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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Nuclear scan of swallowing through the esophagus

CPT 78258the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine study that follows a swallowed radioactive tracer as it moves down the esophagus to measure transit.

Hospitals typically charge $706 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 525 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $783. Most fall between $399 and $1,340 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
525
States
46
Filings dated
Nov 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 525 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
$225$437$706$1,266$1,936

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($225 vs $1,936).

How the prices are spread

$126 – $171: 11 hospitals$126$171 – $231: 16 hospitals$231 – $313: 21 hospitals$231$313 – $424: 49 hospitals$424 – $575: 91 hospitals$424$575 – $778: 61 hospitals$778 – $1,054: 64 hospitals$778$1,054 – $1,428: 106 hospitals$1,428 – $1,935: 27 hospitals$1,428$1,935 – $2,621: 34 hospitals$1,935median $706price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (480 of 525 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$126$17111
$171$23116
$231$31321
$313$42449
$424$57591
$575$77861
$778$1,05464
$1,054$1,428106
$1,428$1,93527
$1,935$2,62134

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$706
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.73×

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 $706.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 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 $601 across 16 hospitalsWA$601Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $1,288 across 27 hospitalsIL$1,288Wisconsin: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $550 across 15 hospitalsMI$550New York: median $476 across 33 hospitalsNY$476Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceORNevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $77 across 12 hospitalsIA$77Indiana: median $210 across 16 hospitalsIN$210Ohio: median $942 across 22 hospitalsOH$942Pennsylvania: median $471 across 31 hospitalsPA$471New Jersey: median $445 across 18 hospitalsNJ$445Connecticut: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,708 across 57 hospitalsCA$1,708Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $983 across 13 hospitalsCO$983Nebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $399 across 12 hospitalsMO$399Kentucky: median $1,203 across 10 hospitalsKY$1,203West Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: median $1,108 across 19 hospitalsMD$1,108Delaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $431 across 10 hospitalsAZ$431New Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $655 across 13 hospitalsNC$655South Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $258 across 12 hospitalsOK$258Louisiana: median $376 across 14 hospitalsLA$376Mississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $518 across 16 hospitalsGA$518Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,266 across 36 hospitalsTX$1,266Florida: median $930 across 46 hospitalsFL$930
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $706. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA57$1,708+142%$662 – $2,621
Illinois IL27$1,288+82%$163 – $1,381
Texas TX36$1,266+79%$585 – $1,330
Kentucky KY10$1,203+70%$1,026 – $1,203
Maryland MD19$1,108+57%$493 – $1,269
Colorado CO13$983+39%$571 – $1,326
Ohio OH22$942+33%$625 – $1,394
Florida FL46$930+32%$704 – $1,261
North Carolina NC13$655−7%$655 – $940
Washington WA16$601−15%$490 – $761
Michigan MI15$550−22%$396 – $1,416
Georgia GA16$518−27%$518 – $1,109
New York NY33$476−33%$475 – $992
Pennsylvania PA31$471−33%$408 – $1,271
New Jersey NJ18$445−37%$439 – $527
Arizona AZ10$431−39%$315 – $592
Missouri MO12$399−44%$399 – $833
Louisiana LA14$376−47%$262 – $608
Oklahoma OK12$258−63%$258 – $867
Indiana IN16$210−70%$191 – $763
Iowa IA12$77−89%$77 – $77
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $706.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care454$655$399 – $1,330
Children’s21$883$673 – $2,142
Critical access49$804$271 – $1,381
Ownership
For-profit56$662$375 – $1,326
Government64$629$453 – $940
Non-profit404$789$399 – $1,391
System affiliation
Part of a system461$739$408 – $1,370
Independent64$637$396 – $1,278

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,328
Median cash price$706
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

371 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $820 and the average of the middle 60% is $844; most fall between $415 and $1,394.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 371 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
$258$453$820$1,304$2,142

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($258 vs $2,142).

Of the 416 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 371 gave a usable cash price; 29 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 16 a list price only.

How complete is this

525 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (13%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 605 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted525
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here63
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 — excluded17
Hospitals that filed this code605

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 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 Esophageal Transit Time.

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 swallowing through the esophagus (CPT 78258) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78258-nuclear-scan-of-swallowing-through-the-esophagus