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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the brain with contrast

CPT 70552the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and brain stem performed after contrast dye is given through a vein.

Hospitals typically charge $2,117 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,075 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,172. Most fall between $1,017 and $3,684 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,075
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 3,075 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
$647$1,241$2,117$3,306$5,124

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($647 vs $5,124).

How the prices are spread

$477 – $630: 128 hospitals$477$630 – $833: 199 hospitals$833 – $1,101: 197 hospitals$833$1,101 – $1,455: 281 hospitals$1,455 – $1,923: 432 hospitals$1,455$1,923 – $2,542: 494 hospitals$2,542 – $3,360: 439 hospitals$2,542$3,360 – $4,441: 340 hospitals$4,441 – $5,870: 149 hospitals$4,441$5,870 – $7,759: 110 hospitals$5,870median $2,117price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,769 of 3,075 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$477$630128
$630$833199
$833$1,101197
$1,101$1,455281
$1,455$1,923432
$1,923$2,542494
$2,542$3,360439
$3,360$4,441340
$4,441$5,870149
$5,870$7,759110

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$356
Median cash price$2,117
Cash as a multiple of Medicare5.9×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $2,117.

Alaska: median $3,458 across 13 hospitalsAK$3,458Maine: median $1,469 across 24 hospitalsME$1,469Vermont: median $3,006 across 10 hospitalsVT$3,006New Hampshire: median $2,015 across 18 hospitalsNH$2,015Washington: median $2,092 across 66 hospitalsWA$2,092Idaho: median $2,178 across 20 hospitalsID$2,178Montana: median $2,045 across 14 hospitalsMT$2,045North Dakota: median $2,341 across 26 hospitalsND$2,341Minnesota: median $1,848 across 81 hospitalsMN$1,848Illinois: median $3,246 across 132 hospitalsIL$3,246Wisconsin: median $2,210 across 104 hospitalsWI$2,210Michigan: median $2,030 across 79 hospitalsMI$2,030New York: median $1,110 across 109 hospitalsNY$1,110Massachusetts: median $2,838 across 48 hospitalsMA$2,838Oregon: median $2,040 across 45 hospitalsOR$2,040Nevada: median $1,883 across 18 hospitalsNV$1,883Wyoming: median $2,482 across 12 hospitalsWY$2,482South Dakota: median $3,676 across 17 hospitalsSD$3,676Iowa: median $2,655 across 67 hospitalsIA$2,655Indiana: median $1,134 across 92 hospitalsIN$1,134Ohio: median $1,822 across 123 hospitalsOH$1,822Pennsylvania: median $1,856 across 114 hospitalsPA$1,856New Jersey: median $592 across 58 hospitalsNJ$592Connecticut: median $1,755 across 19 hospitalsCT$1,755Rhode Island: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,328 across 212 hospitalsCA$3,328Utah: median $2,896 across 40 hospitalsUT$2,896Colorado: median $2,215 across 61 hospitalsCO$2,215Nebraska: median $3,274 across 76 hospitalsNE$3,274Missouri: median $1,920 across 76 hospitalsMO$1,920Kentucky: median $1,730 across 62 hospitalsKY$1,730West Virginia: median $1,948 across 36 hospitalsWV$1,948Virginia: median $2,136 across 66 hospitalsVA$2,136Maryland: median $805 across 37 hospitalsMD$805Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,389 across 47 hospitalsAZ$1,389New Mexico: median $2,080 across 27 hospitalsNM$2,080Kansas: median $1,384 across 73 hospitalsKS$1,384Arkansas: median $613 across 27 hospitalsAR$613Tennessee: median $1,074 across 77 hospitalsTN$1,074North Carolina: median $2,267 across 85 hospitalsNC$2,267South Carolina: median $2,770 across 51 hospitalsSC$2,770Oklahoma: median $1,367 across 57 hospitalsOK$1,367Louisiana: median $1,041 across 50 hospitalsLA$1,041Mississippi: median $1,127 across 48 hospitalsMS$1,127Alabama: median $1,765 across 37 hospitalsAL$1,765Georgia: median $1,790 across 98 hospitalsGA$1,790Hawaii: median $1,696 across 12 hospitalsHI$1,696Texas: median $2,264 across 230 hospitalsTX$2,264Florida: median $3,901 across 167 hospitalsFL$3,901
