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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

Nuclear tracer scan to locate a tumor, multiple areas

CPT 78801the billing code this page is about

Flat (planar) imaging of two or more body areas, or one area imaged at several time points, after a radioactive tracer is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,153 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,695 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,220. Most fall between $581 and $2,071 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,695
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 1,695 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
$436$679$1,153$1,802$3,169

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($436 vs $3,169).

How the prices are spread

$349 – $450: 105 hospitals$349$450 – $580: 146 hospitals$580 – $747: 131 hospitals$580$747 – $963: 174 hospitals$963 – $1,241: 270 hospitals$963$1,241 – $1,599: 223 hospitals$1,599 – $2,061: 218 hospitals$1,599$2,061 – $2,656: 120 hospitals$2,656 – $3,423: 88 hospitals$2,656$3,423 – $4,411: 52 hospitals$3,423median $1,153price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,527 of 1,695 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$349$450105
$450$580146
$580$747131
$747$963174
$963$1,241270
$1,241$1,599223
$1,599$2,061218
$2,061$2,656120
$2,656$3,42388
$3,423$4,41152

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$408
Median cash price$1,153
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.8×

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 $1,153.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $646 across 11 hospitalsME$646Vermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $999 across 41 hospitalsWA$999Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $597 across 25 hospitalsMN$597Illinois: median $1,488 across 66 hospitalsIL$1,488Wisconsin: median $1,310 across 69 hospitalsWI$1,310Michigan: median $792 across 40 hospitalsMI$792New York: median $1,140 across 60 hospitalsNY$1,140Massachusetts: median $1,198 across 22 hospitalsMA$1,198Oregon: median $1,128 across 29 hospitalsOR$1,128Nevada: 9 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 $793 across 25 hospitalsIA$793Indiana: median $1,310 across 48 hospitalsIN$1,310Ohio: median $1,384 across 96 hospitalsOH$1,384Pennsylvania: median $867 across 66 hospitalsPA$867New Jersey: median $536 across 54 hospitalsNJ$536Connecticut: median $1,352 across 12 hospitalsCT$1,352Rhode Island: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,648 across 153 hospitalsCA$1,648Utah: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $1,631 across 42 hospitalsCO$1,631Nebraska: median $1,193 across 23 hospitalsNE$1,193Missouri: median $1,045 across 32 hospitalsMO$1,045Kentucky: median $1,190 across 38 hospitalsKY$1,190West Virginia: median $915 across 12 hospitalsWV$915Virginia: median $684 across 44 hospitalsVA$684Maryland: median $1,351 across 30 hospitalsMD$1,351Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,369 across 32 hospitalsAZ$1,369New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $558 across 14 hospitalsKS$558Arkansas: median $629 across 10 hospitalsAR$629Tennessee: median $539 across 39 hospitalsTN$539North Carolina: median $1,184 across 46 hospitalsNC$1,184South Carolina: median $1,526 across 26 hospitalsSC$1,526Oklahoma: median $628 across 25 hospitalsOK$628Louisiana: median $529 across 28 hospitalsLA$529Mississippi: median $514 across 24 hospitalsMS$514Alabama: median $1,118 across 22 hospitalsAL$1,118Georgia: median $878 across 53 hospitalsGA$878Hawaii: median $904 across 11 hospitalsHI$904Texas: median $1,603 across 152 hospitalsTX$1,603Florida: median $1,641 across 105 hospitalsFL$1,641
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,153. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA153$1,648+43%$666 – $2,716
Florida FL105$1,641+42%$849 – $6,257
Colorado CO42$1,631+41%$1,091 – $2,884
Texas TX152$1,603+39%$1,125 – $3,528
South Carolina SC26$1,526+32%$805 – $3,133
Illinois IL66$1,488+29%$1,074 – $2,706
Ohio OH96$1,384+20%$1,036 – $1,915
Arizona AZ32$1,369+19%$336 – $3,538
Connecticut CT12$1,352+17%$967 – $2,265
Maryland MD30$1,351+17%$690 – $1,998
Indiana IN48$1,310+14%$517 – $1,613
Wisconsin WI69$1,310+14%$1,087 – $1,738
Massachusetts MA22$1,198+4%$635 – $2,551
Nebraska NE23$1,193+3%$877 – $1,784
Kentucky KY38$1,190+3%$724 – $2,531
North Carolina NC46$1,184+3%$769 – $1,497
New York NY60$1,140−1%$476 – $1,839
Oregon OR29$1,128−2%$580 – $1,490
Alabama AL22$1,118−3%$356 – $2,216
Missouri MO32$1,045−9%$784 – $1,698
Washington WA41$999−13%$849 – $1,412
West Virginia WV12$915−21%$773 – $2,073
Hawaii HI11$904−22%$856 – $1,199
Georgia GA53$878−24%$645 – $1,914
Pennsylvania PA66$867−25%$471 – $2,298
Iowa IA25$793−31%$578 – $1,390
Michigan MI40$792−31%$550 – $1,523
Virginia VA44$684−41%$475 – $1,128
Maine ME11$646−44%$368 – $1,121
Arkansas AR10$629−45%$367 – $720
Oklahoma OK25$628−46%$375 – $1,119
Minnesota MN25$597−48%$279 – $1,087
Kansas KS14$558−52%$435 – $1,108
Tennessee TN39$539−53%$264 – $722
New Jersey NJ54$536−54%$445 – $1,274
Louisiana LA28$529−54%$344 – $1,094
Mississippi MS24$514−55%$329 – $1,060
Nevada NV9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not 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 $1,153.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,473$1,130$569 – $2,100
Children’s24$1,650$706 – $3,073
Critical access191$1,217$623 – $1,904
Ownership
For-profit252$1,603$722 – $5,369
Government203$993$476 – $1,518
Non-profit1,233$1,128$580 – $1,914
System affiliation
Part of a system1,472$1,184$593 – $2,109
Independent223$1,076$546 – $1,874

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,105
Median cash price$1,153
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

1,243 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,229 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,264; most fall between $648 and $1,967.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,243 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
$475$778$1,229$1,752$2,736

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($475 vs $2,736).

Of the 1,354 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,243 gave a usable cash price; 60 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 51 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,695 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (43%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,871 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,695
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 — excluded64
Hospitals that filed this code1,871

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 Rp Loclzj Tum Plnr 2+Area 1+D Img/1 Area Img>2+D.

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 tracer scan to locate a tumor, multiple areas (CPT 78801) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78801-nuclear-tracer-scan-to-locate-a-tumor-multiple-areas