Nuclear stress test cost in Santa Cruz, CA — inpatient
In Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA, 1 hospital lists a cash price for nuclear stress test imaging (SPECT), rest and stress studies as an inpatient: from $8,283.93 to $8,283.93, with a median of $8,283.93. Across California, the median is $3,676.40 at 95 hospitals.
Cash prices at 1 facility for code 78452, as an inpatient (admitted to hospital) . Collected Sep 22, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Sep 15, 2026 and Sep 15, 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 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watsonville Community Hospital lowest Watsonville, CA · (831) 724-4741 NM-MYOCRD SPECT MULT | $8,283.93 | $13,806.55 | $499.34–$13,806.55 | 40% | Sep 15, 2026 source file |
| Watsonville Community Hospital lowest Watsonville, CA · (831) 724-4741 HT MUSCLE IMAGE SPECT MULT | $8,283.93 | $13,806.55 | $499.34–$13,806.55 | 40% | Sep 15, 2026 source file |
Inpatient: lowest $8,283.93, median $8,283.93, highest $8,283.93.
As an outpatient, the same code is billed by 1 facility here, median $8,283.93 — that is the price to compare if you are not being admitted.
Cash or insurance?
At the one hospital here that publishes insurer rates for this code, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated. 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.