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Procedure price report · Other radioisotope scan

Nuclear brain scan, four or more views

CPT 78605the billing code this page is about

Nuclear medicine imaging of the brain after a radioactive tracer injection, including at least four still images; this older code has since been retired from use.

Hospitals typically charge $859 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 706 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $969. Most fall between $500 and $1,917 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
706
States
48
Filings dated
Jun 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 706 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
$307$559$859$1,621$3,125

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($307 vs $3,125).

How the prices are spread

$194 – $261: 20 hospitals$194$261 – $350: 36 hospitals$350 – $470: 47 hospitals$350$470 – $632: 87 hospitals$632 – $848: 129 hospitals$632$848 – $1,139: 89 hospitals$1,139 – $1,530: 65 hospitals$1,139$1,530 – $2,054: 69 hospitals$2,054 – $2,758: 33 hospitals$2,054$2,758 – $3,704: 69 hospitals$2,758median $859price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (644 of 706 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$194$26120
$261$35036
$350$47047
$470$63287
$632$848129
$848$1,13989
$1,139$1,53065
$1,530$2,05469
$2,054$2,75833
$2,758$3,70469

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$555
Median cash price$859
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.55×

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 $859.

Alaska: 1 hospital 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: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $810 across 25 hospitalsWA$810Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $966 across 30 hospitalsIL$966Wisconsin: median $1,907 across 13 hospitalsWI$1,907Michigan: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $637 across 36 hospitalsNY$637Massachusetts: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $55 across 18 hospitalsIA$55Indiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $1,141 across 26 hospitalsOH$1,141Pennsylvania: median $821 across 40 hospitalsPA$821New Jersey: median $634 across 17 hospitalsNJ$634Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,125 across 73 hospitalsCA$3,125Utah: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: median $659 across 15 hospitalsNE$659Missouri: median $882 across 20 hospitalsMO$882Kentucky: median $983 across 22 hospitalsKY$983West Virginia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,236 across 18 hospitalsVA$1,236Maryland: median $1,060 across 15 hospitalsMD$1,060Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $623 across 20 hospitalsAZ$623New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,105 across 11 hospitalsKS$1,105Arkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $275 across 19 hospitalsTN$275North Carolina: median $728 across 17 hospitalsNC$728South Carolina: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $43 across 11 hospitalsOK$43Louisiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $653 across 30 hospitalsGA$653Hawaii: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,098 across 80 hospitalsTX$1,098Florida: median $1,917 across 20 hospitalsFL$1,917
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $859. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA73$3,125+264%$680 – $3,444
Florida FL20$1,917+123%$633 – $4,745
Wisconsin WI13$1,907+122%$868 – $1,973
Virginia VA18$1,236+44%$547 – $2,672
Ohio OH26$1,141+33%$937 – $1,306
Kansas KS11$1,105+29%$577 – $1,578
Texas TX80$1,098+28%$651 – $3,119
Maryland MD15$1,060+23%$457 – $1,285
Kentucky KY22$983+14%$461 – $2,310
Illinois IL30$966+12%$312 – $1,491
Missouri MO20$882+3%$617 – $3,464
Pennsylvania PA40$821−4%$576 – $2,804
Washington WA25$810−6%$386 – $1,060
North Carolina NC17$728−15%$610 – $1,063
Nebraska NE15$659−23%$488 – $1,163
Georgia GA30$653−24%$653 – $1,061
New York NY36$637−26%$555 – $1,250
New Jersey NJ17$634−26%$596 – $1,556
Arizona AZ20$623−27%$272 – $741
Tennessee TN19$275−68%$250 – $419
Iowa IA18$55−94%$55 – $532
Oklahoma OK11$43−95%$43 – $1,097
Louisiana LA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not 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 $859.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care617$792$489 – $2,109
Children’s16fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access71$1,029$429 – $1,594
Ownership
For-profit117$1,564$640 – $3,373
Government85$666$385 – $1,385
Non-profit502$809$487 – $1,755
System affiliation
Part of a system613$868$504 – $2,007
Independent93$842$485 – $1,594

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,700
Median cash price$859
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

512 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $868 and the average of the middle 60% is $964; most fall between $458 and $1,897.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 512 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
$251$545$868$1,574$3,125

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($251 vs $3,125).

Of the 577 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 512 gave a usable cash price; 39 carried a plausibility flag, 2 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 24 a list price only.

How complete is this

706 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (18%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 818 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted706
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here76
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded34
Hospitals that filed this code818

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 Other radioisotope scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Brain Imaging, Complete.

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 brain scan, four or more views (CPT 78605) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78605-nuclear-brain-scan-four-or-more-views