CT scan, head (with and without contrast)
Facility: John Muir Medical Center - Walnut Creek Campus
Billing Code: 70470 (CPT)
This hospital's typical commercial price is $248 compared to the $257 fair price benchmark.
2-Star CMS clinical quality rating paired with 0.96× fair market pricing.
Highest price of the 9 CA hospitals we have prices for — worth calling around.
Black dot = this hospital, among the 9 CA hospitals with a price for this procedure. Full list below.
Note: The cash price looks unusually high next to the insurance price — it may be the full list price, not a real cash discount. Call to confirm the self-pay rate.
A fair price for a CT scan, head (with and without contrast) is about $257 (about 1.4× the $179 Medicare rate). John Muir Medical Center - Walnut Creek Campus charges insurers about $248, or about $1,734 in cash — about the fair price. Located in Walnut Creek, CA.
What each insurance company pays
Which insurers have negotiated a price with this hospital for this procedure — and which haven’t.
6 of 6 major insurers have a published price at this hospital
Crossed out = this hospital hasn’t published a negotiated price for that insurer for this procedure. It doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t accepted — ask your insurer.
| Insurance company | Price range | vs. Medicare |
|---|---|---|
| UnitedHealthcaremajor | $111 - $905 | 62% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shieldmajor | $248 - $2,504 | 138% |
| Aetnamajor | $167 - $248 | 93% |
| Cignamajor | $997 | 556% |
| Humanamajor | $248 - $3,198 | 138% |
| Kaiser Permanentemajor | $3,121 | 1742% |
| Health Net | $243 - $940 | 136% |
| + 27 smaller / regional plans | $111 - $4,000 |
Self-Pay How to get the cash price
Insurance Before you use insurance
Estimate your out-of-pocket cost
A rough estimate of what you’d pay with insurance (deductible + coinsurance) versus paying the cash price yourself.
Other Procedures at John Muir Medical Center - Walnut Creek Campus
Compare: CT scan, head (with and without contrast) at other CA hospitals
- Saint Agnes Medical Center · Fresno $54
- Mayers Memorial Hospital · Fall River Mills $61
- Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hosp & Trauma Ctr · San Francisco $63
- Natividad Medical Center · Salinas $73
- Adventist Health Vallejo · Vallejo $79
- Adventist Health Mendocino Coast · Fort Bragg $87
- Trinity Hospital · Weaverville $98
- Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA · Los Angeles $98
Insurance negotiated median for the same procedure, sorted lowest first.
Audit a Bill or Quote at John Muir Medical Center - Walnut Creek Campus (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $1,399
At 274% FPL (201%–400% FPL tier), 26 U.S.C. § 501(r)(5) caps FAP-eligible bills at Amounts Generally Billed (36.3% of gross = $1,399).
Self-Pay Cash Rate ($1,734) Beats Your Bill
John Muir Medical Center - Walnut Creek Campus's published 45 CFR § 180 self-pay cash rate is $1,734 (vs. $248 commercial insurer median). Ask billing to reclassify the visit to prompt-pay self-pay if it beats your deductible.
Negotiate Toward $257 Fair BaseRate ($179 Medicare)
Your bill ($3,853) is $3,596 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($257) and 21.5× the $179 Medicare rate.
Clinical Quality, Patient Experience & Infection Benchmarks
Source: CMS Hospital Care Compare. Clinical quality metrics summarize historical facility-wide cohorts and are not medical advice for individual care decisions.
How to Pay Less Nearby: Freestanding Centers, Insurer Leverage & Outpatient Savings
Verify the Raw Data: Official Hospital MRF, CMS Medicare.gov & Federal Filings
Safe-Harbor Data Corrections: Parsed directly from public 45 CFR § 180 hospital filings, CMS Care Compare, and CMS HCRIS cost reports. Hospital compliance officers may submit updated MRF URLs or rate tables for verification.