CPT71260

CT Chest With Contrast Cost in Tennessee

Ct thorax dx c+

$346Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facility
Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers.
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Tennessee Medicare physician rate (2026)

-7.7% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Tennessee (Hospital)
$153.82
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$200–$308
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$123–$231
~80–150% of Medicare

What the whole procedure costs

The rate above is the physician’s fee on its own. The facility bills separately, and for most procedures the facility is the larger half of the bill. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.

Surgery centre, total
$264
$167 physician + $97 facility
Physician fee alone
$167
Only 48% of the hospital total

Choosing a surgery centre over a hospital saves about $82 on the Medicare allowed amount for ct chest with contrast. Ask whether your procedure can be done at an ambulatory surgery centre.

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. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.

Your ZIP in Tennessee

Enter a ZIP code for your part of Tennessee, whether Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, the Tri-Cities, or the rural plateau and delta counties.

What ct chest with contrast costs at hospitals near you

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

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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 centre 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.

National vs Tennessee

National office$166.67
National hospital (physician)$166.67
Tennessee vs national8% below the national office rate of $166.67

Where Tennessee ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#8 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($147.46)
Highest stateAlaska ($192.38)

CT Chest With Contrast and how Tennessee is priced

Tennessee's Medicare rates come from one statewide locality with below-average geographic indices, so Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga all publish the same approved amounts despite being four distinct metro markets. The uniform locality stretches across a state that spans two time zones and several regional economies. Nashville's boom has raised local practice costs faster than the statewide averages that feed the indices. For patients, the fee schedule is identical statewide; the markets around it are anything but.

Nashville is the corporate capital of American hospital operations, home to major for-profit chains, alongside a prominent academic medical center, while Memphis anchors care for the Mid-South including parts of Mississippi and Arkansas. Knoxville and Chattanooga serve East Tennessee, and the rural Cumberland Plateau and West Tennessee counties have seen multiple hospital closures. Cross-border patient flows into Tennessee's metros are heavy from every neighboring state.

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?

CT Chest With Contrast in Tennessee: questions

Tennessee is a single Medicare locality for this fee schedule. The 2026 physician rate for CPT 71260 is $153.82 in an office and $153.82 in a hospital, statewide. A ZIP lookup still confirms the locality mapping.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Tennessee 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 $31 for the office physician line or $31 for the hospital physician line in Tennessee. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

No. $153.82 is only the physician's share. Adding Medicare's facility payment brings the total to about $346 in a hospital outpatient department, or about $264 at an ambulatory surgery centre. Anesthesia, pathology and other codes billed the same day are extra. Tennessee ranks #8 of 51 states on the physician line (8% below the national office rate of $166.67).

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.