Nuclear stress test cost in Buffalo, NY
In Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY, 4 hospitals list a cash price for nuclear stress test imaging (SPECT), rest and stress studies: from $967.00 to $1,194.66, with a median of $967.00. The lowest listed price is at Mount St. Mary's Hospital and 2 other hospitals. Across New York, the median is $1,544.85 at 55 hospitals.
Cash prices at 4 facilities across 2 cities for code 78452, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Aug 25, 2026 and Aug 25, 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount St. Mary's Hospital lowest Lewiston, NY · (716) 297-4800 Myocardial Spect Multiple Studies | $967.00 | $967.00 | $50.96–$3,458.00 | — | — source file |
| Mount St. Mary's Hospital lowest Lewiston, NY · (716) 297-4800 Myocardial Spect Multiple Studies | $967.00 | $967.00 | $50.96–$3,458.00 | — | — source file |
| Sisters of Charity Hospital lowest Buffalo, NY · (716) 862-1000 Myocardial Spect Multiple Studies | $967.00 | $967.00 | $50.96–$3,458.00 | — | — source file |
| Sisters of Charity Hospital lowest Buffalo, NY · (716) 862-1000 Myocardial Spect Multiple Studies | $967.00 | $967.00 | $50.96–$3,458.00 | — | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital of Buffalo lowest Buffalo, NY · (716) 826-7000 Myocardial Spect Multiple Studies | $967.00 | $967.00 | $50.96–$3,458.00 | — | — source file |
| Erie County Medical Center Buffalo, NY · (716) 898-3936 HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULT | $1,194.66 | — | $430.98–$4,040.23 | — | Aug 25, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $967.00, median $967.00, highest $1,194.66 — a 1.2× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 3 facilities here, median $967.00. 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 4 of 4 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 is the imaging part of a nuclear stress test. A small amount of radioactive tracer is injected, and a special camera takes pictures of blood flow to the heart muscle at rest and after exercise or a stress medicine. It is used to look for blocked heart arteries.
What the price covers
The code covers the camera images and their processing. The radioactive tracer, the stress test itself (with ECG monitoring), any stress medicine and the physician's interpretation are often billed separately.
3 rows held back from this comparison
They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 78452 ($3,092.31). 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.
| Mount St. Mary's Hospital Lewiston, NYHC Ht Muscle Image Spect Mult - NM Heart Perfusion Spect Stress & Rest | $143.24 | file |
| Sisters of Charity Hospital Buffalo, NYHC Ht Muscle Image Spect Mult - NM Heart Perfusion Spect Stress & Rest | $143.24 | file |
| Mercy Hospital of Buffalo Buffalo, NYHC Ht Muscle Image Spect Mult - NM Heart Perfusion Spect Stress & Rest | $143.24 | file |