Shoulder X-Ray Cost
X-ray exam of shoulder
$98Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a shoulder x-ray costs up to about $98 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility. Outside a hospital, one global fee of about $36 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 shoulder x-ray 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 $26.72.
How CMS prices CPT 73030
Work is about 17% of the office total RVU; practice expense is about 81%. 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: $35.74. Hospital (facility) physician rate: $9.02.
Medicare patients typically owe 20% of the allowed amount after the Part B deductible, about $7 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.
Shoulder X-Ray cost by state
2026 Medicare non-hospital rate for CPT 73030, averaged across each state's localities. Open a state for its locality table and full cost breakdown.
What Is Shoulder X-Ray?
A shoulder X-ray takes two or more views of the shoulder joint in a few minutes, checking for fractures, dislocations, arthritis, or calcium deposits. It is usually the first imaging test for shoulder pain because it is fast and inexpensive, even though it cannot see the rotator cuff tendons themselves. You stand or sit while the technologist positions your arm for each view; no preparation is needed and the radiation dose is small.
What Affects the Cost
- –An orthopedic office with in-house X-ray often bills less overall than a hospital radiology department for the same views.
- –The radiologist or orthopedist reading fee may be billed separately from the technical charge.
- –Because X-rays cannot show tendons, a normal result often leads to a shoulder MRI, which costs many times more.
- –ER imaging for a suspected dislocation carries emergency facility pricing.
- –Comparison views of the other shoulder, when ordered, can add a second billed study.
How It Is Billed
CPT 73030 requires a minimum of two views and covers the complete shoulder series; it is typically billed alongside the office visit at which the shoulder was examined, not instead of it. Technical and professional components may be split or global depending on where the images are taken. If both shoulders are imaged, each side is billed as its own study with a modifier indicating left and right.
Insurance & Coverage Notes
Plain films are covered diagnostic imaging without prior authorization on virtually every plan, subject to copay or deductible. The bigger insurance question is downstream: the shoulder MRI that often follows will need authorization, so a documented X-ray first actually helps that approval. In office settings many plans wrap the X-ray into predictable visit cost sharing, making this one of the more affordable imaging tests.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Is the X-ray billed on top of today's visit charge, and at what price?
- 2.Who reads the images, and is their fee separate?
- 3.If the X-ray is normal, will you order an MRI, and what will that authorization and cost look like?
- 4.Do you need views of both shoulders for comparison, and does that double the imaging charge?
- 5.Can I get the images done here in your office rather than at the hospital?
Shoulder X-Ray (CPT 73030): questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a shoulder x-ray costs up to about $98 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility. Outside a hospital, one global fee of about $36 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 73030 is $35.74. In a hospital the physician bills only the reading, about $9.02, and the hospital is paid for the rest on its own claim.
A shoulder X-ray takes two or more views of the shoulder joint in a few minutes, checking for fractures, dislocations, arthritis, or calcium deposits. It is usually the first imaging test for shoulder pain because it is fast and inexpensive, even though it cannot see the rotator cuff tendons themselves. You stand or sit while the technologist positions your arm for each view; no preparation is needed and the radiation dose is small. CMS bills it as “X-ray exam of shoulder.”
It depends on the setting. At an independent imaging center, lab or office, $35.74 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 $9.02) and the hospital is paid separately, which takes the total to about $98. 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.