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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the chest with contrast

CPT 71551the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the chest performed after contrast material is given.

Hospitals typically charge $2,141 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,073 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,193. Most fall between $1,034 and $3,657 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,073
States
50
Filings dated
Jan 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 2,073 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
$783$1,204$2,141$3,302$5,569

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($783 vs $5,569).

How the prices are spread

$622 – $798: 118 hospitals$622$798 – $1,022: 180 hospitals$1,022 – $1,310: 146 hospitals$1,022$1,310 – $1,679: 233 hospitals$1,679 – $2,152: 261 hospitals$1,679$2,152 – $2,758: 318 hospitals$2,758 – $3,534: 264 hospitals$2,758$3,534 – $4,530: 147 hospitals$4,530 – $5,805: 103 hospitals$4,530$5,805 – $7,440: 98 hospitals$5,805median $2,141price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,868 of 2,073 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$622$798118
$798$1,022180
$1,022$1,310146
$1,310$1,679233
$1,679$2,152261
$2,152$2,758318
$2,758$3,534264
$3,534$4,530147
$4,530$5,805103
$5,805$7,44098

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$801
Median cash price$2,141
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.7×

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 $2,141.

Alaska: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $909 across 19 hospitalsME$909Vermont: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: median $2,182 across 10 hospitalsNH$2,182Washington: median $1,928 across 46 hospitalsWA$1,928Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: median $2,726 across 11 hospitalsND$2,726Minnesota: median $2,196 across 32 hospitalsMN$2,196Illinois: median $3,160 across 102 hospitalsIL$3,160Wisconsin: median $2,259 across 53 hospitalsWI$2,259Michigan: median $1,904 across 43 hospitalsMI$1,904New York: median $1,857 across 79 hospitalsNY$1,857Massachusetts: median $2,372 across 32 hospitalsMA$2,372Oregon: median $3,010 across 24 hospitalsOR$3,010Nevada: median $2,511 across 14 hospitalsNV$2,511Wyoming: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $2,243 across 39 hospitalsIA$2,243Indiana: median $1,211 across 68 hospitalsIN$1,211Ohio: median $2,105 across 102 hospitalsOH$2,105Pennsylvania: median $3,044 across 91 hospitalsPA$3,044New Jersey: median $1,065 across 50 hospitalsNJ$1,065Connecticut: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,971 across 165 hospitalsCA$2,971Utah: median $2,534 across 35 hospitalsUT$2,534Colorado: median $2,262 across 47 hospitalsCO$2,262Nebraska: median $2,830 across 48 hospitalsNE$2,830Missouri: median $1,732 across 40 hospitalsMO$1,732Kentucky: median $1,693 across 43 hospitalsKY$1,693West Virginia: median $2,650 across 22 hospitalsWV$2,650Virginia: median $1,872 across 40 hospitalsVA$1,872Maryland: median $1,303 across 30 hospitalsMD$1,303Delaware: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $902 across 39 hospitalsAZ$902New Mexico: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,391 across 50 hospitalsKS$1,391Arkansas: median $964 across 14 hospitalsAR$964Tennessee: median $735 across 44 hospitalsTN$735North Carolina: median $2,071 across 50 hospitalsNC$2,071South Carolina: median $2,039 across 26 hospitalsSC$2,039Oklahoma: median $1,028 across 34 hospitalsOK$1,028Louisiana: median $1,125 across 29 hospitalsLA$1,125Mississippi: median $890 across 25 hospitalsMS$890Alabama: median $1,404 across 24 hospitalsAL$1,404Georgia: median $1,746 across 65 hospitalsGA$1,746Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,239 across 188 hospitalsTX$2,239Florida: median $4,016 across 118 hospitalsFL$4,016
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,141. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL118$4,016+88%$1,832 – $9,191
Illinois IL102$3,160+48%$1,732 – $4,441
Pennsylvania PA91$3,044+42%$998 – $5,830
Oregon OR24$3,010+41%$2,055 – $3,160
California CA165$2,971+39%$1,764 – $5,928
Nebraska NE48$2,830+32%$1,923 – $3,605
North Dakota ND11$2,726+27%$1,651 – $3,253
West Virginia WV22$2,650+24%$1,799 – $3,422
Utah UT35$2,534+18%$2,147 – $2,981
Nevada NV14$2,511+17%$852 – $4,250
Massachusetts MA32$2,372+11%$1,660 – $4,444
Colorado CO47$2,262+6%$1,072 – $3,378
Wisconsin WI53$2,259+6%$1,489 – $3,938
Iowa IA39$2,243+5%$1,556 – $3,463
Texas TX188$2,239+5%$1,137 – $3,612
Minnesota MN32$2,196+3%$622 – $2,541
New Hampshire NH10$2,182+2%$1,851 – $4,655
Ohio OH102$2,105−2%$1,462 – $3,543
North Carolina NC50$2,071−3%$1,685 – $2,724
South Carolina SC26$2,039−5%$623 – $2,960
Washington WA46$1,928−10%$1,439 – $2,786
Michigan MI43$1,904−11%$1,113 – $3,126
Virginia VA40$1,872−13%$776 – $2,650
New York NY79$1,857−13%$935 – $4,939
Georgia GA65$1,746−18%$1,160 – $2,893
Missouri MO40$1,732−19%$1,304 – $3,222
Kentucky KY43$1,693−21%$903 – $3,302
Alabama AL24$1,404−34%$840 – $2,664
Kansas KS50$1,391−35%$779 – $2,989
Maryland MD30$1,303−39%$630 – $1,798
Indiana IN68$1,211−43%$824 – $2,662
Louisiana LA29$1,125−47%$626 – $1,848
New Jersey NJ50$1,065−50%$792 – $4,183
Oklahoma OK34$1,028−52%$570 – $2,101
Arkansas AR14$964−55%$726 – $2,200
Maine ME19$909−58%$773 – $2,822
Arizona AZ39$902−58%$404 – $5,268
Mississippi MS25$890−58%$773 – $1,675
Tennessee TN44$735−66%$586 – $1,551
New Mexico NM9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE5not 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 $2,141.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,579$2,024$978 – $3,827
Children’s54$2,808$1,989 – $5,830
Critical access434$2,326$1,384 – $3,281
Ownership
For-profit291$2,724$1,163 – $8,501
Government356$2,011$980 – $3,133
Non-profit1,420$2,092$1,034 – $3,500
System affiliation
Part of a system1,696$2,200$1,068 – $3,820
Independent377$1,972$962 – $3,157

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,730
Median cash price$2,141
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

1,454 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,241 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,260; most fall between $1,127 and $3,589.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,454 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
$807$1,337$2,241$3,239$5,204

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($807 vs $5,204).

Of the 1,611 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,454 gave a usable cash price; 85 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 72 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,073 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (52%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,314 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,073
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here165
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 — excluded76
Hospitals that filed this code2,314

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 Chest 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 chest with contrast (CPT 71551) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-71551-mri-of-the-chest-with-contrast