Paying for an ultrasound in the US
Abdominal, pelvic, transvaginal or retroperitoneal ultrasound. Four routes can pay for it: Original Medicare, Medicaid, employer or Marketplace insurance, and paying the provider yourself. The table sets out what each route covers and the price, with the source of every figure and the date it was read. Where a route publishes nothing, or this site has not read it, the cell says so.
How each route pays for an ultrasound
| Route | What it covers | Wait | Payment or price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original Medicare (Part B)CPT 76700: Ultrasound abdomen complete | Patient usually pays 20%of the Medicare-approved amount, after the Part B deductible, where the provider accepts that amount as full payment | Not publishedNo official US source publishes waiting times for elective care | $114.23What Medicare pays for the whole service in an office or imaging center, national amount before geographic adjustment. Not a patient price. |
|
| MedicaidRun by each state within federal rules | Not trackedCoverage is set by each state; no state’s Medicaid rules for ultrasound have been read | Not publishedNo official US source publishes waiting times for elective care | Not trackedNo state Medicaid payment or cost-sharing has been read | None for this row |
| Employer or Marketplace insuranceAs a mechanism; no insurer, plan or premium is named | Set by each plan’s terms71% of workers with employer coverage are in self-funded plans (KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey 2026), where the employer pays claims from its own funds. | Not publishedNo official US source publishes waiting times for elective care | Up to $10,600 a yearFederal cap on in-network cost-sharing for an individual on a Marketplace plan, plan year 2026 (family: $21,200). Excludes premiums, services the plan does not cover and out-of-network care. |
|
| Self-pay at a hospitalDiscounted cash price, CPT 76700, facility charge | The hospital’s facility charge for the service; professional fees are a separate billing class, not includedYou are entitled to a Good Faith Estimate of expected charges when you book or ask (45 CFR 149.610) | Not publishedNo official US source publishes waiting times for elective care | $752Median of 42 hospitals’ published cash prices, $221–$2,465. Files read 26 October 2026. |
|
- Waits: no official US source publishes waiting times for elective care, so none is shown for any route.
- The Part B deductible is $283 for calendar year 2026 (CMS: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles, read 26 October 2026). The patient's share is not calculated here: it depends on the deductible already paid, the setting, and any separate facility charge.
- For plan choice within Medicare, including any plan other than Original Medicare, see Medicare.gov. TreatCompare does not name, compare or price plans.
- Figures from different routes are not added together or compared as one bill. What Medicare pays, an insurance cap and a provider's self-pay price each describe a different thing.
Every billing code for an ultrasound, one at a time
Each billing code is a different service at its own price, so codes are never averaged together. This is what Medicare pays under its national fee schedule, before geographic adjustment. It is not a price charged to patients or to anyone without Medicare. Hospital cash prices and negotiated rates are separate figures from the same files: the first is what the hospital charges a self-pay patient, the second what insurers have agreed to pay it, shown with no payer named.
| Code and service | What Medicare pays: office | What Medicare pays: clinician, in a facility | Hospital cash price | Hospital negotiated rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76700Ultrasound abdomen complete | $114.23 | Not applicable in this setting | $752median of 42 hospitals, $221–$2,46510 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $205median of 46 hospitals, $104–$916; rates from 1,122 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named8 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76705Ultrasound abdomen limited | $86.17 | Not applicable in this setting | $592median of 34 hospitals, $178–$1,84818 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $205median of 39 hospitals, $104–$671; rates from 863 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named15 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76770Ultrasound retroperitoneal complete | $106.21 | Not applicable in this setting | $597median of 41 hospitals, $124–$2,13811 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $201median of 45 hospitals, $104–$671; rates from 1,088 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named9 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76817Ultrasound pregnant uterus transvaginal | $92.85 | Not applicable in this setting | $424median of 37 hospitals, $151–$2,31315 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $199median of 42 hospitals, $104–$822; rates from 980 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named12 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76830Ultrasound transvaginal | $117.57 | Not applicable in this setting | $552median of 36 hospitals, $166–$2,31316 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $199median of 42 hospitals, $104–$960; rates from 981 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named12 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76856Ultrasound pelvic complete non-obstetric | $105.21 | Not applicable in this setting | $660median of 38 hospitals, $176–$1,88014 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $205median of 44 hospitals, $104–$801; rates from 1,010 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named10 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
| 76857Ultrasound pelvic limited | $51.10 | Not applicable in this setting | $430median of 37 hospitals, $80–$1,15715 more list several charge lines and are not counted | $183median of 41 hospitals, $90–$499; rates from 963 payer–hospital pairs, no payer named13 more list several charge lines and are not counted |
- Medicare amounts: CMS Physician Fee Schedule relative value file RVU26D, read 26 October 2026. Service labels are TreatCompare's plain-English wording, not CMS or AMA descriptors.
