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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

X-ray of the mid-back spine, two views

CPT 72070the billing code this page is about

X-ray imaging of the thoracic spine in the mid-back, using two views.

Hospitals typically charge $267 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,232 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $277. Most fall between $136 and $471 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,232
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 3,232 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
$94$151$267$418$698

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($94 vs $698).

How the prices are spread

$67 – $89: 119 hospitals$67$89 – $119: 217 hospitals$119 – $158: 357 hospitals$119$158 – $210: 337 hospitals$210 – $279: 515 hospitals$210$279 – $371: 510 hospitals$371 – $494: 448 hospitals$371$494 – $658: 211 hospitals$658 – $875: 129 hospitals$658$875 – $1,164: 77 hospitals$875median $267price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,920 of 3,232 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$67$89119
$89$119217
$119$158357
$158$210337
$210$279515
$279$371510
$371$494448
$494$658211
$658$875129
$875$1,16477

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$267
Cash as a multiple of Medicare2.5×

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 $267.

Alaska: median $314 across 16 hospitalsAK$314Maine: median $190 across 25 hospitalsME$190Vermont: median $518 across 10 hospitalsVT$518New Hampshire: median $250 across 21 hospitalsNH$250Washington: median $278 across 69 hospitalsWA$278Idaho: median $289 across 22 hospitalsID$289Montana: median $212 across 17 hospitalsMT$212North Dakota: median $152 across 34 hospitalsND$152Minnesota: median $222 across 100 hospitalsMN$222Illinois: median $366 across 119 hospitalsIL$366Wisconsin: median $243 across 110 hospitalsWI$243Michigan: median $166 across 86 hospitalsMI$166New York: median $186 across 109 hospitalsNY$186Massachusetts: median $377 across 48 hospitalsMA$377Oregon: median $268 across 45 hospitalsOR$268Nevada: median $282 across 14 hospitalsNV$282Wyoming: median $275 across 13 hospitalsWY$275South Dakota: median $421 across 41 hospitalsSD$421Iowa: median $245 across 86 hospitalsIA$245Indiana: median $224 across 87 hospitalsIN$224Ohio: median $268 across 137 hospitalsOH$268Pennsylvania: median $277 across 114 hospitalsPA$277New Jersey: median $135 across 58 hospitalsNJ$135Connecticut: median $261 across 22 hospitalsCT$261Rhode Island: median $261 across 10 hospitalsRI$261California: median $402 across 212 hospitalsCA$402Utah: median $363 across 41 hospitalsUT$363Colorado: median $253 across 66 hospitalsCO$253Nebraska: median $332 across 83 hospitalsNE$332Missouri: median $217 across 75 hospitalsMO$217Kentucky: median $315 across 63 hospitalsKY$315West Virginia: median $230 across 35 hospitalsWV$230Virginia: median $323 across 69 hospitalsVA$323Maryland: median $191 across 40 hospitalsMD$191Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $135 across 49 hospitalsAZ$135New Mexico: median $275 across 28 hospitalsNM$275Kansas: median $210 across 86 hospitalsKS$210Arkansas: median $107 across 36 hospitalsAR$107Tennessee: median $131 across 70 hospitalsTN$131North Carolina: median $270 across 94 hospitalsNC$270South Carolina: median $313 across 53 hospitalsSC$313Oklahoma: median $217 across 65 hospitalsOK$217Louisiana: median $177 across 53 hospitalsLA$177Mississippi: median $121 across 49 hospitalsMS$121Alabama: median $192 across 41 hospitalsAL$192Georgia: median $267 across 94 hospitalsGA$267Hawaii: median $280 across 19 hospitalsHI$280Texas: median $403 across 228 hospitalsTX$403Florida: median $619 across 164 hospitalsFL$619
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $267. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL164$619+132%$294 – $2,028
Vermont VT10$518+94%$232 – $808
South Dakota SD41$421+58%$351 – $664
Texas TX228$403+51%$201 – $727
California CA212$402+51%$216 – $729
Massachusetts MA48$377+41%$239 – $567
Illinois IL119$366+37%$128 – $632
Utah UT41$363+36%$259 – $378
Nebraska NE83$332+24%$184 – $415
Virginia VA69$323+21%$178 – $643
Kentucky KY63$315+18%$153 – $533
Alaska AK16$314+17%$149 – $660
South Carolina SC53$313+17%$98 – $476
Idaho ID22$289+8%$172 – $441
Nevada NV14$282+6%$113 – $534
Hawaii HI19$280+5%$236 – $335
Washington WA69$278+4%$163 – $397
Pennsylvania PA114$277+4%$125 – $542
Wyoming WY13$275+3%$84 – $448
New Mexico NM28$275+3%$174 – $488
North Carolina NC94$270+1%$195 – $432
Ohio OH137$2680%$202 – $422
Oregon OR45$2680%$102 – $321
Georgia GA94$2670%$112 – $474
Connecticut CT22$261−2%$215 – $363
Rhode Island RI10$261−2%$149 – $286
Colorado CO66$253−5%$202 – $471
New Hampshire NH21$250−6%$174 – $385
Iowa IA86$245−8%$145 – $319
Wisconsin WI110$243−9%$91 – $330
West Virginia WV35$230−14%$150 – $348
Indiana IN87$224−16%$156 – $307
Minnesota MN100$222−17%$130 – $287
Missouri MO75$217−19%$142 – $374
Oklahoma OK65$217−19%$143 – $313
Montana MT17$212−20%$154 – $282
Kansas KS86$210−21%$149 – $331
Alabama AL41$192−28%$108 – $434
Maryland MD40$191−28%$128 – $246
Maine ME25$190−29%$98 – $346
New York NY109$186−30%$91 – $494
Louisiana LA53$177−34%$79 – $253
Michigan MI86$166−38%$119 – $292
North Dakota ND34$152−43%$115 – $254
New Jersey NJ58$135−49%$118 – $243
Arizona AZ49$135−49%$92 – $462
Tennessee TN70$131−51%$66 – $218
Mississippi MS49$121−55%$75 – $156
Arkansas AR36$107−60%$73 – $221
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 $267.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,291$270$133 – $529
Children’s68$315$232 – $485
Critical access863$258$141 – $399
Ownership
For-profit461$373$168 – $1,441
Government571$246$133 – $387
Non-profit2,190$263$133 – $446
System affiliation
Part of a system2,673$275$139 – $479
Independent559$231$121 – $389

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$442
Median cash price$267
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

2,240 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $288 and the average of the middle 60% is $296; most fall between $146 and $471.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,240 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
$98$172$288$428$634

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($98 vs $634).

Of the 2,494 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,240 gave a usable cash price; 148 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 106 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,232 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (82%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,594 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,232
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here242
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded119
Hospitals that filed this code3,594

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 July 20, 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 Radex Spine Thoracic 2 Views|PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT.

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, “X-ray of the mid-back spine, two views (CPT 72070) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72070-x-ray-of-the-mid-back-spine-two-views