Scans and imaging CPT 78226 Outpatient

HIDA scan cost in Oxnard, CA

In Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA, 3 hospitals list a cash price for HIDA scan: nuclear imaging of the liver, bile ducts and gallbladder: from $1,465.37 to $12,087.11, with a median of $1,546.58. The lowest listed price is at Dignity Health — $81.21 less than the median here. Across California, the median is $1,534.00 at 141 hospitals.

Cash prices at 3 facilities across 3 cities for code 78226, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 27, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Feb 28, 2026 and Sep 1, 2026.

Lowest$1,465.37Dignity Health
Median$1,546.58half pay less
Highest$12,087.11in this market
Difference8.2×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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA.

median
Lowest $1,465.37Highest $12,087.11

Hospitals, cheapest first

HospitalCash price List priceInsurers payOff listFile date
Dignity Health lowest Camarillo, CA NM HEPATOBILIARY SYSTEM $1,465.37 $3,531.00 $440.27–$3,531.00 58% Feb 28, 2026
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Dignity Health Oxnard, CA · (805) 988-2500 NM HEPATOBILIARY SYSTEM $1,546.58 $3,531.00 $440.27–$3,531.00 56% Feb 28, 2026
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Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center Thousand Oaks, CA · (805) 497-2727 Hepatobiliary system imaging, including gallbladder when present; $12,087.11 $12,087.11 $4,375.90–$6,252.41 — Sep 1, 2026
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Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center Thousand Oaks, CA · (805) 497-2727 HEPA IMAG INCL GB $12,087.11 $12,087.11 $1,813.07–$12,087.11 — Sep 1, 2026
source file

Outpatient: lowest $1,465.37, median $1,546.58, highest $12,087.11 — a 8.2× difference within the same market.

As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $1,505.98. 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 2 of 3 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).