HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Other radioisotope scan

Red blood cell volume measurement, multiple samples

CPT 78121the billing code this page is about

A test that measures the total volume of red blood cells using a radioactive tracer, with several blood samples drawn over time after the tracer is given.

Hospitals typically charge $636 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 321 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $682. Most fall between $290 and $1,666 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
321
States
39
Filings dated
Jun 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 321 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
$202$345$636$1,141$2,460

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($202 vs $2,460).

How the prices are spread

$67 – $100: 6 hospitals$67$100 – $151: 7 hospitals$151 – $228: 23 hospitals$151$228 – $343: 25 hospitals$343 – $517: 44 hospitals$343$517 – $778: 92 hospitals$778 – $1,173: 29 hospitals$778$1,173 – $1,767: 17 hospitals$1,767 – $2,662: 33 hospitals$1,767$2,662 – $4,010: 24 hospitals$2,662median $636price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (300 of 321 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$67$1006
$100$1517
$151$22823
$228$34325
$343$51744
$517$77892
$778$1,17329
$1,173$1,76717
$1,767$2,66233
$2,662$4,01024

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$555
Median cash price$636
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.15×

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 $636.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: median $475 across 13 hospitalsWI$475Michigan: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $637 across 26 hospitalsNY$637Massachusetts: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $34 across 12 hospitalsIA$34Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $636 across 12 hospitalsOH$636Pennsylvania: median $642 across 20 hospitalsPA$642New Jersey: median $596 across 23 hospitalsNJ$596Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $4,010 across 28 hospitalsCA$4,010Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $222 across 15 hospitalsTN$222North Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,888 across 23 hospitalsTX$1,888Florida: median $1,081 across 16 hospitalsFL$1,081
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $636. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA28$4,010+531%$1,953 – $4,010
Texas TX23$1,888+197%$345 – $1,983
Florida FL16$1,081+70%$1,081 – $1,193
Pennsylvania PA20$642+1%$254 – $997
New York NY26$6370%$371 – $678
Ohio OH12$6360%$615 – $636
New Jersey NJ23$596−6%$326 – $718
Wisconsin WI13$475−25%$475 – $475
Tennessee TN15$222−65%$222 – $357
Iowa IA12$34−95%$34 – $34
Georgia GA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not 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 $636.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care289$637$326 – $1,769
Children’s3fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access29$475$143 – $658
Ownership
For-profit36$756$410 – $1,888
Government28$637$290 – $1,296
Non-profit257$625$284 – $1,521
System affiliation
Part of a system299$637$302 – $1,804
Independent22$540$253 – $980

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,140
Median cash price$636
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

239 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $636 and the average of the middle 60% is $720; most fall between $226 and $1,864.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 239 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
$177$284$636$1,360$2,484

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($177 vs $2,484).

Of the 287 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 239 gave a usable cash price; 47 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 1 a list price only.

How complete is this

321 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 393 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted321
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here70
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 — excluded2
Hospitals that filed this code393

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 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 Other radioisotope scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Red Cell Volume Determination Spx Mult Samplings|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, “Red blood cell volume measurement, multiple samples (CPT 78121) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78121-red-blood-cell-volume-measurement-multiple-samples