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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

Dye injection into a neck or upper back disc for imaging

CPT 62291the billing code this page is about

Injection of contrast into an intervertebral disc of the cervical or thoracic spine so the disc can be X-rayed; billed for each disc level injected.

Hospitals typically charge $771 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 956 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $887. Most fall between $351 and $1,903 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
956
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 956 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$259$397$771$1,595$3,233

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($259 vs $3,233).

How the prices are spread

$190 – $257: 51 hospitals$190$257 – $346: 82 hospitals$346 – $466: 109 hospitals$346$466 – $628: 113 hospitals$628 – $846: 112 hospitals$628$846 – $1,141: 126 hospitals$1,141 – $1,537: 61 hospitals$1,141$1,537 – $2,071: 89 hospitals$2,071 – $2,791: 50 hospitals$2,071$2,791 – $3,761: 73 hospitals$2,791median $771price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (866 of 956 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$190$25751
$257$34682
$346$466109
$466$628113
$628$846112
$846$1,141126
$1,141$1,53761
$1,537$2,07189
$2,071$2,79150
$2,791$3,76173

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $771.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $737 across 27 hospitalsWA$737Idaho: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $416 across 19 hospitalsMN$416Illinois: median $616 across 42 hospitalsIL$616Wisconsin: median $1,230 across 34 hospitalsWI$1,230Michigan: median $383 across 29 hospitalsMI$383New York: median $743 across 21 hospitalsNY$743Massachusetts: median $554 across 12 hospitalsMA$554Oregon: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $828 across 19 hospitalsIA$828Indiana: median $580 across 38 hospitalsIN$580Ohio: median $1,045 across 75 hospitalsOH$1,045Pennsylvania: median $1,373 across 33 hospitalsPA$1,373New Jersey: median $4,627 across 21 hospitalsNJ$4,627Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $958 across 80 hospitalsCA$958Utah: median $3,183 across 23 hospitalsUT$3,183Colorado: median $757 across 29 hospitalsCO$757Nebraska: median $385 across 15 hospitalsNE$385Missouri: median $846 across 17 hospitalsMO$846Kentucky: median $1,137 across 12 hospitalsKY$1,137West Virginia: median $301 across 19 hospitalsWV$301Virginia: median $1,768 across 21 hospitalsVA$1,768Maryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $692 across 22 hospitalsAZ$692New Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $375 across 10 hospitalsKS$375Arkansas: median $560 across 13 hospitalsAR$560Tennessee: median $276 across 14 hospitalsTN$276North Carolina: median $454 across 22 hospitalsNC$454South Carolina: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $244 across 22 hospitalsOK$244Louisiana: median $364 across 15 hospitalsLA$364Mississippi: median $304 across 12 hospitalsMS$304Alabama: median $533 across 10 hospitalsAL$533Georgia: median $594 across 33 hospitalsGA$594Hawaii: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $875 across 76 hospitalsTX$875Florida: median $672 across 46 hospitalsFL$672
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $771. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
New Jersey NJ21$4,627+500%$2,481 – $5,855
Utah UT23$3,183+313%$3,183 – $3,745
Virginia VA21$1,768+129%$305 – $1,892
Pennsylvania PA33$1,373+78%$461 – $3,826
Wisconsin WI34$1,230+60%$642 – $1,318
Kentucky KY12$1,137+47%$577 – $1,456
Ohio OH75$1,045+36%$629 – $3,233
California CA80$958+24%$428 – $3,541
Texas TX76$875+14%$511 – $2,267
Missouri MO17$846+10%$346 – $2,196
Iowa IA19$828+7%$485 – $828
Colorado CO29$757−2%$429 – $2,042
New York NY21$743−4%$278 – $1,074
Washington WA27$737−4%$534 – $1,009
Arizona AZ22$692−10%$277 – $1,555
Florida FL46$672−13%$501 – $1,820
Illinois IL42$616−20%$365 – $1,019
Georgia GA33$594−23%$352 – $2,201
Indiana IN38$580−25%$426 – $1,071
Arkansas AR13$560−27%$248 – $896
Massachusetts MA12$554−28%$382 – $1,284
Alabama AL10$533−31%$84 – $857
North Carolina NC22$454−41%$265 – $1,768
Minnesota MN19$416−46%$415 – $1,635
Nebraska NE15$385−50%$267 – $485
Michigan MI29$383−50%$190 – $825
Kansas KS10$375−51%$304 – $440
Louisiana LA15$364−53%$189 – $1,091
Mississippi MS12$304−61%$237 – $762
West Virginia WV19$301−61%$236 – $359
Tennessee TN14$276−64%$144 – $810
Oklahoma OK22$244−68%$244 – $401
Idaho ID8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $771.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care808$769$350 – $1,903
Children’s20$1,045$352 – $3,033
Critical access122$659$357 – $1,765
Ownership
For-profit95$875$375 – $2,267
Government125$506$277 – $1,140
Non-profit730$828$361 – $1,924
System affiliation
Part of a system825$828$365 – $1,903
Independent131$553$277 – $1,388

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$1,384
Median cash price$771
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

737 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $859 and the average of the middle 60% is $954; most fall between $387 and $1,932.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 737 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$265$461$859$1,820$3,233

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 12× what the cheapest tenth charges ($265 vs $3,233).

Of the 806 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 737 gave a usable cash price; 27 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 42 a list price only.

How complete is this

956 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (24%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,087 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted956
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here49
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded82
Hospitals that filed this code1,087

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Injection Px Discogrphy Ea Lvl Cervical/Thoracic.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Dye injection into a neck or upper back disc for imaging (CPT 62291) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-62291-dye-injection-into-a-neck-or-upper-back-disc-for-imaging