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Procedure price report · Radioisotope pulmonary scan

Measured comparison of blood flow between the lungs

CPT 78597the billing code this page is about

A nuclear medicine study that calculates the percentage of blood flow going to each lung or lung region, including imaging if performed.

Hospitals typically charge $1,028 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,829 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,097. Most fall between $501 and $1,837 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,829
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 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 1,829 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
$390$589$1,028$1,715$2,663

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($390 vs $2,663).

How the prices are spread

$283 – $369: 71 hospitals$283$369 – $481: 162 hospitals$481 – $627: 173 hospitals$481$627 – $817: 196 hospitals$817 – $1,065: 238 hospitals$817$1,065 – $1,389: 247 hospitals$1,389 – $1,811: 267 hospitals$1,389$1,811 – $2,361: 157 hospitals$2,361 – $3,078: 74 hospitals$2,361$3,078 – $4,012: 62 hospitals$3,078median $1,028price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,647 of 1,829 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$283$36971
$369$481162
$481$627173
$627$817196
$817$1,065238
$1,065$1,389247
$1,389$1,811267
$1,811$2,361157
$2,361$3,07874
$3,078$4,01262

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$1,028
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.5×

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 $1,028.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $394 across 12 hospitalsME$394Vermont: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $1,016 across 10 hospitalsNH$1,016Washington: median $957 across 42 hospitalsWA$957Idaho: median $1,391 across 10 hospitalsID$1,391Montana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $578 across 32 hospitalsMN$578Illinois: median $1,551 across 67 hospitalsIL$1,551Wisconsin: median $870 across 65 hospitalsWI$870Michigan: median $811 across 54 hospitalsMI$811New York: median $954 across 64 hospitalsNY$954Massachusetts: median $981 across 36 hospitalsMA$981Oregon: median $1,015 across 28 hospitalsOR$1,015Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $941 across 21 hospitalsIA$941Indiana: median $974 across 59 hospitalsIN$974Ohio: median $1,299 across 99 hospitalsOH$1,299Pennsylvania: median $1,114 across 92 hospitalsPA$1,114New Jersey: median $517 across 44 hospitalsNJ$517Connecticut: median $674 across 14 hospitalsCT$674Rhode Island: median $996 across 10 hospitalsRI$996California: median $1,752 across 151 hospitalsCA$1,752Utah: median $1,238 across 26 hospitalsUT$1,238Colorado: median $1,735 across 32 hospitalsCO$1,735Nebraska: median $802 across 24 hospitalsNE$802Missouri: median $951 across 48 hospitalsMO$951Kentucky: median $940 across 34 hospitalsKY$940West Virginia: median $999 across 12 hospitalsWV$999Virginia: median $785 across 43 hospitalsVA$785Maryland: median $1,020 across 28 hospitalsMD$1,020Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $749 across 33 hospitalsAZ$749New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,214 across 17 hospitalsKS$1,214Arkansas: median $397 across 12 hospitalsAR$397Tennessee: median $528 across 52 hospitalsTN$528North Carolina: median $740 across 53 hospitalsNC$740South Carolina: median $645 across 28 hospitalsSC$645Oklahoma: median $649 across 23 hospitalsOK$649Louisiana: median $450 across 30 hospitalsLA$450Mississippi: median $433 across 24 hospitalsMS$433Alabama: median $619 across 16 hospitalsAL$619Georgia: median $1,403 across 65 hospitalsGA$1,403Hawaii: median $743 across 10 hospitalsHI$743Texas: median $1,199 across 137 hospitalsTX$1,199Florida: median $1,894 across 126 hospitalsFL$1,894
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,028. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL126$1,894+84%$790 – $5,660
California CA151$1,752+70%$636 – $2,153
Colorado CO32$1,735+69%$998 – $3,879
Illinois IL67$1,551+51%$933 – $1,960
Georgia GA65$1,403+36%$829 – $1,820
Idaho ID10$1,391+35%$650 – $1,425
Ohio OH99$1,299+26%$553 – $1,802
Utah UT26$1,238+20%$1,238 – $1,457
Kansas KS17$1,214+18%$390 – $3,304
Texas TX137$1,199+17%$825 – $2,029
Pennsylvania PA92$1,114+8%$472 – $2,198
Maryland MD28$1,020−1%$529 – $1,236
New Hampshire NH10$1,016−1%$796 – $1,454
Oregon OR28$1,015−1%$880 – $1,452
West Virginia WV12$999−3%$662 – $1,521
Rhode Island RI10$996−3%$447 – $1,092
Massachusetts MA36$981−5%$619 – $1,415
Indiana IN59$974−5%$586 – $1,861
Washington WA42$957−7%$804 – $1,401
New York NY64$954−7%$476 – $1,667
Missouri MO48$951−8%$598 – $1,759
Iowa IA21$941−9%$737 – $1,697
Kentucky KY34$940−9%$380 – $4,592
Wisconsin WI65$870−15%$704 – $1,584
Michigan MI54$811−21%$476 – $1,426
Nebraska NE24$802−22%$349 – $2,140
Virginia VA43$785−24%$498 – $1,323
Arizona AZ33$749−27%$390 – $1,138
Hawaii HI10$743−28%$671 – $998
North Carolina NC53$740−28%$458 – $987
Connecticut CT14$674−34%$491 – $1,248
Oklahoma OK23$649−37%$329 – $1,153
South Carolina SC28$645−37%$645 – $1,900
Alabama AL16$619−40%$356 – $4,438
Minnesota MN32$578−44%$493 – $1,074
Tennessee TN52$528−49%$452 – $658
New Jersey NJ44$517−50%$439 – $1,693
Louisiana LA30$450−56%$283 – $877
Mississippi MS24$433−58%$306 – $535
Arkansas AR12$397−61%$351 – $1,229
Maine ME12$394−62%$299 – $1,714
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not 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 $1,028.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,608$1,015$499 – $1,837
Children’s34$1,604$749 – $2,663
Critical access180$1,122$550 – $1,646
Ownership
For-profit240$1,275$571 – $4,528
Government213$790$476 – $1,564
Non-profit1,369$1,028$502 – $1,802
System affiliation
Part of a system1,619$1,074$510 – $1,837
Independent210$829$473 – $1,559

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,801
Median cash price$1,028
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

1,388 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,097 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,125; most fall between $543 and $1,803.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,388 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
$402$641$1,097$1,705$2,373

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($402 vs $2,373).

Of the 1,504 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,388 gave a usable cash price; 59 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 57 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,829 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (46%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,006 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,829
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here112
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 — excluded65
Hospitals that filed this code2,006

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 pulmonary scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Quant Differential Pulm Perfusion W/WO Imaging|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, “Measured comparison of blood flow between the lungs (CPT 78597) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78597-measured-comparison-of-blood-flow-between-the-lungs