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Procedure price report · Other radioisotope scan

Nuclear scan of the salivary glands

CPT 78230the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine imaging study of the salivary glands using an injected radioactive tracer.

Hospitals typically charge $655 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 490 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $718. Most fall between $383 and $1,271 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
490
States
43
Filings dated
Feb 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 490 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
$229$439$655$1,188$2,211

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($229 vs $2,211).

How the prices are spread

$131 – $177: 10 hospitals$131$177 – $238: 17 hospitals$238 – $322: 31 hospitals$238$322 – $434: 41 hospitals$434 – $586: 115 hospitals$434$586 – $790: 54 hospitals$790 – $1,067: 55 hospitals$790$1,067 – $1,439: 62 hospitals$1,439 – $1,942: 27 hospitals$1,439$1,942 – $2,621: 38 hospitals$1,942median $655price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (450 of 490 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$131$17710
$177$23817
$238$32231
$322$43441
$434$586115
$586$79054
$790$1,06755
$1,067$1,43962
$1,439$1,94227
$1,942$2,62138

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$655
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.60×

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 $655.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 5 hospitals 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: 3 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $950 across 23 hospitalsIL$950Wisconsin: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $476 across 35 hospitalsNY$476Massachusetts: median $1,188 across 11 hospitalsMA$1,188Oregon: 5 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 $47 across 14 hospitalsIA$47Indiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $585 across 39 hospitalsOH$585Pennsylvania: median $1,085 across 36 hospitalsPA$1,085New Jersey: median $473 across 22 hospitalsNJ$473Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,007 across 46 hospitalsCA$1,007Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $995 across 11 hospitalsVA$995Maryland: median $916 across 15 hospitalsMD$916Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $409 across 18 hospitalsNC$409South Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $272 across 12 hospitalsOK$272Louisiana: median $383 across 10 hospitalsLA$383Mississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $674 across 32 hospitalsGA$674Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $748 across 37 hospitalsTX$748Florida: median $1,174 across 22 hospitalsFL$1,174
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $655. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA11$1,188+81%$692 – $1,304
Florida FL22$1,174+79%$617 – $2,253
Pennsylvania PA36$1,085+66%$475 – $1,904
California CA46$1,007+54%$450 – $2,621
Virginia VA11$995+52%$829 – $1,204
Illinois IL23$950+45%$228 – $975
Maryland MD15$916+40%$475 – $1,109
Texas TX37$748+14%$520 – $3,112
Georgia GA32$674+3%$585 – $1,198
Ohio OH39$585−11%$456 – $1,761
New York NY35$476−27%$352 – $1,068
New Jersey NJ22$473−28%$439 – $1,373
North Carolina NC18$409−38%$316 – $514
Louisiana LA10$383−42%$190 – $570
Oklahoma OK12$272−58%$37 – $1,153
Iowa IA14$47−93%$47 – $342
Arizona AZ9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not 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 $655.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care433$617$393 – $1,337
Children’s21$689$506 – $1,037
Critical access34$696$274 – $994
Ownership
For-profit78$743$383 – $2,211
Government52$508$416 – $1,068
Non-profit358$597$369 – $1,271
System affiliation
Part of a system432$661$393 – $1,330
Independent58$527$352 – $1,065

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,260
Median cash price$655
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

332 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $717 and the average of the middle 60% is $816; most fall between $407 and $1,458.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 332 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
$228$456$717$1,271$2,219

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($228 vs $2,219).

Of the 397 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 332 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 32 a list price only.

How complete is this

490 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (12%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 585 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted490
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here60
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 — excluded35
Hospitals that filed this code585

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 23, 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 PR Salivary Gland Imaging.

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, “Nuclear scan of the salivary glands (CPT 78230) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78230-nuclear-scan-of-the-salivary-glands