How Much Does a CT Chest With Contrast Cost in California?
Ct thorax dx c+
$233Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a CT chest with contrast costs up to about $233 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 California averages $190, from $178 in Chico to $225 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty).
- ✓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
California Medicare physician rate (2026)
+13.8% vs nationalAverage of 29 localities. Office range $178.01–$225.08.
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.
Your ZIP in California
A ZIP-level lookup matters more in California than in any other state; compare your area, whether that is the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the Central Valley, or the rural north.
What CT chest with contrast costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in California 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.
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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 California the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $133.16.
National vs California
Where California ranks for this CPT
CPT 71260 by California locality
| Locality | Office |
|---|---|
| san jose-sunnyvale-santa clara (san benito cnty) | $225.08 |
| san jose-sunnyvale-santa clara (santa clara cnty) | $224.67 |
| san francisco-oakland-berkeley (marin cnty) | $220.26 |
| san francisco-oakland-berkeley (san francisco/san mateo/alameda/contra costa cnty) | $220.16 |
| napa | $207.61 |
| vallejo | $207.47 |
| santa rosa-petaluma | $195.12 |
| santa cruz-watsonville | $193.14 |
| san diego-chula vista-carlsbad | $191.11 |
| los angeles-long beach-anaheim (los angeles/orange cnty) | $190.25 |
| oxnard-thousand oaks-ventura | $189.51 |
| santa maria-santa barbara | $187.24 |
| sacramento-roseville-folsom | $187.16 |
| salinas | $186.47 |
| san luis obispo-paso robles | $183.42 |
| riverside-san bernardino-ontario | $179.00 |
| bakersfield | $178.30 |
| el centro | $178.02 |
| chico | $178.01 |
| fresno | $178.01 |
| hanford-corcoran | $178.01 |
| madera | $178.01 |
| merced | $178.01 |
| modesto | $178.01 |
| redding | $178.01 |
| stockton | $178.01 |
| visalia | $178.01 |
| yuba city | $178.01 |
| rest of california | $178.01 |
PE GPCI ranges from 1.096 to 1.442 in California. That index is why the same CPT is not one price statewide.
CT Chest With Contrast and how California is priced
California is the most finely divided state in the Medicare fee schedule, with roughly thirty payment localities drawn around metropolitan statistical areas after CMS reformed the state's locality map. The San Francisco Bay Area carries some of the highest geographic adjustments in the nation, with San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay each priced separately, while Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and Sacramento have their own localities at somewhat lower levels. Rural and inland counties fall into lower-cost localities, so the same procedure can carry meaningfully different Medicare-approved amounts within a single day's drive. No other state shows this much in-state variation on the fee schedule itself.
California's markets differ sharply: the Bay Area combines high wages with heavily consolidated hospital systems, Los Angeles offers enormous choice across a sprawling region, and the Central Valley and far north face genuine access shortages. Where you are treated within the state matters more here than almost anywhere else in the country. Academic medical centers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento handle much of the complex referral care.
This procedure: A chest CT with contrast adds an IV injection of iodine dye during the scan to light up blood vessels, lymph nodes, and masses in the chest. It is preferred when evaluating enlarged lymph nodes, suspected cancer spread, or vascular structures. The scan itself takes under a minute; the appointment runs about 30 minutes including IV placement, and the dye causes a brief warm flush that patients often feel in odd places.
What Is CT Chest With Contrast?
A chest CT with contrast adds an IV injection of iodine dye during the scan to light up blood vessels, lymph nodes, and masses in the chest. It is preferred when evaluating enlarged lymph nodes, suspected cancer spread, or vascular structures. The scan itself takes under a minute; the appointment runs about 30 minutes including IV placement, and the dye causes a brief warm flush that patients often feel in odd places.
What Affects the Cost
- –The iodinated contrast is a separate supply charge on top of the scan fee.
- –A kidney function blood test may be required before contrast in older patients or those with kidney risk, adding a lab charge.
- –Hospital versus freestanding center pricing gaps for contrast CT are just as wide as for any advanced imaging.
- –Patients with prior contrast reactions may need pre-medication protocols or an alternative study, changing the cost picture.
- –The radiologist's fee for a contrast-enhanced study runs higher than for the plain version.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Does my authorization specify a contrast-enhanced chest CT?
- 2.Will I need a kidney function test first, and is that billed to me?
- 3.How much is the contrast agent itself on your bills?
- 4.What is the global price at a freestanding imaging center?
- 5.If I react to dye or my kidneys disqualify me, what happens to the study and the charges?
Other featured procedures in California
CT Chest With Contrast in other states
CT Chest With Contrast in California: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a CT chest with contrast costs up to about $233 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 California averages $190, from $178 in Chico to $225 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty). Enter a ZIP for the exact California locality.
Yes. CMS splits California into 29 payment localities. For this CPT the office physician fee spans $47.07 from the lowest to highest locality. A ZIP-level lookup matters more in California than in any other state; compare your area, whether that is the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, the Central Valley, or the rural north.
After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $38 for the office physician line or $11 for the hospital physician line in California. 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, $189.73 is Medicare's full rate in California, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $56.57) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $233. California ranks #49 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (14% above the national office rate of $166.67).