HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Nuclear scan of the brain's fluid chambers

CPT 78635the billing code this page is about

Imaging that follows a radioactive tracer injected into the fluid-filled chambers of the brain to show how spinal fluid moves; this older code has since been retired.

Hospitals typically charge $715 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 316 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $910. Most fall between $504 and $2,161 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
316
States
43
Filings dated
Sep 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 316 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
$130$577$715$1,607$3,472

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 27× what the cheapest tenth charges ($130 vs $3,472).

How the prices are spread

$55 – $83: 15 hospitals$55$83 – $126: 1 hospitals$126 – $191: 3 hospitals$126$191 – $289: 7 hospitals$289 – $437: 16 hospitals$289$437 – $662: 68 hospitals$662 – $1,002: 83 hospitals$662$1,002 – $1,516: 23 hospitals$1,516 – $2,294: 41 hospitals$1,516$2,294 – $3,472: 29 hospitals$2,294median $715price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (286 of 316 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$55$8315
$83$1261
$126$1913
$191$2897
$289$43716
$437$66268
$662$1,00283
$1,002$1,51623
$1,516$2,29441
$2,294$3,47229

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$555
Median cash price$715
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.29×

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 $715.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNHWashington: median $1,036 across 13 hospitalsWA$1,036Idaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $267 across 11 hospitalsIL$267Wisconsin: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceWIMichigan: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $645 across 29 hospitalsNY$645Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 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: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $76 across 11 hospitalsIA$76Indiana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $555 across 10 hospitalsPA$555New Jersey: median $596 across 13 hospitalsNJ$596Connecticut: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,401 across 50 hospitalsCA$2,401Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNCSouth Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $50 across 10 hospitalsOK$50Louisiana: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $653 across 24 hospitalsGA$653Hawaii: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $877 across 22 hospitalsTX$877Florida: median $1,233 across 14 hospitalsFL$1,233
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $715. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA50$2,401+236%$1,462 – $3,472
Florida FL14$1,233+72%$765 – $3,602
Washington WA13$1,036+45%$895 – $1,878
Texas TX22$877+23%$641 – $4,266
Georgia GA24$653−9%$653 – $715
New York NY29$645−10%$637 – $1,823
New Jersey NJ13$596−17%$596 – $703
Pennsylvania PA10$555−22%$322 – $642
Illinois IL11$267−63%$267 – $739
Iowa IA11$76−89%$76 – $76
Oklahoma OK10$50−93%$50 – $50
Minnesota MN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Carolina NC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV2not 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
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Indiana IN1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not 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 $715.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care280$715$538 – $2,195
Children’s12fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access23$806$267 – $1,335
Ownership
For-profit49$694$542 – $3,602
Government33$653$509 – $1,152
Non-profit233$747$502 – $2,161
System affiliation
Part of a system275$715$520 – $2,195
Independent41$783$483 – $1,385

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,754
Median cash price$715
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

210 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $846 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,143; most fall between $408 and $2,257.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 210 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
$76$602$846$2,161$3,472

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 46× what the cheapest tenth charges ($76 vs $3,472).

Of the 242 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 210 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 2 a list price only.

How complete is this

316 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (8%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 374 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted316
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here50
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 — excluded8
Hospitals that filed this code374

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 scan and function studies family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow W/O Matl Ventriclgraphy|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, “Nuclear scan of the brain's fluid chambers (CPT 78635) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78635-nuclear-scan-of-the-brain-s-fluid-chambers