A cardiac stress test is one of the few heart tests where the cash price is genuinely reachable for a self-pay patient. The standard version is a treadmill, a set of EKG leads, and about 20 minutes of walking uphill, and cardiology offices sell it as a flat-rate procedure for a few hundred dollars. The trouble starts when the same order is filled at a hospital, or when the word “echo” or “nuclear” gets added to it.
This guide covers real cash prices as of August 2026 for the exercise (treadmill) stress test and the stress echocardiogram, why the same test carries four different CPT codes, and how far the published prices diverge depending on who is reporting them. The nuclear version is priced in its own guide, because it is a different order of magnitude.
What Does a Stress Test Cost Without Insurance?
Figures below are published cash prices verified in August 2026 alongside national average submitted charges from the CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners file (2024 claims). A submitted charge is roughly what a provider bills before any discount, which is the number an uninsured patient is quoted first.
| Service | Low | Average | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exercise (treadmill) stress test, prepaid cash (MDsave) | $331 | $491 | $774 |
| Cardiology-office published self-pay rate (Tampa Heart) | n/a | $150 | n/a |
| Stress test with interpretation and report, average cash (Turquoise) | n/a | $521 | n/a |
| Stress test without interpretation and report, average cash (Turquoise) | n/a | $915 | n/a |
| Stress echocardiogram, prepaid cash (MDsave) | $394 | $963 | $1,868 |
| Stress test with echocardiogram, average cash (Turquoise) | n/a | $1,585 | n/a |
| Cardiovascular stress test, facility pricing (New Choice Health) | $1,125 | $1,588 | $2,912 |
| CPT 93015 complete stress test, average billed charge (CMS 2024) | n/a | $290.32 | n/a |
| CPT 93015 Medicare allowed amount (CMS 2024) | n/a | $66.29 | n/a |
| CPT 93351 complete stress echo, average billed charge (CMS 2024) | $425.59 | n/a | $841.48 |
Sources: prepaid cash ranges and national averages from MDsave’s national listings as of August 2026; average cash prices from Turquoise Health; facility pricing from New Choice Health’s national summary (minimum reported in Pine Bluff, AR); the flat self-pay rate from Tampa Heart and Vascular Associates’ published price list; billed charges and allowed amounts are national averages in the CMS 2024 physician file (93351 low is the facility-setting figure, high is the office-setting figure).
These sources disagree, and the disagreement is the story. MDsave says $491 on average, Turquoise says $521, and New Choice Health says $1,588. The first two are cash prices at the office end of the market; the third reflects facility-based pricing. Read the cross-source range as roughly $150 to $775 if you buy it as a self-pay office procedure and $1,100 to $2,900 if a hospital fills the order.
The four codes behind one test
- CPT 93015 is the complete study: exercise or drug-induced stress with continuous EKG, supervision, interpretation, and report, all billed by one provider. It was billed 795,423 times in office settings in 2024 Medicare claims at an average submitted charge of $290.32, with Medicare allowing $66.29.
- CPT 93016 is physician supervision only. Average submitted charge $91.93 in facility settings.
- CPT 93017 is the tracing only, billed by whoever owns the equipment. Average submitted charge $187.65 in office settings.
- CPT 93018 is the interpretation and written report only. Average submitted charge $81.38 in facility settings, with Medicare allowing $13.40.
When one test produces three separate bills, this is usually why. The split is normal. What is not normal is being billed 93015 and the component codes for the same study, which is worth checking on an itemized statement.
What Drives the Price
Which stress test you are actually getting
The single biggest variable is the imaging attached to it. A plain exercise EKG stress test averages $491 prepaid. Add an echocardiogram and the average roughly doubles to $963 on MDsave and $1,585 on Turquoise. Add nuclear imaging and it multiplies again. Before you accept a quote, confirm in writing which version has been ordered, because “stress test” on a schedule can mean any of the three.
Where you get it
A cardiology office bills one global fee for the equipment, the supervision, and the read. A hospital outpatient department adds a facility charge on top of the professional fee. That is most of the distance between MDsave’s $491 office-oriented average and New Choice Health’s $1,588 facility average for the same clinical service.
Whether the interpretation is bundled
Turquoise Health tracks the with-interpretation and without-interpretation versions separately, and the gap runs the wrong way from what you would expect: $521 with the read included, $915 without. The higher unbundled number reflects hospital-style pricing where the technical component is charged on its own and the physician’s read arrives later as a second bill. Ask which one you are buying.
Exercise versus drug-induced
If you cannot walk a treadmill, the stress is induced pharmacologically with an agent such as regadenoson or dobutamine. The professional codes are the same, but the drug itself is a separate charge that a bundled cash price may or may not cover. Ask specifically whether the medication is included.
Whether a baseline EKG is billed separately
Almost every stress test is preceded by a resting EKG, which has its own codes and its own charge. Our EKG cost guide covers those figures, which run about $20 to $145 at an office. It is small money relative to the stress test, but it is one more line item to confirm is inside the quoted price.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
A stress test is one of the clearer cases for paying cash. Under a high-deductible plan you pay the negotiated rate in full until the deductible is met, and hospital negotiated rates for this service sit well above the $331 to $774 that MDsave and cardiology offices will take as a prepaid self-pay price. A published $150 office rate beats essentially any insured price short of a fully met deductible.
The mechanics matter more than the math. Self-pay pricing has to be arranged before the service, not after. Once the claim is filed, most providers will not retroactively convert you to their cash rate. Tell the scheduler you are self-pay, ask for the all-in number including supervision and interpretation, and confirm whether any drug used to induce the stress is inside that number.
The tradeoff to weigh honestly is that cash payments usually do not count toward your deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. If you expect a bigger cardiac workup this year, running the stress test through coverage may serve you better. This is a pricing guide and not coverage advice, so compare your own plan’s numbers before choosing.
How to Pay Less
- Ask for the flat self-pay price up front. Cardiology practices publish these. Tampa Heart lists an EKG treadmill stress test at $150 and an echocardiogram at $250 on its public self-pay page. That price is only available if you ask before the appointment.
- Buy it prepaid. MDsave’s stress test national average is $491 against an $891 estimated national average, and its stress echo averages $963 against $1,908. Check any quote you get against our fair price checker before you commit.
- Use an office or freestanding cardiology center rather than a hospital outpatient department. That choice alone is worth roughly $1,000 based on the gap between the MDsave and New Choice Health averages.
- Confirm the interpretation is included. A $521 bundled price and a $915 unbundled one are the same test on Turquoise Health’s data. Get the answer in writing.
- Pull the hospital’s posted cash prices if a hospital is involved. Hospitals must publish cash rates for shoppable services and the 93015 family is always in those files. Our hospital price transparency guide shows how to find and read them.
- Push back on an inflated bill after the fact. Request an itemized hospital bill to check for duplicate coding across 93015 and the component codes, then work through our medical bill negotiation guide. For large hospital balances, run our charity care checker and read our hospital charity care guide.
Bottom Line
The plain exercise stress test is affordable if you buy it like a consumer: $150 to $774 as a cash price, with a $491 prepaid national average as of August 2026. The stress echo version runs $394 to $1,868. The number that gets people into trouble is the facility-based one, where New Choice Health’s national data puts the average at $1,588 and the maximum near $2,912 for the same clinical test.
Ask three questions before you schedule: which version was ordered, is the interpretation included, and is any stress-inducing drug included. If the answer points toward nuclear imaging, read our nuclear stress test cost guide before you agree, and if an ultrasound is being added, our echocardiogram cost guide prices that component on its own. For the longer-term monitoring that sometimes replaces a stress test, see our Holter monitor cost guide.