CT Chest Without Contrast Cost
Ct thorax dx c-
$156Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a CT chest without contrast costs up to about $156 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility. Outside a hospital, one global fee of about $133 covers the whole test, and a ZIP code adjusts every figure to your area.
- ✓Your ZIP's wage-adjusted hospital and surgery center rates
- ✓Five nearby hospitals by name, with CMS star ratings
- ✓The add-on codes that typically land on the bill
- ✓A word-for-word script for asking for a good-faith estimate
- ✓A private link you can reopen and share
- ✓Everything in the Premium report
- ✓15 nearby hospitals instead of five
- ✓Filled good-faith-estimate request letter
- ✓Bill-negotiation letter
- ✓Printable PDF download
National Medicare physician rate (2026)
What the whole procedure costs
The office rate above is what an imaging center, lab or office is paid for the whole test. In a hospital, the facility bills its own fee and the physician bills only the reading. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.
Medicare may pay the facility separately for this code or package it into another service on the same day, so treat the facility share as an upper bound. For a test like this the physician in a hospital bills only the reading (the professional component); outside a hospital one global fee covers the whole test, shown in the office rate above. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.
Get the rate for your ZIP
CMS adjusts this CPT by locality. A five-digit ZIP is enough: no account, no insurance card.
What CT chest without contrast costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in your area moves the bill more than anything else you control.
Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.
For example 90001.
One-off payment, no account and no subscription. You get a private link and an email. No medical records and no insurance card, ever.
What these numbers are
Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery center rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again. For this code the office and hospital physician lines differ by $83.17.
How CMS prices CPT 71250
Work is about 26% of the office total RVU; practice expense is about 72%. Localities with a high PE GPCI move this code more when practice expense is a large share.
Office vs hospital for this code
Office (non-facility) physician rate: $132.60. Hospital (facility) physician rate: $49.43.
Medicare patients typically owe 20% of the allowed amount after the Part B deductible, about $27 for the office physician fee, before any Medigap coverage. That coinsurance does not include a hospital facility fee.
Labeled private-plan and cash ranges on this page are arithmetic multiples of Medicare, not negotiated quotes. Ask the billing office for the CPT code, the site of service, and a good-faith estimate.
CT Chest Without Contrast cost by state
2026 Medicare non-hospital rate for CPT 71250, averaged across each state's localities. Open a state for its locality table and full cost breakdown.
What Is CT Chest Without Contrast?
A chest CT without contrast takes cross-sectional X-ray images of the lungs and chest in a scan that lasts under a minute on the table, with the whole appointment done in 15 minutes. It sees far more detail than a chest X-ray and is ordered to evaluate lung nodules, unexplained cough, abnormal X-ray findings, or interstitial lung disease. You lie on a table that slides through a doughnut-shaped scanner and hold your breath briefly; no IV is needed for this non-contrast version.
What Affects the Cost
- –Freestanding imaging centers routinely price this scan at a fraction of hospital outpatient rates.
- –The radiologist's professional reading fee is billed separately from the scan at many facilities.
- –Lung nodules found on a first scan typically trigger a series of follow-up CTs over one to two years, multiplying the true cost of the finding.
- –Low-dose CT for lung cancer screening is a different code with different, usually free, coverage; make sure the right one is ordered if screening is the goal.
- –Emergency department chest CTs carry ER-level facility charges far above scheduled outpatient pricing.
How It Is Billed
CPT 71250 covers the non-contrast scan; adding IV dye changes the code to 71260 and adds a contrast supply charge. Technical and professional components are billed separately at hospitals and usually globally at independent centers. Note that annual lung cancer screening for eligible smokers uses a distinct low-dose code (71271) with its own preventive billing rules, so a diagnostic 71250 claim for what was meant as screening can cost you money unnecessarily.
Insurance & Coverage Notes
Commercial insurers generally require prior authorization for chest CT through their radiology benefit programs, while Medicare does not and applies standard Part B coinsurance. If you qualify for lung cancer screening by age and smoking history, that specific low-dose screening CT is covered with no cost sharing as preventive care; a diagnostic chest CT for symptoms never is. Follow-up nodule scans are diagnostic each time, so plan for repeated cost sharing across the surveillance schedule.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Is this being ordered as a diagnostic CT or as low-dose lung cancer screening, and am I eligible for the free screening version?
- 2.Has prior authorization been obtained for the facility where I am scheduled?
- 3.What does this scan cost at a freestanding center versus the hospital?
- 4.If a nodule is found, how many follow-up scans should I budget for?
- 5.Is the radiologist fee included in the price I was quoted?
CT Chest Without Contrast (CPT 71250): questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a CT chest without contrast costs up to about $156 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility. Outside a hospital, one global fee of about $133 covers the whole test, and a ZIP code adjusts every figure to your area.
Outside a hospital, one global fee pays for the equipment, the staff and the doctor's reading, so the office or imaging center rate for CPT 71250 is $132.60. In a hospital the physician bills only the reading, about $49.43, and the hospital is paid for the rest on its own claim.
A chest CT without contrast takes cross-sectional X-ray images of the lungs and chest in a scan that lasts under a minute on the table, with the whole appointment done in 15 minutes. It sees far more detail than a chest X-ray and is ordered to evaluate lung nodules, unexplained cough, abnormal X-ray findings, or interstitial lung disease. You lie on a table that slides through a doughnut-shaped scanner and hold your breath briefly; no IV is needed for this non-contrast version. CMS bills it as “Ct thorax dx c-.”
It depends on the setting. At an independent imaging center, lab or office, $132.60 is Medicare's full national rate, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $49.43) and the hospital is paid separately, which takes the total to about $156. Private-plan allowed amounts are often higher than Medicare; your deductible and coinsurance still apply.
For cash-pay surgery shopping, use this CPT as the Medicare floor when you compare written quotes. How cash-price shopping works.