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Procedure price report · Other radioisotope scan

Nuclear scan to find active bleeding in the digestive tract

CPT 78278the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine imaging study using a radioactive tracer in the bloodstream to locate a site of ongoing bleeding in the stomach or intestines.

Hospitals typically charge $1,104 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,738 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,144. Most fall between $588 and $1,911 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,738
States
50
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 2,738 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
$434$667$1,104$1,691$2,897

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($434 vs $2,897).

How the prices are spread

$323 – $417: 117 hospitals$323$417 – $538: 226 hospitals$538 – $695: 260 hospitals$538$695 – $897: 294 hospitals$897 – $1,159: 433 hospitals$897$1,159 – $1,496: 401 hospitals$1,496 – $1,931: 334 hospitals$1,496$1,931 – $2,493: 178 hospitals$2,493 – $3,219: 142 hospitals$2,493$3,219 – $4,156: 82 hospitals$3,219median $1,104price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,467 of 2,738 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$323$417117
$417$538226
$538$695260
$695$897294
$897$1,159433
$1,159$1,496401
$1,496$1,931334
$1,931$2,493178
$2,493$3,219142
$3,219$4,15682

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$1,104
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 $1,104.

Alaska: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $681 across 22 hospitalsME$681Vermont: median $1,757 across 10 hospitalsVT$1,757New Hampshire: median $1,683 across 13 hospitalsNH$1,683Washington: median $1,101 across 52 hospitalsWA$1,101Idaho: median $1,425 across 15 hospitalsID$1,425Montana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $1,094 across 15 hospitalsND$1,094Minnesota: median $1,181 across 65 hospitalsMN$1,181Illinois: median $1,125 across 114 hospitalsIL$1,125Wisconsin: median $1,150 across 96 hospitalsWI$1,150Michigan: median $809 across 77 hospitalsMI$809New York: median $902 across 95 hospitalsNY$902Massachusetts: median $1,304 across 41 hospitalsMA$1,304Oregon: median $1,434 across 37 hospitalsOR$1,434Nevada: median $1,330 across 15 hospitalsNV$1,330Wyoming: median $1,134 across 12 hospitalsWY$1,134South Dakota: median $1,545 across 18 hospitalsSD$1,545Iowa: median $1,063 across 59 hospitalsIA$1,063Indiana: median $911 across 81 hospitalsIN$911Ohio: median $1,468 across 133 hospitalsOH$1,468Pennsylvania: median $935 across 109 hospitalsPA$935New Jersey: median $473 across 56 hospitalsNJ$473Connecticut: median $819 across 15 hospitalsCT$819Rhode Island: median $1,219 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,219California: median $1,607 across 199 hospitalsCA$1,607Utah: median $1,397 across 36 hospitalsUT$1,397Colorado: median $1,309 across 53 hospitalsCO$1,309Nebraska: median $1,346 across 51 hospitalsNE$1,346Missouri: median $754 across 66 hospitalsMO$754Kentucky: median $1,004 across 56 hospitalsKY$1,004West Virginia: median $1,034 across 28 hospitalsWV$1,034Virginia: median $975 across 60 hospitalsVA$975Maryland: median $1,828 across 37 hospitalsMD$1,828Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,115 across 42 hospitalsAZ$1,115New Mexico: median $1,155 across 17 hospitalsNM$1,155Kansas: median $836 across 50 hospitalsKS$836Arkansas: median $525 across 23 hospitalsAR$525Tennessee: median $529 across 74 hospitalsTN$529North Carolina: median $910 across 78 hospitalsNC$910South Carolina: median $1,104 across 49 hospitalsSC$1,104Oklahoma: median $669 across 41 hospitalsOK$669Louisiana: median $544 across 48 hospitalsLA$544Mississippi: median $499 across 41 hospitalsMS$499Alabama: median $807 across 33 hospitalsAL$807Georgia: median $860 across 88 hospitalsGA$860Hawaii: median $1,199 across 11 hospitalsHI$1,199Texas: median $1,175 across 209 hospitalsTX$1,175Florida: median $1,691 across 169 hospitalsFL$1,691
