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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Tracer uptake measurement added to thyroid cancer scan

CPT 78020the billing code this page is about

An add-on measurement of radioactive tracer uptake performed along with a thyroid cancer spread scan; billed in addition to the imaging code, not on its own.

Hospitals typically charge $398 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 768 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $381. Most fall between $166 and $642 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
768
States
48
Filings dated
Aug 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 768 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
$104$184$398$574$1,149

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($104 vs $1,149).

How the prices are spread

$63 – $88: 37 hospitals$63$88 – $122: 32 hospitals$122 – $170: 78 hospitals$122$170 – $236: 52 hospitals$236 – $328: 81 hospitals$236$328 – $455: 201 hospitals$455 – $633: 97 hospitals$455$633 – $879: 43 hospitals$879 – $1,222: 54 hospitals$879$1,222 – $1,698: 27 hospitals$1,222median $398price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (702 of 768 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$63$8837
$88$12232
$122$17078
$170$23652
$236$32881
$328$455201
$455$63397
$633$87943
$879$1,22254
$1,222$1,69827

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $398.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $297 across 13 hospitalsWA$297Idaho: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $439 across 22 hospitalsMN$439Illinois: median $380 across 29 hospitalsIL$380Wisconsin: median $495 across 41 hospitalsWI$495Michigan: median $190 across 39 hospitalsMI$190New York: median $405 across 37 hospitalsNY$405Massachusetts: median $224 across 16 hospitalsMA$224Oregon: median $437 across 18 hospitalsOR$437Nevada: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $63 across 16 hospitalsIA$63Indiana: median $344 across 25 hospitalsIN$344Ohio: median $500 across 53 hospitalsOH$500Pennsylvania: median $214 across 40 hospitalsPA$214New Jersey: median $160 across 27 hospitalsNJ$160Connecticut: 8 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 $442 across 82 hospitalsCA$442Utah: median $402 across 24 hospitalsUT$402Colorado: median $281 across 17 hospitalsCO$281Nebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: median $148 across 11 hospitalsKY$148West Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: median $163 across 11 hospitalsVA$163Maryland: median $332 across 16 hospitalsMD$332Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $440 across 23 hospitalsAZ$440New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 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 $333 across 12 hospitalsNC$333South Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $46 across 10 hospitalsOK$46Louisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $409 across 33 hospitalsGA$409Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $398 across 49 hospitalsTX$398Florida: median $546 across 32 hospitalsFL$546
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $398. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL32$546+37%$453 – $718
Ohio OH53$500+25%$397 – $574
Wisconsin WI41$495+24%$168 – $633
California CA82$442+11%$236 – $1,112
Arizona AZ23$440+10%$132 – $955
Minnesota MN22$439+10%$414 – $1,035
Oregon OR18$437+10%$265 – $543
Georgia GA33$409+3%$318 – $462
New York NY37$405+2%$159 – $1,006
Utah UT24$402+1%$362 – $1,794
Texas TX49$3980%$398 – $948
Illinois IL29$380−5%$63 – $748
Indiana IN25$344−14%$249 – $412
North Carolina NC12$333−16%$271 – $587
Maryland MD16$332−17%$240 – $404
Washington WA13$297−25%$270 – $531
Colorado CO17$281−30%$281 – $1,017
Massachusetts MA16$224−44%$94 – $481
Pennsylvania PA40$214−46%$108 – $497
Michigan MI39$190−52%$129 – $354
Virginia VA11$163−59%$163 – $629
New Jersey NJ27$160−60%$77 – $1,149
Kentucky KY11$148−63%$148 – $148
Iowa IA16$63−84%$63 – $355
Oklahoma OK10$46−89%$46 – $46
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not 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 $398.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care687$398$163 – $632
Children’s16fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access58$355$168 – $734
Ownership
For-profit85$398$155 – $1,107
Government57$354$189 – $626
Non-profit619$398$166 – $618
System affiliation
Part of a system693$398$166 – $641
Independent75$354$124 – $642

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$664
Median cash price$398
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

642 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $409 and the average of the middle 60% is $407; most fall between $182 and $672.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 642 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
$126$227$409$579$1,107

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($126 vs $1,107).

Of the 712 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 642 gave a usable cash price; 37 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 32 a list price only.

How complete is this

768 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (19%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 900 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted768
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here57
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded74
Hospitals that filed this code900

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 5, 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 Radioisotope scan and function studies family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Hc Thyroid Met Uptake.

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, “Tracer uptake measurement added to thyroid cancer scan (CPT 78020) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78020-tracer-uptake-measurement-added-to-thyroid-cancer-scan