Cardiac Stress Test
A cardiac stress test records the heart's electrical activity while the patient walks on a treadmill or pedals a bike, with the effort increasing in stages. The question it answers is whether the heart still gets enough blood when it is asked to work hard. This code covers the whole service — running the test, supervising it, and reading and reporting the tracing.
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What it is
At rest, a narrowed coronary artery can supply enough blood to keep the heart muscle happy and the ECG normal. Exercise removes that margin. The test puts the patient on a treadmill or stationary bicycle with electrodes on the chest, steps the speed and incline up every few minutes, and watches the ECG and blood pressure for the changes that appear when supply stops keeping up with demand. A clinician stays with the patient throughout and stops the test when a target is reached or something concerning appears. This is the plain exercise ECG version; stress tests that add ultrasound images or a nuclear tracer are different studies with their own prices.
Why it is done
- To investigate chest pain or breathlessness that might be coming from narrowed coronary arteries
- To check on the heart after a heart attack, a stent or bypass surgery
- To find rhythm disturbances that only show up during exertion
- To judge how much exercise a person with known heart disease can safely do
What to expect
Patients are usually asked to come in comfortable shoes and clothing, to avoid a heavy meal beforehand, and sometimes to hold certain heart medications — the practice gives specific instructions. Ten electrodes are stuck to the chest, a resting tracing is taken, and then the walking begins easy and gets harder. The exercise part often lasts under fifteen minutes; with hook-up and the recovery period afterward, the appointment runs closer to an hour. Monitoring continues while the heart rate comes back down. A physician reviews the tracings and issues a report rather than giving a verdict at the machine.
Questions worth asking
- Is this the treadmill ECG test on its own, or is imaging being added? A stress echo or a nuclear stress test is a substantially more expensive study.
- Will this arrive as one bill, or split between the facility running the test and the physician interpreting it?
- If I cannot walk far enough and the test is converted to a drug-induced stress test, how does that change what is billed?
- Is it being done in a hospital cardiology department or a private cardiology office, and does the hospital setting add a facility fee?
What Cardiac Stress Test costs by state
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Texas — 67 hospitals, median $153.75
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Florida — 51 hospitals, median $214.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in California — 41 hospitals, median $270.40
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Illinois — 26 hospitals, median $431.20
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Ohio — 24 hospitals, median $214.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Tennessee — 23 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in New Jersey — 21 hospitals, median $358.34
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Washington — 20 hospitals, median $177.80
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Michigan — 19 hospitals, median $100.37
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Iowa — 17 hospitals, median $168.00
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Indiana — 16 hospitals, median $1,184.40
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in New York — 16 hospitals, median $1,256.00
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Missouri — 15 hospitals, median $157.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in North Carolina — 12 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in West Virginia — 10 hospitals, median $77.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Oklahoma — 9 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Wisconsin — 9 hospitals, median $438.84
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Oregon — 8 hospitals, median $508.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Maine — 7 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Colorado — 6 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Louisiana — 6 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Kansas — 5 hospitals, median $74.40
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Alaska — 3 hospitals, median $1,774.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Pennsylvania — 3 hospitals, median $414.00
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Minnesota — 2 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in North Dakota — 2 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in South Carolina — 2 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in South Dakota — 2 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Virginia — 2 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Arizona — 1 hospitals, median $109.08
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Hawaii — 1 hospitals, median $235.50
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in Montana — 1 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in New Hampshire — 1 hospitals, median not published by hospital
- Cardiac Stress Test cost in New Mexico — 1 hospitals, median not published by hospital
Cardiac Stress Test prices at hospitals
- Cardiac Stress Test at LODI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION INC, Lodi — $21.28
- Cardiac Stress Test at SAN JOAQUIN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, Bakersfield — $44.85
- Cardiac Stress Test at HANFORD COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, Selma — $56.81
- Cardiac Stress Test at REEDLEY COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, Reedley — $56.81
- Cardiac Stress Test at ADVENTIST HEALTH TULARE, Tulare — $56.81
- Cardiac Stress Test at Jackson General Hospital, Ripley — $72.00
- Cardiac Stress Test at Potomac Valley Hospital, Keyser — $72.00
- Cardiac Stress Test at Summersville Regional Medical Center, Summersville — $72.00
- Cardiac Stress Test at WHITE MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, MONTEBELLO — $73.26
- Cardiac Stress Test at Ascension Via Christi Hospital Manhattan, Inc, Manhattan — $74.40
- Cardiac Stress Test at Weirton Medical Center, Weirton — $76.50
- Cardiac Stress Test at Braxton County Memorial Hospital, Gassaway — $77.50
- Cardiac Stress Test at Jefferson Medical Center, Ranson — $77.50
- Cardiac Stress Test at St. Joseph's Hospital, Buckhannon — $77.50
- Cardiac Stress Test at UKIAH ADVENTIST HOSPITAL, Ukiah — $79.80
- Cardiac Stress Test at ADVENTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER TEHACHAPI, Tehachapi — $80.73
- Cardiac Stress Test at Barnesville Hospital, Barnesville — $86.50
- Cardiac Stress Test at WILLITS HOSPITAL INC, Willits — $89.70
- Cardiac Stress Test at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit MI 48202 | 19401 Hubbard Dr. — $100.37
- Cardiac Stress Test at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, West Bloomfield — $100.37
See every published price for Cardiac Stress Test: the full national range, the state and hospital breakdowns, and which hospitals charge the least.
Cardiac Stress Test cost — see all prices →Sources
- MedlinePlus: Exercise Stress Test (opens in a new tab, leaves healthcosts.net)
- Wikipedia (opens in a new tab, leaves healthcosts.net)