CPT70450

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

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 Nevada averages $106.

Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers. For example 88901.
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Nevada Medicare physician rate (2026)

-0.2% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Nevada (Hospital)
$39.14
Physician reading only
Private plan est.
$138–$213
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$85–$159
~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 Nevada

Enter a ZIP code for your area, whether the Las Vegas Valley and Henderson, Reno-Sparks, Carson City, or rural stretches like Elko and the central basin towns.

What CT head without contrast costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Nevada 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 88901.

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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 Nevada the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $67.15.

National vs Nevada

National office$106.55
National hospital (physician)$39.41
Nevada vs nationalwithin 2% of the national office rate of $106.55

Where Nevada ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#34 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($94.74)
Highest stateAlaska ($124.50)

CT Head Without Contrast and how Nevada is priced

Nevada's Medicare rates flow from a single statewide locality with adjustments a little above the national midpoint, shaped mostly by Las Vegas wage and cost levels. Clark County holds nearly three quarters of the state's population, so the statewide factors largely mirror the Las Vegas economy, with Reno and the rural counties along for the ride. A procedure in Elko is approved at the same amount as one on the Strip's doorstep. The gap between that uniform pricing and Nevada's very uneven provider supply is what patients notice most.

Nevada has long ranked among the states with the fewest physicians per resident, and the shortage is sharpest in specialties, so waits and travel are common even in Las Vegas. Reno serves the north and pulls some patients from rural Nevada and eastern California. Many rural Nevadans cross into Utah, Arizona, or California for procedures, and complex cases are often referred to Los Angeles, Phoenix, or Salt Lake City.

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 Nevada: 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 Nevada averages $106. Nevada is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Nevada 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 $21 for the office physician line or $8 for the hospital physician line in Nevada. 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, $106.29 is Medicare's full rate in Nevada, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $39.14) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $146. Nevada ranks #34 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (within 2% of 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.