Nuclear stress test cost in St. Louis, MO — inpatient
In St. Louis, MO-IL, 7 hospitals list a cash price for nuclear stress test imaging (SPECT), rest and stress studies as an inpatient: from $4,075.92 to $7,356.30, with a median of $4,446.00. The lowest listed price is at Hshs Holy Family Hospital — $370.08 less than the median here. Across Missouri, the median is $4,413.01 at 20 hospitals.
Cash prices at 7 facilities across 7 cities for code 78452, as an inpatient (admitted to hospital) . Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Mar 16, 2026 and Mar 16, 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 St. Louis, MO-IL.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hshs Holy Family Hospital lowest Greenville, IL · (618) 664-1230 HC HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULTI | $4,075.92 | $5,661.00 | $800.98–$5,661.00 | 28% | — source file |
| Gateway Regional Medical Center Granite City, IL · (618) 798-3000 NM-MYOCRD SPECT MULT | $4,242.88 | $7,071.47 | $7,071.47 | 40% | — source file |
| St Josephs Hospital Hospital Sisters Third Order of St Francis Breese, IL · (618) 526-4511 HC HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULTI | $4,363.20 | $6,060.00 | $762.84–$6,060.00 | 28% | — source file |
| St Elizabeths Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis O'Fallon, IL HC HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULTI | $4,446.00 | $6,175.00 | $565.31–$6,175.00 | 28% | — source file |
| Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital South Louis, MO MYOCARD PERF MULTI SPECT | $4,464.09 | $4,464.09 | $4,464.09 | — | Mar 16, 2026 source file |
| St Josephs Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis Highland, IL · (618) 651-2600 HC HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULTI | $4,721.04 | $6,557.00 | $1,100.97–$6,557.00 | 28% | — source file |
| Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital St. Louis Chesterfield, MO MYOCARD PERF MULTI SPECT | $7,356.30 | $7,356.30 | $7,356.30 | — | Mar 16, 2026 source file |
Inpatient: lowest $4,075.92, median $4,446.00, highest $7,356.30 — a 1.8× difference within the same market.
As an outpatient, the same code is billed by 10 facilities here, median $4,404.60 — that is the price to compare if you are not being admitted.
Cash or insurance?
At 5 of 7 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at 1 it is 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.