Medicare's national average for a head CT scan in 2026 is $163 at an ambulatory surgery center and $212 at a hospital outpatient department — a range of $163 to $212 for the same procedure code, CPT 70450. Those totals cover the doctor's fee and the facility's fee together. A Medicare patient's own share is $32 at the surgery center and $42 at the hospital.
Medicare describes CPT 70450 as “Computed tomography, head or brain; without contrast material” — in plain terms, a CT of the head or brain performed without 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) | $163 | $212 |
| Doctor fee | $106 | $106 |
| Facility fee | $57 | $106 |
| Medicare pays | $130 | $170 |
| Patient pays (average) | $32 | $42 |
Source: Medicare.gov Procedure Price Lookup, CPT 70450, 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 $106 in both settings. What moves is the facility fee: $57 at a surgery center against $106 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 — $106 to the reading physician, $57 to a surgery center or $106 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 head CT scan. 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 70450 — 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.
If your radiology report says contrast was given, 70450 is not the code that describes what was done. Compare the code on the bill against the report.
At a surgery center Medicare pays $106 for the radiologist and $57 for the facility. Even at a hospital the two are equal at $106 each. A head CT charged in the thousands is not being driven by anything in Medicare’s figures.
The facility bills for the machine and a radiology group bills for the interpretation. Two interpretation charges for a single scan on a single date is a duplicate worth disputing.
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.