CPT 70450
CT scan of the head, without contrast
A CT of the head or brain with no contrast dye, the standard scan after a head injury, a fall, a bad headache or a suspected stroke. It is one of the most commonly billed ER imaging codes.
Billed to Medicare
$232
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in a hospital setting.
Medicare accepted
$39
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
6x
How many times the accepted amount the billed figure was.
National averages from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2024 data, retrieved 2026-09-14. Medicare fee-for-service, physician and practitioner claims only. The hospital's own charge for the same code is separate and is usually higher. Based on 4,712,669 services.
Of the 8 imaging codes on this site with CMS figures, this one has the widest gap between what is billed and what Medicare accepts. The narrowest is Ultrasound of the abdomen, complete at 5.1x.
Where this line goes wrong
Was it needed?
Clinical decision rules exist for when a head CT is warranted after minor head injury, and scanning outside them is a known source of low-value imaging. That is a clinical question rather than a billing one, but if you were scanned for a bump with no symptoms and want to question it, the report and the ER note are where to start.
Without, then with
If a second scan with contrast was done, the correct code for both together is 70470, not 70450 plus 70460.
Check it, then ask
- 1
Ask for the itemized bill and the imaging report, and check that each billed study has a report.
- 2
Check the two halves match: the facility line and the radiologist's line should carry the same code for the same date.
- 3
If the radiologist was out of network for an emergency visit or at an in-network facility, the No Surprises Act limits what you can be billed.
- 4
If you are self-pay, ask for the hospital's published cash price for the scan; it is usually a fraction of the list price.
The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: You got an ER bill.
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Codes that travel with this one
People also ask
Why are there two charges for one CT scan?
The hospital bills for performing the scan and the radiologist bills for reading it. That is normal. Check that both describe the same scan.
How much should a head CT cost?
There is no single price. The figures on this page are what providers billed Medicare and what Medicare accepted for the physician component; the hospital's published cash price is the number to ask for if you are paying yourself.
Sources
This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.