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,117. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL167$3,901+84%$1,581 – $7,857
South Dakota SD17$3,676+74%$3,166 – $3,987
Alaska AK13$3,458+63%$1,992 – $5,420
California CA212$3,328+57%$1,882 – $7,070
Nebraska NE76$3,274+55%$2,040 – $4,022
Illinois IL132$3,246+53%$1,525 – $4,400
Vermont VT10$3,006+42%$2,122 – $3,958
Utah UT40$2,896+37%$2,204 – $3,407
Massachusetts MA48$2,838+34%$1,368 – $4,131
South Carolina SC51$2,770+31%$1,564 – $3,483
Iowa IA67$2,655+25%$1,683 – $3,463
Wyoming WY12$2,482+17%$1,534 – $3,826
North Dakota ND26$2,341+11%$1,957 – $3,034
North Carolina NC85$2,267+7%$1,570 – $3,581
Texas TX230$2,264+7%$1,409 – $4,485
Colorado CO61$2,215+5%$1,142 – $2,981
Wisconsin WI104$2,210+4%$948 – $2,712
Idaho ID20$2,178+3%$1,398 – $2,325
Virginia VA66$2,136+1%$1,172 – $4,461
Washington WA66$2,092−1%$1,250 – $2,850
New Mexico NM27$2,080−2%$1,461 – $2,695
Montana MT14$2,045−3%$1,758 – $2,422
Oregon OR45$2,040−4%$1,601 – $2,655
Michigan MI79$2,030−4%$1,148 – $3,953
New Hampshire NH18$2,015−5%$1,703 – $6,384
West Virginia WV36$1,948−8%$1,352 – $3,413
Missouri MO76$1,920−9%$1,199 – $2,720
Nevada NV18$1,883−11%$1,364 – $3,948
Pennsylvania PA114$1,856−12%$592 – $4,742
Minnesota MN81$1,848−13%$954 – $2,783
Ohio OH123$1,822−14%$1,262 – $2,652
Georgia GA98$1,790−15%$1,101 – $2,632
Alabama AL37$1,765−17%$1,053 – $4,118
Connecticut CT19$1,755−17%$1,223 – $2,199
Kentucky KY62$1,730−18%$1,301 – $3,603
Hawaii HI12$1,696−20%$1,470 – $2,372
Maine ME24$1,469−31%$534 – $2,482
Arizona AZ47$1,389−34%$503 – $3,618
Kansas KS73$1,384−35%$773 – $2,849
Oklahoma OK57$1,367−35%$979 – $2,313
Indiana IN92$1,134−46%$619 – $2,401
Mississippi MS48$1,127−47%$716 – $1,700
New York NY109$1,110−48%$447 – $3,615
Tennessee TN77$1,074−49%$637 – $2,089
Louisiana LA50$1,041−51%$651 – $2,104
Maryland MD37$805−62%$495 – $1,124
Arkansas AR27$613−71%$584 – $1,684
New Jersey NJ58$592−72%$421 – $1,728
Rhode Island RI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE6not 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 $2,117.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,269$2,030$910 – $3,804
Children’s64$2,988$1,714 – $4,919
Critical access732$2,223$1,247 – $3,326
Ownership
For-profit454$2,747$1,327 – $8,784
Government522$1,947$980 – $3,207
Non-profit2,089$2,046$978 – $3,408
System affiliation
Part of a system2,542$2,164$1,050 – $3,739
Independent533$1,969$891 – $3,270

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,665
Median cash price$2,117
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

2,100 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,164 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,218; most fall between $1,128 and $3,617.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,100 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
$725$1,332$2,164$3,275$4,714

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.5× what the cheapest tenth charges ($725 vs $4,714).

Of the 2,327 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,100 gave a usable cash price; 122 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,075 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (78%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,408 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,075
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here212
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded4
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded117
Hospitals that filed this code3,408

Sections not shown for this setting

  • 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 Magnetic resonance imaging family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as MRI Brain Brain Stem W/Contrast Material.

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, “MRI of the brain with contrast (CPT 70552) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70552-mri-of-the-brain-with-contrast