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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Nuclear scan to check a brain fluid shunt

CPT 78645the billing code this page is about

Imaging with a radioactive tracer to see whether a surgically placed tube that drains spinal fluid from the brain is flowing properly; this older code has since been retired.

Hospitals typically charge $971 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,424 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,042. Most fall between $573 and $1,799 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,424
States
50
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 1,424 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
$410$637$971$1,613$2,407

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($410 vs $2,407).

How the prices are spread

$310 – $391: 56 hospitals$310$391 – $495: 100 hospitals$495 – $625: 114 hospitals$495$625 – $791: 178 hospitals$791 – $999: 234 hospitals$791$999 – $1,263: 177 hospitals$1,263 – $1,597: 134 hospitals$1,263$1,597 – $2,018: 133 hospitals$2,018 – $2,551: 117 hospitals$2,018$2,551 – $3,225: 42 hospitals$2,551median $971price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,285 of 1,424 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$310$39156
$391$495100
$495$625114
$625$791178
$791$999234
$999$1,263177
$1,263$1,597134
$1,597$2,018133
$2,018$2,551117
$2,551$3,22542

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$555
Median cash price$971
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.75×

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 $971.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,199 across 37 hospitalsWA$1,199Idaho: median $1,055 across 12 hospitalsID$1,055Montana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $683 across 26 hospitalsMN$683Illinois: median $999 across 37 hospitalsIL$999Wisconsin: median $1,134 across 47 hospitalsWI$1,134Michigan: median $884 across 40 hospitalsMI$884New York: median $780 across 45 hospitalsNY$780Massachusetts: median $1,565 across 22 hospitalsMA$1,565Oregon: median $1,396 across 28 hospitalsOR$1,396Nevada: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 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 $542 across 20 hospitalsIA$542Indiana: median $1,118 across 50 hospitalsIN$1,118Ohio: median $939 across 72 hospitalsOH$939Pennsylvania: median $960 across 61 hospitalsPA$960New Jersey: median $625 across 29 hospitalsNJ$625Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,613 across 142 hospitalsCA$1,613Utah: median $944 across 25 hospitalsUT$944Colorado: median $1,395 across 34 hospitalsCO$1,395Nebraska: median $648 across 14 hospitalsNE$648Missouri: median $742 across 23 hospitalsMO$742Kentucky: median $797 across 24 hospitalsKY$797West Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $900 across 34 hospitalsVA$900Maryland: median $1,811 across 27 hospitalsMD$1,811Delaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $842 across 35 hospitalsAZ$842New Mexico: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $686 across 13 hospitalsKS$686Arkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $452 across 20 hospitalsTN$452North Carolina: median $755 across 39 hospitalsNC$755South Carolina: median $968 across 34 hospitalsSC$968Oklahoma: median $472 across 26 hospitalsOK$472Louisiana: median $354 across 22 hospitalsLA$354Mississippi: median $500 across 12 hospitalsMS$500Alabama: median $961 across 12 hospitalsAL$961Georgia: median $484 across 50 hospitalsGA$484Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $907 across 135 hospitalsTX$907Florida: median $1,532 across 97 hospitalsFL$1,532
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $971. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Maryland MD27$1,811+86%$1,272 – $2,158
California CA142$1,613+66%$710 – $2,257
Massachusetts MA22$1,565+61%$742 – $1,910
Florida FL97$1,532+58%$931 – $3,018
Oregon OR28$1,396+44%$800 – $2,112
Colorado CO34$1,395+44%$1,012 – $2,262
Washington WA37$1,199+23%$911 – $1,590
Wisconsin WI47$1,134+17%$651 – $2,410
Indiana IN50$1,118+15%$449 – $1,480
Idaho ID12$1,055+9%$748 – $1,761
Illinois IL37$999+3%$394 – $1,511
South Carolina SC34$9680%$787 – $1,563
Alabama AL12$961−1%$247 – $2,284
Pennsylvania PA61$960−1%$617 – $1,608
Utah UT25$944−3%$944 – $1,110
Ohio OH72$939−3%$801 – $1,272
Texas TX135$907−7%$492 – $1,550
Virginia VA34$900−7%$490 – $1,004
Michigan MI40$884−9%$714 – $1,828
Arizona AZ35$842−13%$375 – $2,703
Kentucky KY24$797−18%$261 – $1,878
New York NY45$780−20%$637 – $1,823
North Carolina NC39$755−22%$668 – $1,122
Missouri MO23$742−24%$463 – $1,003
Kansas KS13$686−29%$410 – $1,001
Minnesota MN26$683−30%$610 – $1,358
Nebraska NE14$648−33%$451 – $940
New Jersey NJ29$625−36%$540 – $718
Iowa IA20$542−44%$73 – $873
Mississippi MS12$500−49%$311 – $985
Georgia GA50$484−50%$334 – $1,638
Oklahoma OK26$472−51%$315 – $764
Tennessee TN20$452−53%$452 – $691
Louisiana LA22$354−64%$279 – $728
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not 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 $971.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,242$974$579 – $1,799
Children’s44$1,063$685 – $2,824
Critical access129$944$522 – $1,761
Ownership
For-profit200$1,393$590 – $3,059
Government138$755$484 – $1,302
Non-profit1,077$972$592 – $1,656
System affiliation
Part of a system1,283$975$579 – $1,823
Independent141$907$531 – $1,671

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,738
Median cash price$971
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

1,085 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,004 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,078; most fall between $593 and $1,714.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,085 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
$407$667$1,004$1,588$2,257

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($407 vs $2,257).

Of the 1,185 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,085 gave a usable cash price; 58 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 42 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,424 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (36%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,566 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,424
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here94
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 — excluded48
Hospitals that filed this code1,566

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 Shunt Evaltj|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 to check a brain fluid shunt (CPT 78645) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78645-nuclear-scan-to-check-a-brain-fluid-shunt