CashPrice· what hospitals actually charge cash-pay patients — normalized from the federal price-transparency files
Chest X-Ray (2 views) — cash price without insurance
Median cash price · 6 hospitals · CPT/HCPCS 71046
$231
The median cash price for Chest X-Ray (2 views) is $231, based on the stated self-pay prices 3 hospitals publish in their federal price-transparency files. Across all 6 hospitals we cover, prices run $150.60–$283.50.
3 of 6 hospitals don't publish a stated cash price for this procedure — those rows show their lowest negotiated rate as an estimated floor (est.), the realistic best case a cash-pay patient could ask to match.
"Cash price" = the hospital's published discounted_cash self-pay rate. "Gross charge" = the sticker price before any discount — what cash-pay patients are first billed and can negotiate down toward the cash rate.
Paying cash? Ask the hospital's billing office for the "self-pay" or "prompt-pay" rate and bring the figure above — it's a published ceiling you can negotiate from, not a fixed quote. Free-standing imaging centers and ASCs are frequently cheaper than hospital outpatient departments for the same code.
How to use this
If you're paying cash for Chest X-Ray (2 views), the hospital's published self-pay price is a ceiling you can negotiate from, not a fixed quote. Bring the figure above (and the source file) to billing and ask for the cash / prompt-pay rate. Free-standing imaging centers and ASCs are often well below hospital outpatient rates.