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,104. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD37$1,828+66%$1,229 – $2,220
Vermont VT10$1,757+59%$1,177 – $2,064
Florida FL169$1,691+53%$861 – $4,448
New Hampshire NH13$1,683+52%$1,109 – $2,645
California CA199$1,607+46%$891 – $2,808
South Dakota SD18$1,545+40%$1,426 – $1,736
Ohio OH133$1,468+33%$873 – $2,024
Oregon OR37$1,434+30%$931 – $1,884
Idaho ID15$1,425+29%$843 – $1,425
Utah UT36$1,397+27%$1,397 – $1,644
Nebraska NE51$1,346+22%$904 – $2,023
Nevada NV15$1,330+20%$434 – $3,976
Colorado CO53$1,309+19%$913 – $2,803
Massachusetts MA41$1,304+18%$764 – $1,860
Rhode Island RI10$1,219+10%$462 – $1,244
Hawaii HI11$1,199+9%$743 – $1,469
Minnesota MN65$1,181+7%$271 – $1,673
Texas TX209$1,175+6%$656 – $2,903
New Mexico NM17$1,155+5%$730 – $1,473
Wisconsin WI96$1,150+4%$480 – $1,557
Wyoming WY12$1,134+3%$685 – $1,906
Illinois IL114$1,125+2%$649 – $1,571
Arizona AZ42$1,115+1%$540 – $2,457
South Carolina SC49$1,1040%$921 – $1,500
Washington WA52$1,1010%$928 – $1,541
North Dakota ND15$1,094−1%$856 – $1,502
Iowa IA59$1,063−4%$808 – $1,401
West Virginia WV28$1,034−6%$810 – $1,582
Kentucky KY56$1,004−9%$555 – $1,626
Virginia VA60$975−12%$533 – $1,278
Pennsylvania PA109$935−15%$531 – $2,374
Indiana IN81$911−18%$580 – $1,437
North Carolina NC78$910−18%$495 – $1,092
New York NY95$902−18%$476 – $1,638
Georgia GA88$860−22%$599 – $1,970
Kansas KS50$836−24%$564 – $1,542
Connecticut CT15$819−26%$630 – $1,248
Michigan MI77$809−27%$503 – $1,671
Alabama AL33$807−27%$414 – $2,015
Missouri MO66$754−32%$591 – $1,362
Maine ME22$681−38%$345 – $1,918
Oklahoma OK41$669−39%$419 – $1,201
Louisiana LA48$544−51%$383 – $895
Tennessee TN74$529−52%$336 – $1,342
Arkansas AR23$525−52%$237 – $787
Mississippi MS41$499−55%$414 – $939
New Jersey NJ56$473−57%$405 – $1,210
Alaska AK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT6not 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 $1,104.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,182$1,100$566 – $1,958
Children’s47$1,698$865 – $3,175
Critical access499$1,130$644 – $1,683
Ownership
For-profit417$1,511$666 – $4,156
Government417$950$514 – $1,546
Non-profit1,894$1,104$589 – $1,796
System affiliation
Part of a system2,304$1,121$589 – $1,928
Independent434$983$564 – $1,850

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,953
Median cash price$1,104
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

1,927 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,150 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,174; most fall between $626 and $1,834.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,927 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
$452$715$1,150$1,671$2,706

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.0× what the cheapest tenth charges ($452 vs $2,706).

Of the 2,110 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,927 gave a usable cash price; 94 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 89 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,738 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (69%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,004 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,738
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here167
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded98
Hospitals that filed this code3,004

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 July 20, 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 Other radioisotope scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Acute GI Blood Loss 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 to find active bleeding in the digestive tract (CPT 78278) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78278-nuclear-scan-to-find-active-bleeding-in-the-digestive-tract