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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Nuclear scan to find a spinal fluid leak

CPT 78650the billing code this page is about

Imaging that follows a radioactive tracer placed in the spinal fluid to find and pinpoint the site of a leak.

Hospitals typically charge $1,490 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,074 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,624. Most fall between $839 and $3,209 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,074
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 1,074 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
$549$960$1,490$2,731$5,068

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($549 vs $5,068).

How the prices are spread

$419 – $547: 53 hospitals$419$547 – $714: 65 hospitals$714 – $933: 91 hospitals$714$933 – $1,219: 119 hospitals$1,219 – $1,592: 208 hospitals$1,219$1,592 – $2,079: 153 hospitals$2,079 – $2,715: 63 hospitals$2,079$2,715 – $3,546: 90 hospitals$3,546 – $4,631: 51 hospitals$3,546$4,631 – $6,048: 91 hospitals$4,631median $1,490price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (984 of 1,074 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$419$54753
$547$71465
$714$93391
$933$1,219119
$1,219$1,592208
$1,592$2,079153
$2,079$2,71563
$2,715$3,54690
$3,546$4,63151
$4,631$6,04891

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,323
Median cash price$1,490
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.13×

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 $1,490.

Alaska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,652 across 33 hospitalsWA$1,652Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 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 $1,759 across 19 hospitalsMN$1,759Illinois: median $2,226 across 37 hospitalsIL$2,226Wisconsin: median $1,936 across 27 hospitalsWI$1,936Michigan: median $1,283 across 26 hospitalsMI$1,283New York: median $1,545 across 41 hospitalsNY$1,545Massachusetts: median $2,110 across 14 hospitalsMA$2,110Oregon: median $1,490 across 26 hospitalsOR$1,490Nevada: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIAIndiana: median $908 across 35 hospitalsIN$908Ohio: median $1,646 across 57 hospitalsOH$1,646Pennsylvania: median $1,659 across 45 hospitalsPA$1,659New Jersey: median $1,446 across 30 hospitalsNJ$1,446Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,928 across 121 hospitalsCA$2,928Utah: median $1,031 across 25 hospitalsUT$1,031Colorado: median $1,616 across 30 hospitalsCO$1,616Nebraska: median $759 across 14 hospitalsNE$759Missouri: median $975 across 18 hospitalsMO$975Kentucky: median $1,176 across 24 hospitalsKY$1,176West Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,184 across 19 hospitalsVA$1,184Maryland: median $1,828 across 24 hospitalsMD$1,828Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $778 across 17 hospitalsAZ$778New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $1,302 across 26 hospitalsNC$1,302South Carolina: median $1,912 across 15 hospitalsSC$1,912Oklahoma: median $1,172 across 17 hospitalsOK$1,172Louisiana: median $560 across 15 hospitalsLA$560Mississippi: median $584 across 11 hospitalsMS$584Alabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $449 across 37 hospitalsGA$449Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,433 across 98 hospitalsTX$1,433Florida: median $2,339 across 61 hospitalsFL$2,339
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,490. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA121$2,928+96%$1,158 – $5,626
Florida FL61$2,339+57%$1,250 – $4,656
Illinois IL37$2,226+49%$973 – $4,919
Massachusetts MA14$2,110+42%$1,465 – $3,255
Wisconsin WI27$1,936+30%$1,203 – $3,300
South Carolina SC15$1,912+28%$599 – $1,912
Maryland MD24$1,828+23%$951 – $2,218
Minnesota MN19$1,759+18%$1,546 – $1,785
Pennsylvania PA45$1,659+11%$1,083 – $4,243
Washington WA33$1,652+11%$967 – $2,600
Ohio OH57$1,646+10%$976 – $1,941
Colorado CO30$1,616+8%$1,444 – $3,228
New York NY41$1,545+4%$1,383 – $3,169
Oregon OR26$1,4900%$1,456 – $2,870
New Jersey NJ30$1,446−3%$665 – $2,626
Texas TX98$1,433−4%$850 – $1,970
North Carolina NC26$1,302−13%$947 – $1,783
Michigan MI26$1,283−14%$833 – $5,076
Virginia VA19$1,184−21%$1,082 – $1,716
Kentucky KY24$1,176−21%$459 – $5,068
Oklahoma OK17$1,172−21%$285 – $1,352
Utah UT25$1,031−31%$1,031 – $1,213
Missouri MO18$975−35%$844 – $1,952
Indiana IN35$908−39%$489 – $1,624
Arizona AZ17$778−48%$574 – $1,979
Nebraska NE14$759−49%$438 – $1,306
Mississippi MS11$584−61%$467 – $1,286
Louisiana LA15$560−62%$452 – $945
Georgia GA37$449−70%$239 – $752
Iowa IA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not 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 $1,490.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care953$1,493$844 – $3,104
Children’s31$1,724$886 – $3,685
Critical access85$1,392$728 – $3,169
Ownership
For-profit148$1,561$855 – $4,142
Government116$1,310$651 – $2,430
Non-profit805$1,490$850 – $3,209
System affiliation
Part of a system954$1,466$839 – $3,228
Independent120$1,598$844 – $2,900

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,591
Median cash price$1,490
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

805 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,530 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,690; most fall between $844 and $3,228.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 805 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
$549$976$1,530$2,841$5,076

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($549 vs $5,076).

Of the 910 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 805 gave a usable cash price; 63 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

1,074 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (27%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,232 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,074
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here107
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 — excluded51
Hospitals that filed this code1,232

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 Leak Detection&Localizatio|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 find a spinal fluid leak (CPT 78650) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78650-nuclear-scan-to-find-a-spinal-fluid-leak