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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Breath sample analysis for stomach bacteria test

CPT 78268the billing code this page is about

Covers the laboratory measurement of radioactive carbon in the collected breath samples for the Helicobacter pylori urea breath test; sample collection is billed separately.

Hospitals typically charge $239 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 435 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $267. Most fall between $114 and $436 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
435
States
36
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 435 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
$94$134$239$421$1,022

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($94 vs $1,022).

How the prices are spread

$79 – $106: 56 hospitals$79$106 – $143: 39 hospitals$143 – $194: 41 hospitals$143$194 – $262: 77 hospitals$262 – $354: 57 hospitals$262$354 – $479: 61 hospitals$479 – $648: 21 hospitals$479$648 – $876: 9 hospitals$876 – $1,184: 13 hospitals$876$1,184 – $1,600: 22 hospitals$1,184median $239price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (396 of 435 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$79$10656
$106$14339
$143$19441
$194$26277
$262$35457
$354$47961
$479$64821
$648$8769
$876$1,18413
$1,184$1,60022

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $239.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $238 across 14 hospitalsWA$238Idaho: 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: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMNIllinois: median $326 across 24 hospitalsIL$326Wisconsin: median $986 across 10 hospitalsWI$986Michigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $94 across 18 hospitalsNY$94Massachusetts: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $206 across 16 hospitalsOR$206Nevada: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $190 across 15 hospitalsIA$190Indiana: median $153 across 19 hospitalsIN$153Ohio: median $436 across 13 hospitalsOH$436Pennsylvania: median $111 across 23 hospitalsPA$111New Jersey: median $104 across 24 hospitalsNJ$104Connecticut: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $237 across 63 hospitalsCA$237Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $546 across 18 hospitalsCO$546Nebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $397 across 10 hospitalsMO$397Kentucky: median $389 across 14 hospitalsKY$389West Virginia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWVVirginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceARTennessee: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: median $123 across 11 hospitalsSC$123Oklahoma: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceGAHawaii: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $296 across 55 hospitalsTX$296Florida: median $179 across 16 hospitalsFL$179
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $239. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Wisconsin WI10$986+312%$830 – $1,020
Colorado CO18$546+128%$341 – $1,221
Ohio OH13$436+82%$156 – $436
Missouri MO10$397+66%$331 – $397
Kentucky KY14$389+63%$181 – $389
Illinois IL24$326+36%$218 – $429
Texas TX55$296+24%$175 – $611
Washington WA14$2380%$190 – $268
California CA63$237−1%$228 – $594
Oregon OR16$206−14%$168 – $252
Iowa IA15$190−21%$135 – $340
Florida FL16$179−25%$171 – $1,457
Indiana IN19$153−36%$132 – $216
South Carolina SC11$123−48%$112 – $393
Pennsylvania PA23$111−54%$65 – $294
New Jersey NJ24$104−57%$94 – $104
New York NY18$94−61%$94 – $431
Arizona AZ8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not 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 $239.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care388$243$114 – $436
Children’s5fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access39$216$87 – $421
Ownership
For-profit42$197$120 – $662
Government44$169$94 – $304
Non-profit346$252$130 – $436
System affiliation
Part of a system399$243$115 – $436
Independent36$233$109 – $556

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$486
Median cash price$239
Cash as a share of list, median hospital56%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 44%. 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

311 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $296 and the average of the middle 60% is $311; most fall between $179 and $546.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 311 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
$113$197$296$436$1,221

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($113 vs $1,221).

Of the 336 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 311 gave a usable cash price; 20 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 5 a list price only.

How complete is this

435 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (11%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 468 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted435
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here30
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 code468

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 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 UREA BREATH TEST C-14 ALYS.

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, “Breath sample analysis for stomach bacteria test (CPT 78268) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78268-breath-sample-analysis-for-stomach-bacteria-test