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Procedure price report · Other radioisotope scan

Red blood cell survival study

CPT 78130the billing code this page is about

A study using radioactively labeled red blood cells and repeated blood samples over days to measure how long the red cells last in the circulation.

Hospitals typically charge $550 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 241 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $656. Most fall between $168 and $1,577 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
241
States
31
Filings dated
Dec 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 241 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$344$550$1,264$3,136

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 47× what the cheapest tenth charges ($66 vs $3,136).

How the prices are spread

$42 – $65: 11 hospitals$42$65 – $100: 14 hospitals$100 – $153: 8 hospitals$100$153 – $236: 8 hospitals$236 – $363: 11 hospitals$236$363 – $559: 65 hospitals$559 – $860: 36 hospitals$559$860 – $1,324: 24 hospitals$1,324 – $2,037: 17 hospitals$1,324$2,037 – $3,136: 26 hospitals$2,037median $550price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (220 of 241 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$42$6511
$65$10014
$100$1538
$153$2368
$236$36311
$363$55965
$559$86036
$860$1,32424
$1,324$2,03717
$2,037$3,13626

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$550
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.35×

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 $550.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $121 across 10 hospitalsIL$121Wisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $476 across 26 hospitalsNY$476Massachusetts: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 2 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $66 across 13 hospitalsIA$66Indiana: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $1,264 across 13 hospitalsOH$1,264Pennsylvania: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figurePANew Jersey: median $445 across 11 hospitalsNJ$445Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $3,136 across 38 hospitalsCA$3,136Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCONebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMOKentucky: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVAMaryland: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNCSouth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $42 across 11 hospitalsOK$42Louisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: median $546 across 10 hospitalsGA$546Hawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $856 across 21 hospitalsTX$856Florida: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $550. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA38$3,136+471%$1,116 – $3,136
Ohio OH13$1,264+130%$473 – $1,860
Texas TX21$856+56%$815 – $4,201
Georgia GA10$546−1%$546 – $546
New York NY26$476−13%$408 – $499
New Jersey NJ11$445−19%$445 – $473
Illinois IL10$121−78%$66 – $312
Iowa IA13$66−88%$66 – $66
Oklahoma OK11$42−92%$42 – $42
Florida FL7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Pennsylvania PA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not 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 $550.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care219$558$312 – $1,671
Children’s4fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access18fewer than 20 hospitals
Ownership
For-profit38$856$283 – $4,201
Government30$476$46 – $820
Non-profit173$550$168 – $1,577
System affiliation
Part of a system215$550$168 – $1,639
Independent26$491$280 – $1,153

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$962
Median cash price$550
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

151 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $815 and the average of the middle 60% is $758; most fall between $66 and $1,860.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 151 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
$50$168$815$1,577$3,136

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 63× what the cheapest tenth charges ($50 vs $3,136).

Of the 186 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 151 gave a usable cash price; 31 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 4 a list price only.

How complete is this

241 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (6%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 298 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted241
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here54
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 — excluded3
Hospitals that filed this code298

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 Survival Study|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 survival study (CPT 78130) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78130-red-blood-cell-survival-study