Government73$239$110 – $494
Non-profit435$314$129 – $700
System affiliation
Part of a system510$291$129 – $728
Independent58$239$110 – $528

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$523
Median cash price$288
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

414 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $320 and the average of the middle 60% is $355; most fall between $131 and $777.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 414 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
$110$187$320$591$1,224

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($110 vs $1,224).

Of the 469 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 414 gave a usable cash price; 33 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 22 a list price only.

How complete is this

568 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 628 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted568
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here38
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 — excluded22
Hospitals that filed this code628

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 Therapeutic radiology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Chg Radioelement Application Surface.

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, “Placement of a radiation source on a body surface (CPT 77789) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-77789-placement-of-a-radiation-source-on-a-body-surface