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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the brain during brain surgery, without contrast

CPT 70557the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain performed in the operating room during an intracranial procedure, without contrast dye.

Hospitals typically charge $1,351 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 358 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,494. Most fall between $607 and $2,860 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
358
States
38
Filings dated
Nov 2024 – 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 358 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
$360$649$1,351$2,459$4,995

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 14× what the cheapest tenth charges ($360 vs $4,995).

How the prices are spread

$254 – $346: 18 hospitals$254$346 – $470: 19 hospitals$470 – $639: 23 hospitals$470$639 – $869: 53 hospitals$869 – $1,182: 45 hospitals$869$1,182 – $1,607: 24 hospitals$1,607 – $2,184: 52 hospitals$1,607$2,184 – $2,970: 43 hospitals$2,970 – $4,038: 17 hospitals$2,970$4,038 – $5,491: 35 hospitals$4,038median $1,351price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (329 of 358 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$254$34618
$346$47019
$470$63923
$639$86953
$869$1,18245
$1,182$1,60724
$1,607$2,18452
$2,184$2,97043
$2,970$4,03817
$4,038$5,49135

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$558
Median cash price$1,351
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.4×

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 $1,351.

Alaska: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $5,491 across 12 hospitalsIL$5,491Wisconsin: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $1,652 across 21 hospitalsMI$1,652New York: median $649 across 23 hospitalsNY$649Massachusetts: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $373 across 11 hospitalsIA$373Indiana: median $793 across 12 hospitalsIN$793Ohio: median $1,979 across 28 hospitalsOH$1,979Pennsylvania: median $183 across 20 hospitalsPA$183New Jersey: median $607 across 13 hospitalsNJ$607Connecticut: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceRICalifornia: median $2,860 across 47 hospitalsCA$2,860Utah: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCONebraska: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $937 across 16 hospitalsVA$937Maryland: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMDDelaware: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceDEArizona: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNMKansas: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKSArkansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $1,059 across 12 hospitalsNC$1,059South Carolina: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: median $266 across 10 hospitalsOK$266Louisiana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceALGeorgia: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,060 across 47 hospitalsTX$2,060Florida: median $1,156 across 27 hospitalsFL$1,156
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,351. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Illinois IL12$5,491+307%$2,982 – $5,491
California CA47$2,860+112%$771 – $4,995
Texas TX47$2,060+53%$2,005 – $2,459
Ohio OH28$1,979+46%$1,715 – $2,512
Michigan MI21$1,652+22%$751 – $3,590
Florida FL27$1,156−14%$1,156 – $1,558
North Carolina NC12$1,059−22%$1,059 – $1,104
Virginia VA16$937−31%$729 – $1,811
Indiana IN12$793−41%$698 – $1,072
New York NY23$649−52%$649 – $685
New Jersey NJ13$607−55%$607 – $719
Iowa IA11$373−72%$373 – $373
Oklahoma OK10$266−80%$266 – $266
Pennsylvania PA20$183−86%$81 – $927
Arizona AZ6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Colorado CO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not 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 $1,351.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care322$1,156$607 – $2,860
Children’s8fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access25$1,558$676 – $3,313
Ownership
For-profit27$1,840$793 – $2,459
Government40$1,059$641 – $1,611
Non-profit288$1,487$606 – $2,860
System affiliation
Part of a system328$1,487$607 – $2,860
Independent30$719$489 – $1,577

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,397
Median cash price$1,351
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

269 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,713 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,736; most fall between $646 and $2,860.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 269 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
$302$851$1,713$2,617$4,995

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 17× what the cheapest tenth charges ($302 vs $4,995).

Of the 311 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 269 gave a usable cash price; 30 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 12 a list price only.

How complete is this

358 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 400 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted358
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here31
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 — excluded11
Hospitals that filed this code400

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 Open Intracranial Px W/O Contrast Matl.

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 during brain surgery, without contrast (CPT 70557) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-70557-mri-of-the-brain-during-brain-surgery-without-contrast