Scans and imaging CPT 78226 Outpatient

HIDA scan cost in Fayetteville, AR

In Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR, 2 hospitals list a cash price for HIDA scan: nuclear imaging of the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder: from $1,570.40 to $1,899.02, with a median of $1,734.71. The lowest listed price is at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas — $164.31 less than the median here. Across Arkansas, the median is $878.05 at 10 hospitals.

Cash prices at 2 facilities across 2 cities for code 78226, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between — and —.

Lowest$1,570.40Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas
Median$1,734.71half pay less
Highest$1,899.02in this market
Difference1.2×highest vs lowest

Where each hospital's price falls

Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR.

median
Lowest $1,570.40Highest $1,899.02

Hospitals, cheapest first

HospitalCash price List priceInsurers payOff listFile date
Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas lowest Department Bella Vista, AR NM Hepatobiliary System $1,570.40 $2,416.00 $218.43–$871.76 35% —
source file
Arkansas Childrens Northwest Springdale, AR · (479) 725-6800 HEPATOBILIARY SYSTEM IMAGING $1,899.02 $2,110.02 $373.12–$1,830.61 10% —
source file

Outpatient: lowest $1,570.40, median $1,734.71, highest $1,899.02 — a 1.2× difference within the same market.

As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 1 facility here, median $2,022.97. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.

Cash or insurance?

At 0 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

A HIDA scan follows a radioactive tracer as the liver takes it up and releases it into the bile ducts, gallbladder and bowel. It is used to look for gallbladder inflammation, a blocked bile duct or a bile leak.

What the price covers

The hospital price usually covers the imaging. The tracer and the reading by a radiologist or nuclear medicine doctor are often billed separately. A scan that also measures how well the gallbladder empties after a medicine is given is billed under a different code (78227).