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Procedure price report · Radioisotope scan and function studies

PET scan from the base of the skull to mid-thigh

CPT 78812the billing code this page is about

Positron emission tomography imaging covering the body from the skull base down to the mid-thighs, without a combined CT scan.

Hospitals typically charge $3,899 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 594 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $3,843. Most fall between $1,755 and $6,542 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
594
States
48
Filings dated
Nov 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 594 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
$1,417$1,918$3,899$5,639$9,266

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,417 vs $9,266).

How the prices are spread

$439 – $610: 5 hospitals$439$610 – $849: 4 hospitals$849 – $1,181: 7 hospitals$849$1,181 – $1,642: 43 hospitals$1,642 – $2,284: 92 hospitals$1,642$2,284 – $3,178: 78 hospitals$3,178 – $4,420: 85 hospitals$3,178$4,420 – $6,149: 116 hospitals$6,149 – $8,553: 62 hospitals$6,149$8,553 – $11,898: 46 hospitals$8,553median $3,899price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (538 of 594 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$439$6105
$610$8494
$849$1,1817
$1,181$1,64243
$1,642$2,28492
$2,284$3,17878
$3,178$4,42085
$4,420$6,149116
$6,149$8,55362
$8,553$11,89846

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$1,461
Median cash price$3,899
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.7×

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 $3,899.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: 1 hospital 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 $3,074 across 18 hospitalsWA$3,074Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,786 across 10 hospitalsMN$1,786Illinois: median $5,630 across 21 hospitalsIL$5,630Wisconsin: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $1,966 across 13 hospitalsMI$1,966New York: median $1,730 across 33 hospitalsNY$1,730Massachusetts: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $221 across 13 hospitalsIA$221Indiana: median $2,579 across 18 hospitalsIN$2,579Ohio: median $5,168 across 32 hospitalsOH$5,168Pennsylvania: median $3,620 across 44 hospitalsPA$3,620New Jersey: median $1,616 across 20 hospitalsNJ$1,616Connecticut: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $4,872 across 63 hospitalsCA$4,872Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $5,353 across 16 hospitalsCO$5,353Nebraska: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $4,589 across 10 hospitalsMO$4,589Kentucky: median $5,391 across 12 hospitalsKY$5,391West Virginia: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $5,425 across 17 hospitalsVA$5,425Maryland: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $1,963 across 15 hospitalsTN$1,963North Carolina: median $3,427 across 13 hospitalsNC$3,427South Carolina: median $2,898 across 11 hospitalsSC$2,898Oklahoma: median $2,783 across 13 hospitalsOK$2,783Louisiana: median $1,739 across 12 hospitalsLA$1,739Mississippi: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $4,600 across 17 hospitalsGA$4,600Hawaii: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $4,795 across 49 hospitalsTX$4,795Florida: median $4,933 across 41 hospitalsFL$4,933
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $3,899. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Illinois IL21$5,630+44%$1,643 – $5,630
Virginia VA17$5,425+39%$5,071 – $8,865
Kentucky KY12$5,391+38%$2,675 – $5,391
Colorado CO16$5,353+37%$3,607 – $8,062
Ohio OH32$5,168+33%$3,176 – $6,542
Florida FL41$4,933+27%$2,497 – $8,458
California CA63$4,872+25%$3,450 – $10,614
Texas TX49$4,795+23%$2,109 – $8,365
Georgia GA17$4,600+18%$1,670 – $9,266
Missouri MO10$4,589+18%$3,160 – $5,733
Pennsylvania PA44$3,620−7%$1,689 – $10,595
North Carolina NC13$3,427−12%$2,046 – $3,895
Washington WA18$3,074−21%$2,913 – $4,074
South Carolina SC11$2,898−26%$1,627 – $6,027
Oklahoma OK13$2,783−29%$2,035 – $4,247
Indiana IN18$2,579−34%$1,927 – $3,485
Michigan MI13$1,966−50%$1,769 – $3,969
Tennessee TN15$1,963−50%$1,761 – $2,340
Minnesota MN10$1,786−54%$1,786 – $1,805
Louisiana LA12$1,739−55%$1,034 – $2,376
New York NY33$1,730−56%$1,726 – $5,288
New Jersey NJ20$1,616−59%$439 – $1,850
Iowa IA13$221−94%$221 – $221
Mississippi MS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not 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 $3,899.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care531$3,706$1,726 – $6,542
Children’s22$5,537$3,160 – $9,110
Critical access40$4,031$2,684 – $6,534
Ownership
For-profit76$4,524$2,046 – $10,349
Government68$2,212$1,623 – $5,391
Non-profit449$3,958$1,786 – $6,542
System affiliation
Part of a system532$3,923$1,761 – $6,542
Independent62$3,450$1,519 – $6,238

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$7,187
Median cash price$3,899
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

399 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $4,278 and the average of the middle 60% is $4,307; most fall between $2,035 and $7,135.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 399 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
$1,519$2,376$4,278$6,542$9,349

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($1,519 vs $9,349).

Of the 469 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 399 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 12 a list price only.

How complete is this

594 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (15%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 695 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted594
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here84
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded16
Hospitals that filed this code695

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 Chg Nuc Med Data Proc.

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, “PET scan from the base of the skull to mid-thigh (CPT 78812) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-78812-pet-scan-from-the-base-of-the-skull-to-mid-thigh