How Much Does a Carotid Ultrasound Cost in Arkansas?
Extracranial bilat study
$281Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a carotid ultrasound costs about $281 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Arkansas averages $165.
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- ✓The add-on codes that typically land on the bill
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- ✓Printable PDF download
Arkansas Medicare physician rate (2026)
-12.8% vs nationalSingle statewide locality.
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.
This is Medicare's separate payment to the facility on top of the physician's fee. 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.
Your ZIP in Arkansas
Try a ZIP lookup to see rates for your corner of Arkansas, whether around Little Rock, the fast-growing Fayetteville and Springdale corridor, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, or the rural Delta.
What carotid ultrasound costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Arkansas 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 71601.
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. In Arkansas the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $129.92.
National vs Arkansas
Where Arkansas ranks for this CPT
Carotid Ultrasound and how Arkansas is priced
One payment locality covers the whole of Arkansas, and its geographic indices are among the lowest CMS publishes, so Medicare-approved amounts here sit near the bottom of the national range. A clinic visit in Little Rock is priced with the same adjustments as one in the Delta or the Ozarks. For consumers this means the statewide numbers on this site are a close match for almost any Arkansas address. The bigger price swings come from whether a procedure is billed in a hospital department or an independent office.
Little Rock is the state's referral hub, home to its academic medical center and the densest concentration of specialists, with Northwest Arkansas growing quickly as a second center of care. Large parts of the Delta and the mountain counties have limited local options, so traveling for procedures is routine. Lower area wages also mean cash prices for care in Arkansas often undercut national averages.
This procedure: A bilateral carotid duplex ultrasound examines the arteries on both sides of the neck that supply the brain, measuring plaque buildup and blood flow speed to estimate narrowing. It is ordered after a stroke or mini-stroke, for a bruit heard in the neck, or before certain surgeries. A technologist moves a probe along each side of your neck for 30 to 45 minutes; it is painless, radiation-free, and requires no preparation.
What Is Carotid Ultrasound?
A bilateral carotid duplex ultrasound examines the arteries on both sides of the neck that supply the brain, measuring plaque buildup and blood flow speed to estimate narrowing. It is ordered after a stroke or mini-stroke, for a bruit heard in the neck, or before certain surgeries. A technologist moves a probe along each side of your neck for 30 to 45 minutes; it is painless, radiation-free, and requires no preparation.
What Affects the Cost
- –Hospital vascular labs charge multiples of what office-based or freestanding vascular labs charge for the same bilateral study.
- –Significant narrowing triggers surveillance scans every 6 to 12 months, making the per-scan price a recurring expense for years.
- –Findings can cascade to CT or MR angiography for confirmation, each far more expensive than the ultrasound.
- –The interpreting physician's fee is a separate component at facility-based labs.
- –Screening packages sold directly to consumers by mobile companies price this scan cheaply as cash-pay, but positive findings still funnel into insured follow-up costs.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.What indication is on my order, and is it one my insurer covers?
- 2.What does this study cost at an office vascular lab versus the hospital?
- 3.If narrowing is found, how often will I need repeat scans and at what cost each?
- 4.Would an abnormal result lead to CT or MR angiography, and what do those cost?
- 5.Is the physician interpretation included in your quoted price?
Other featured procedures in Arkansas
Carotid Ultrasound in other states
Carotid Ultrasound in Arkansas: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a carotid ultrasound costs about $281 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Arkansas averages $165. Arkansas is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Arkansas uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.
After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $33 for the office physician line or $7 for the hospital physician line in Arkansas. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.
It depends on where the test is done. At an independent imaging center, lab or office, $164.92 is Medicare's full rate in Arkansas, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $35.00) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to about $281. Arkansas ranks #1 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (13% below the national office rate of $189.05).