Head CT without and with contrast cost in Chico, CA
In Chico, CA, 2 hospitals list a cash price for CT scan of the head without and with contrast: from $1,962.00 to $2,781.36, with a median of $2,371.68. The lowest listed price is at Oroville Hospital — $409.68 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $2,808.00 at 166 hospitals.
Cash prices at 2 facilities across 2 cities for code 70470, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 27, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Sep 26, 2026 and Sep 26, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Chico, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oroville Hospital lowest Oroville, CA · (530) 533-8500 Ct Head/brain W&wo Con | $1,962.00 | $3,923.00 | $216.00–$4,315.00 | 50% | — source file |
| Orchard Hospital Gridley, CA · (530) 846-5671 CT scan of head or brain before and after contrast | $2,781.36 | $4,635.60 | $247.72–$4,287.93 | 40% | Sep 26, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $1,962.00, median $2,371.68, highest $2,781.36 — a 1.4× difference within the same market.
Cash or insurance?
At 2 of 2 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at none is it below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What it is
This head CT takes images first without contrast dye and then with it, to compare the two.
What the price covers
The price usually covers the scan and the contrast dye. The radiologist's reading may be billed separately.
1 row held back from this comparison
It is priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 70470 ($1,755.50). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.
| Oroville Hospital Oroville, CACt Head/brain W/wo Con | $117.00 | file |