Scans and imaging CPT 78226 Outpatient

HIDA scan cost in Kalispell, MT

In Kalispell, MT, 2 hospitals list a cash price for HIDA scan: nuclear imaging of the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder: from $955.50 to $1,359.96, with a median of $1,157.73. The lowest listed price is at Logan Health - Whitefish — $202.23 less than the median here. Across Montana, the median is $1,071.09 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 29, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Apr 1, 2026 and Apr 1, 2026.

Lowest$955.50Logan Health - Whitefish
Median$1,157.73half pay less
Highest$1,359.96in this market
Difference1.4×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 Kalispell, MT.

median
Lowest $955.50Highest $1,359.96

Hospitals, cheapest first

HospitalCash price List priceInsurers payOff listFile date
Logan Health - Whitefish lowest Whitefish, MT · (406) 863-3550 HIDA SCAN $955.50 $1,470.00 — 35% Apr 1, 2026
source file
Logan Health Medical Center Kalispell, MT · (406) 752-5111 HIDA SCAN $1,359.96 $2,092.25 — 35% Apr 1, 2026
source file

Outpatient: lowest $955.50, median $1,157.73, highest $1,359.96 — a 1.4× difference within the same market.

As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $1,157.73. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.

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).

2 rows held back from this comparison

They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 78226 ($1,465.37). 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.

Logan Health - Whitefish Whitefish, MTHEPATOBILIARY SYSTEM IMAGING $53.95 file
Logan Health Medical Center Kalispell, MTHEPATOBILIARY SYSTEM IMAGING $53.95 file