CPT70450

How Much Does a CT Head Without Contrast Cost in Connecticut?

Ct head/brain w/o dye

$146Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facility

Under 2026 Medicare rates, a CT head without contrast costs up to about $146 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 Connecticut averages $113.

Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers. For example 06001.
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Connecticut Medicare physician rate (2026)

+6.5% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Connecticut (Hospital)
$41.09
Physician reading only
Private plan est.
$147–$227
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$91–$170
~80–150% of Medicare

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.

Physician reading alone
$39
Only 27% of the hospital total

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 Connecticut

Look up your ZIP code for local detail across Connecticut, including the New Haven and Hartford areas, Fairfield County and Stamford, and the quieter eastern and northwestern corners.

What CT head without contrast costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Connecticut moves the bill more than anything else you control.

Locked

Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.

For example 06001.

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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 Connecticut the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $72.35.

National vs Connecticut

National office$106.55
National hospital (physician)$39.41
Connecticut vs national6% above the national office rate of $106.55

Where Connecticut ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#44 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($94.74)
Highest stateAlaska ($124.50)

CT Head Without Contrast and how Connecticut is priced

Despite sitting between two of the priciest metros in America, Connecticut is priced as one statewide Medicare locality, with geographic indices well above the national average. Every town from Stamford to Storrs shares the same adjustments, which are pushed up by the state's high wages, rents, and insurance costs. The uniform locality means Fairfield County's proximity to New York does not add a further Medicare premium beyond the statewide level. In practice Connecticut's Medicare-approved amounts rank among the higher states outside the biggest coastal cities.

Connecticut's hospital market has consolidated around a few large systems, and a major academic medical center in New Haven draws complex cases from across the state. Residents of Fairfield County routinely cross into New York for care, while some in the north lean toward Springfield or Boston providers. High commercial prices in the state make Medicare rates and transparent cash pricing especially useful comparison points here.

This procedure: A CT scan of the head without contrast uses X-rays and a computer to build cross-sectional pictures of the brain and skull. It is the usual first scan after a head injury, a sudden severe headache, or symptoms that could be a stroke, because it is fast and shows bleeding and fractures clearly. The scan itself takes only a few minutes: you lie on a table that slides through a ring-shaped scanner, and no injection is involved in this non-contrast version.

What Is CT Head Without Contrast?

A CT scan of the head without contrast uses X-rays and a computer to build cross-sectional pictures of the brain and skull. It is the usual first scan after a head injury, a sudden severe headache, or symptoms that could be a stroke, because it is fast and shows bleeding and fractures clearly. The scan itself takes only a few minutes: you lie on a table that slides through a ring-shaped scanner, and no injection is involved in this non-contrast version.

What Affects the Cost

  • –Where the scan is done matters most: a hospital outpatient department or emergency room adds a facility payment that is often far higher than what a freestanding imaging center charges for the same scan.
  • –A head CT done in the emergency department is billed alongside an ER visit level, which usually costs more than the CT itself.
  • –In a hospital, the radiologist's reading is billed separately from the scan, often by a physician group you never meet.
  • –If contrast is added, the study becomes a different and costlier code (70460, or 70470 for a scan without and then with contrast) and the contrast agent is charged as well.
  • –Freestanding imaging centers often publish cash prices well below a hospital's list price, so it is worth asking when the scan is not urgent.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

  • 1.Is a CT the right test for my symptoms, or would an MRI or no scan at all be better?
  • 2.Can the scan be done at a freestanding imaging center instead of the hospital?
  • 3.Does my plan need prior authorization, and has it been approved?
  • 4.Is the radiologist's reading included in the price, or billed separately?
  • 5.Will contrast be used, and how would that change the cost?

CT Head Without Contrast in Connecticut: questions

Under 2026 Medicare rates, a CT head without contrast costs up to about $146 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 Connecticut averages $113. Connecticut is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Connecticut 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 $23 for the office physician line or $8 for the hospital physician line in Connecticut. 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, $113.44 is Medicare's full rate in Connecticut, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $41.09) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $146. Connecticut ranks #44 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (6% above the national office rate of $106.55).

Data source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (CMS PPRRVU26B, released March 2026). Conversion factor: $33.4009. Prices shown are Medicare allowed amounts for the physician service and may not match what you are billed. Private insurance and self-pay ranges, when shown, are labeled estimates (typical multiples of Medicare), not quotes. This site is an independent cost tool, not medical advice.