- Hospital figures are facility charges from each hospital's own standard-charge file. A hospital whose file lists several different charge lines for one code is named but not counted, because no single line is the service. Hospitals on one file host publishing the same figure count once.
The hospital files behind the self-pay figure (CPT 76700)
Each hospital's discounted cash price for CPT 76700 (Ultrasound abdomen complete), from its own file, A to Z, with the date the file was read.
| Hospital | State | Cash price | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| AdventHealth Orlando | FL | $2,465 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Advocate Christ Medical Center | IL | $675 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center | WI | $970 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix | AZ | $223 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak | MI | $1,207 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Cleveland Clinic Florida | FL | $597 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Cleveland Clinic Main Campus | OH | $477 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Denver Health Medical Center | CO | $280 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Duke University Hospital | NC | $221 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Erlanger Baroness Hospital | TN | $862 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Froedtert Hospital | WI | $1,129 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Grady Memorial Hospital | GA | $2,181 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Hennepin Healthcare | MN | $235 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center | AZ | $2,413 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania | PA | $1,819 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Houston Methodist Hospital | TX | $990 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center | OK | $513 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Legacy Emanuel Medical Center | OR | $476 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Lovelace Medical Center | NM | $447 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Memorial Medical Center Las Cruces | NM | $1,156 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City | OK | $757 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Mercy Hospital St. Louis | MO | $748 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center | IA | $1,187 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| MetroHealth Medical Center | OH | $480 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| North Memorial Health Hospital | MN | $328 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Norton Children's Hospital | KY | $388 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center | NC | $573 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| ProMedica Toledo Hospital | OH | $926 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Providence St. Vincent Medical Center | OR | $595 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center | CT | $505 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Saint Francis Hospital Tulsa | OK | $582 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Sentara Norfolk General Hospital | VA | $869 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Stanford Hospital | CA | $1,309 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| Tampa General Hospital | FL | $615 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| The Mount Sinai Hospital | NY | $1,260 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital | CO | $945 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UnityPoint Health - Meriter | WI | $1,661 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UnityPoint Health Iowa Lutheran HospitalSame figure, same file host: UnityPoint Health Iowa Methodist Medical Center | IA | $1,189 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics | IA | $1,175 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UofL Health Jewish Hospital | KY | $689 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | PA | $1,274 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
| UT Southwestern University Hospitals | TX | $436 | Standard-charge fileread 26 October 2026 |
Not counted, because the file lists several charge lines for this code: Abbott Northwestern Hospital (MN, 2 lines); Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital (MI, 4 lines); M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center (MN, 2 lines); MUSC Health University Medical Center (SC, 2 lines); OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center (OK, 3 lines); Swedish Medical Center First Hill (WA, 3 lines); The Johns Hopkins Hospital (MD, 2 lines); Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (PA, 2 lines); University of Chicago Medical Center (IL, 3 lines); Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center (GA, 2 lines).
Paying yourself: the Good Faith Estimate
Providers and facilities must give uninsured and self-pay patients a Good Faith Estimate of expected charges when a service is scheduled or on request.
Source: eCFR: 45 CFR 149.610, In force (45 CFR 149.610, text as of 2026-10-01), read 26 October 2026.
More on an ultrasound in the US
Sources
- CMS Physician Fee Schedule relative value file RVU26D, 2026 national amounts. Read 26 October 2026. What Medicare pays, national amounts, per code.
- CMS: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles, Calendar year 2026. Read 26 October 2026. Part B annual deductible.
- eCFR: 45 CFR 149.610, In force (45 CFR 149.610, text as of 2026-10-01). Read 26 October 2026. The Good Faith Estimate rule.
- Medicare.gov: Medicare costs, In force (statutory share; not set annually). Read 26 October 2026.
- KFF: 2026 Employer Health Benefits Survey, KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey 2026. Read 26 October 2026.
- HealthCare.gov glossary: out-of-pocket maximum/limit, Plan year 2026. Read 26 October 2026.