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Procedure price report

Three-dimensional nuclear medicine liver scan

CPT 78205the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine liver scan in which a rotating camera builds cross-sectional, three-dimensional images of the liver after a radioactive tracer is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,132 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 187 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,040. Most fall between $484 and $1,676 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
187
States
35
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 187 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
$165$616$1,132$1,612$2,713

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($165 vs $2,713).

How the prices are spread

$56 – $85: 10 hospitals$56$85 – $128: 0 hospitals$128 – $194: 2 hospitals$128$194 – $294: 6 hospitals$294 – $444: 8 hospitals$294$444 – $672: 23 hospitals$672 – $1,017: 34 hospitals$672$1,017 – $1,539: 47 hospitals$1,539 – $2,329: 22 hospitals$1,539$2,329 – $3,525: 19 hospitals$2,329median $1,132price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (171 of 187 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$56$8510
$85$1280
$128$1942
$194$2946
$294$4448
$444$67223
$672$1,01734
$1,017$1,53947
$1,539$2,32922
$2,329$3,52519

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $1,132.

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: 1 hospital 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: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,628 across 14 hospitalsIL$1,628Wisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $1,355 across 10 hospitalsNY$1,355Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIAIndiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $816 across 17 hospitalsPA$816New Jersey: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNJConnecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $1,281 across 12 hospitalsCA$1,281Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,626 across 10 hospitalsCO$1,626Nebraska: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $46 across 12 hospitalsOK$46Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $1,199 across 30 hospitalsTX$1,199Florida: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,132. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Illinois IL14$1,628+44%$56 – $2,825
Colorado CO10$1,626+44%$652 – $1,626
New York NY10$1,355+20%$961 – $2,624
California CA12$1,281+13%$965 – $4,540
Texas TX30$1,199+6%$1,199 – $1,217
Pennsylvania PA17$816−28%$774 – $1,032
Oklahoma OK12$46−96%$46 – $929
Maryland MD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Jersey NJ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not 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 $1,132.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care150$965$456 – $1,626
Children’s8fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access28$1,217$600 – $1,751
Ownership
For-profit21$1,166$56 – $1,199
Government25$852$456 – $1,612
Non-profit140$1,132$517 – $1,902
System affiliation
Part of a system150$1,166$484 – $1,626
Independent37$852$466 – $2,713

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,783
Median cash price$1,132
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

139 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,199 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,136; most fall between $647 and $1,680.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 139 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
$301$759$1,199$1,626$2,624

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($301 vs $2,624).

Of the 173 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 139 gave a usable cash price; 28 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 6 a list price only.

How complete is this

187 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (5%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 224 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted187
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here29
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 — excluded8
Hospitals that filed this code224

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 23, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Liver Imaging (Spect).

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, “Three-dimensional nuclear medicine liver scan (CPT 78205) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78205-three-dimensional-nuclear-medicine-liver-scan