CPT 71046
Chest x-ray, two views
A standard chest x-ray taken from the front and the side. Coded by the number of views: 71045 is a single view, 71046 is two, 71047 is three, 71048 is four or more.
Billed to Medicare
$55
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in a hospital setting.
Medicare accepted
$10
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
5.4x
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 3,463,842 services.
Among the 8 imaging codes on this site with CMS figures, this gap ranks 7 of 8 (median 5.5x). The widest is CT scan of the head, without contrast at 6x.
Where this line goes wrong
Count the views
The report states how many views were taken. A two-view charge for a single portable film taken at the bedside is a common mismatch.
Repeats
A repeat because the first image was poor quality is not normally chargeable to you.
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 does a chest x-ray cost so much at the hospital?
The hospital's list price is set from its chargemaster and bears little relation to cost. The Medicare figures on this page and the hospital's own published cash price are both far lower, and both are useful reference points when questioning the bill.
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.