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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Stomach emptying nuclear scan with small bowel transit

CPT 78265the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine study measuring how fast a labeled meal leaves the stomach, with added imaging that follows it through the small intestine.

Hospitals typically charge $1,095 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 620 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,183. Most fall between $500 and $2,208 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
620
States
43
Filings dated
Aug 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 620 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
$393$616$1,095$1,870$2,727

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($393 vs $2,727).

How the prices are spread

$249 – $322: 18 hospitals$249$322 – $418: 22 hospitals$418 – $541: 66 hospitals$418$541 – $700: 44 hospitals$700 – $907: 52 hospitals$700$907 – $1,174: 92 hospitals$1,174 – $1,520: 92 hospitals$1,174$1,520 – $1,969: 61 hospitals$1,969 – $2,549: 53 hospitals$1,969$2,549 – $3,301: 61 hospitals$2,549median $1,095price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (561 of 620 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$249$32218
$322$41822
$418$54166
$541$70044
$700$90752
$907$1,17492
$1,174$1,52092
$1,520$1,96961
$1,969$2,54953
$2,549$3,30161

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$1,095
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.7×

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 $1,095.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,389 across 22 hospitalsWA$1,389Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: median $296 across 19 hospitalsMN$296Illinois: median $1,076 across 19 hospitalsIL$1,076Wisconsin: median $479 across 11 hospitalsWI$479Michigan: median $902 across 12 hospitalsMI$902New York: median $476 across 29 hospitalsNY$476Massachusetts: median $1,243 across 10 hospitalsMA$1,243Oregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $1,237 across 12 hospitalsIA$1,237Indiana: median $1,169 across 22 hospitalsIN$1,169Ohio: median $1,802 across 30 hospitalsOH$1,802Pennsylvania: median $1,229 across 12 hospitalsPA$1,229New Jersey: median $445 across 15 hospitalsNJ$445Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $2,727 across 51 hospitalsCA$2,727Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $1,473 across 18 hospitalsCO$1,473Nebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $880 across 16 hospitalsMO$880Kentucky: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: median $1,443 across 24 hospitalsVA$1,443Maryland: median $2,162 across 18 hospitalsMD$2,162Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $440 across 14 hospitalsTN$440North Carolina: median $1,099 across 23 hospitalsNC$1,099South Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $79 across 16 hospitalsOK$79Louisiana: median $549 across 13 hospitalsLA$549Mississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,014 across 31 hospitalsGA$1,014Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,389 across 82 hospitalsTX$1,389Florida: median $653 across 24 hospitalsFL$653
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,095. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA51$2,727+149%$671 – $2,765
Maryland MD18$2,162+98%$1,630 – $3,904
Ohio OH30$1,802+65%$792 – $2,233
Colorado CO18$1,473+35%$824 – $1,924
Virginia VA24$1,443+32%$1,364 – $1,539
Washington WA22$1,389+27%$945 – $1,574
Texas TX82$1,389+27%$938 – $2,537
Massachusetts MA10$1,243+14%$990 – $2,721
Iowa IA12$1,237+13%$85 – $1,804
Pennsylvania PA12$1,229+12%$471 – $2,730
Indiana IN22$1,169+7%$860 – $1,872
North Carolina NC23$1,0990%$928 – $1,401
Illinois IL19$1,076−2%$241 – $2,873
Georgia GA31$1,014−7%$990 – $1,014
Michigan MI12$902−18%$550 – $1,228
Missouri MO16$880−20%$830 – $1,515
Florida FL24$653−40%$653 – $2,253
Louisiana LA13$549−50%$269 – $672
Wisconsin WI11$479−56%$470 – $635
New York NY29$476−57%$475 – $1,068
New Jersey NJ15$445−59%$439 – $598
Tennessee TN14$440−60%$419 – $537
Minnesota MN19$296−73%$249 – $3,054
Oklahoma OK16$79−93%$79 – $1,049
Kentucky KY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not 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 $1,095.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care545$1,099$514 – $2,253
Children’s10fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access62$1,073$470 – $1,574
Ownership
For-profit70$1,228$514 – $3,026
Government76$1,033$476 – $1,574
Non-profit471$1,099$539 – $2,206
System affiliation
Part of a system557$1,099$514 – $2,230
Independent63$991$473 – $1,638

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,035
Median cash price$1,095
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

449 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,271 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,383; most fall between $653 and $2,537.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 449 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
$435$794$1,271$2,206$2,808

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($435 vs $2,808).

Of the 515 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 449 gave a usable cash price; 40 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 26 a list price only.

How complete is this

620 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (16%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 718 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted620
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here67
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 — excluded31
Hospitals that filed this code718

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 Radioisotope scan and function studies family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Gastric Emptyng Imag Std W/Sm Bwl Transit|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, “Stomach emptying nuclear scan with small bowel transit (CPT 78265) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78265-stomach-emptying-nuclear-scan-with-small-bowel-transit