Medicare's national average for a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis in 2026 is $492 at an ambulatory surgery center and $656 at a hospital outpatient department — a range of $492 to $656 for the same procedure code, CPT 74177. Those totals cover the doctor's fee and the facility's fee together. A Medicare patient's own share is $98 at the surgery center and $131 at the hospital.
Medicare describes CPT 74177 as “Computed tomography, abdomen and pelvis; with contrast material(s)” — in plain terms, a CT of the abdomen and pelvis performed with contrast. The figures below are national averages published by CMS; your own region, and above all your own insurance status, will move them.
| Ambulatory surgery center | Hospital outpatient department | |
|---|---|---|
| Total (Medicare-approved amount) | $492 | $656 |
| Doctor fee | $300 | $300 |
| Facility fee | $192 | $356 |
| Medicare pays | $394 | $525 |
| Patient pays (average) | $98 | $131 |
Source: Medicare.gov Procedure Price Lookup, CPT 74177, retrieved July 29, 2026. CMS states these are national averages based on Medicare’s 2026 payments and copayments; the underlying dataset is the CMS 2026 Hospital Outpatient PPS annual policy file. Figures are rounded by CMS and are not intended to reconcile to the dollar.
The most useful thing in that table is what does not change. The doctor’s fee is $300 in both settings. What moves is the facility fee: $192 at a surgery center against $356 at a hospital outpatient department — 1.9× as much. Because the professional fee is fixed, the whole 1.3× difference in the total is the building.
Medicare.gov's note on this procedure says the figures cover facility and doctor fees, but that “you may need more than one doctor and additional costs may apply.” For imaging that plays out predictably: the facility bills for the equipment and the technologist, and a radiology group bills separately for interpreting the images. Medicare's split above shows exactly how those two halves are meant to divide — $300 to the reading physician, $192 to a surgery center or $356 to a hospital.
Two interpretation charges for one study on one date is a duplicate. So is the same study appearing twice under slightly different descriptions. Our guide to finding duplicate charges walks through how to prove it from the itemized statement.
Everything above is what Medicare pays. It is not a cash price, it is not what a commercial insurer has negotiated, and it is certainly not a hospital’s list price. Those three numbers can differ from each other by multiples for the identical procedure code at the identical hospital.
We are deliberately not publishing a national “fair cash price” for a CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis. We do not have a current primary-source benchmark for one, and a stale number presented as today’s would be worse than no number. What we can tell you is where the number that actually governs your bill lives: your hospital publishes its own rates for CPT 74177 — the gross charge, the discounted cash price, and the payer-specific negotiated rates — in a machine-readable file. Our hospital price check walks you to it, and this guide shows how to read it once you get there.
If you just want a quick sanity check on the number in front of you, the overcharge estimator compares your charge against typical national ranges. Treat it as a smoke alarm, not a valuation.
CMS describes 74177 as covering the abdomen and pelvis in a single study. Separate abdomen-only and pelvis-only CT lines billed on the same date alongside 74177 are worth asking about — that pattern is what unbundling looks like.
CMS’s description ends “with contrast material(s).” A separate line for the same contrast agent, billed next to a with-contrast code, is worth having itemized before you pay it.
The reading fee is $300 either way — 61% of Medicare’s surgery-center total and 46% of its hospital total. You will usually get two bills for one scan: the facility for the machine, and a radiology group for the interpretation. Two interpretation charges for one scan is a duplicate.
Have the bill in front of you? Upload it and our AI reads every line — decoding each code, flagging duplicates, upcoding and unbundling, and drafting a dispute letter for anything it flags.
Audit my bill →CPT® is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association. CPT code descriptions quoted above are reproduced only as they appear on the CMS pages cited.