HIDA scan cost in Huntsville, AL
In Huntsville, AL, 2 hospitals list a cash price for HIDA scan: nuclear imaging of the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder: from $1,542.18 to $1,702.00, with a median of $1,622.09. The lowest listed price is at Crestwood Medical Center — $79.91 less than the median here. Across Alabama, the median is $2,064.00 at 11 hospitals.
Cash prices at 2 facilities for code 78226, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 22, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Jan 1, 2026 and Jan 1, 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 Huntsville, AL.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crestwood Medical Center lowest Huntsville, AL NM-HEPATOBILIARY SYS | $1,542.18 | $8,567.66 | $267.02–$7,282.51 | 82% | Jan 1, 2026 source file |
| Huntsville Hospital Huntsville, AL NM-BILIARY PATENCY HIDA | $1,702.00 | $1,702.00 | $122.49–$1,702.00 | — | — source file |
Outpatient: lowest $1,542.18, median $1,622.09, highest $1,702.00 — a 1.1× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $1,750.61. 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 1 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).