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Procedure price report · Other diagnostic radiology and related techniques

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

CPT 72072the billing code this page is about

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

Hospitals typically charge $319 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,130 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $332. Most fall between $162 and $565 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,130
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 3,130 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
$111$188$319$501$812

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($111 vs $812).

How the prices are spread

$77 – $102: 106 hospitals$77$102 – $136: 222 hospitals$136 – $181: 252 hospitals$136$181 – $240: 326 hospitals$240 – $318: 502 hospitals$240$318 – $423: 495 hospitals$423 – $561: 431 hospitals$423$561 – $746: 289 hospitals$746 – $990: 138 hospitals$746$990 – $1,315: 58 hospitals$990median $319price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,819 of 3,130 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$77$102106
$102$136222
$136$181252
$181$240326
$240$318502
$318$423495
$423$561431
$561$746289
$746$990138
$990$1,31558

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$107
Median cash price$319
Cash as a multiple of Medicare3.0×

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 $319.

Alaska: median $484 across 17 hospitalsAK$484Maine: median $223 across 22 hospitalsME$223Vermont: median $664 across 10 hospitalsVT$664New Hampshire: median $278 across 18 hospitalsNH$278Washington: median $327 across 70 hospitalsWA$327Idaho: median $372 across 21 hospitalsID$372Montana: median $264 across 18 hospitalsMT$264North Dakota: median $213 across 31 hospitalsND$213Minnesota: median $251 across 99 hospitalsMN$251Illinois: median $441 across 123 hospitalsIL$441Wisconsin: median $270 across 103 hospitalsWI$270Michigan: median $209 across 83 hospitalsMI$209New York: median $252 across 93 hospitalsNY$252Massachusetts: median $401 across 51 hospitalsMA$401Oregon: median $326 across 46 hospitalsOR$326Nevada: median $439 across 21 hospitalsNV$439Wyoming: median $340 across 14 hospitalsWY$340South Dakota: median $514 across 38 hospitalsSD$514Iowa: median $257 across 86 hospitalsIA$257Indiana: median $275 across 87 hospitalsIN$275Ohio: median $311 across 140 hospitalsOH$311Pennsylvania: median $263 across 113 hospitalsPA$263New Jersey: median $139 across 43 hospitalsNJ$139Connecticut: median $325 across 22 hospitalsCT$325Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $461 across 208 hospitalsCA$461Utah: median $372 across 40 hospitalsUT$372Colorado: median $301 across 60 hospitalsCO$301Nebraska: median $417 across 74 hospitalsNE$417Missouri: median $290 across 76 hospitalsMO$290Kentucky: median $363 across 64 hospitalsKY$363West Virginia: median $221 across 43 hospitalsWV$221Virginia: median $361 across 70 hospitalsVA$361Maryland: median $224 across 35 hospitalsMD$224Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $139 across 53 hospitalsAZ$139New Mexico: median $322 across 27 hospitalsNM$322Kansas: median $287 across 74 hospitalsKS$287Arkansas: median $107 across 26 hospitalsAR$107Tennessee: median $170 across 76 hospitalsTN$170North Carolina: median $309 across 88 hospitalsNC$309South Carolina: median $387 across 49 hospitalsSC$387Oklahoma: median $302 across 65 hospitalsOK$302Louisiana: median $208 across 48 hospitalsLA$208Mississippi: median $130 across 38 hospitalsMS$130Alabama: median $243 across 40 hospitalsAL$243Georgia: median $277 across 104 hospitalsGA$277Hawaii: median $325 across 18 hospitalsHI$325Texas: median $446 across 217 hospitalsTX$446Florida: median $658 across 153 hospitalsFL$658
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $319. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Vermont VT10$664+108%$417 – $802
Florida FL153$658+106%$323 – $2,292
South Dakota SD38$514+61%$471 – $783
Alaska AK17$484+52%$304 – $706
California CA208$461+45%$269 – $865
Texas TX217$446+40%$250 – $900
Illinois IL123$441+38%$200 – $776
Nevada NV21$439+38%$138 – $656
Nebraska NE74$417+31%$230 – $542
Massachusetts MA51$401+26%$243 – $535
South Carolina SC49$387+22%$191 – $582
Idaho ID21$372+17%$223 – $441
Utah UT40$372+17%$372 – $499
Kentucky KY64$363+14%$182 – $580
Virginia VA70$361+13%$222 – $754
Wyoming WY14$340+7%$84 – $506
Washington WA70$327+3%$195 – $425
Oregon OR46$326+2%$158 – $414
Hawaii HI18$325+2%$310 – $365
Connecticut CT22$325+2%$216 – $436
New Mexico NM27$322+1%$205 – $591
Ohio OH140$311−2%$222 – $492
North Carolina NC88$309−3%$196 – $463
Oklahoma OK65$302−5%$172 – $435
Colorado CO60$301−6%$227 – $565
Missouri MO76$290−9%$187 – $437
Kansas KS74$287−10%$205 – $494
New Hampshire NH18$278−13%$219 – $661
Georgia GA104$277−13%$139 – $594
Indiana IN87$275−14%$198 – $383
Wisconsin WI103$270−15%$91 – $393
Montana MT18$264−17%$203 – $350
Pennsylvania PA113$263−18%$128 – $606
Iowa IA86$257−19%$181 – $362
New York NY93$252−21%$126 – $583
Minnesota MN99$251−21%$127 – $402
Alabama AL40$243−24%$135 – $419
Maryland MD35$224−30%$149 – $287
Maine ME22$223−30%$112 – $470
West Virginia WV43$221−31%$172 – $352
North Dakota ND31$213−33%$139 – $303
Michigan MI83$209−34%$144 – $412
Louisiana LA48$208−35%$120 – $290
Tennessee TN76$170−47%$83 – $310
Arizona AZ53$139−56%$104 – $526
New Jersey NJ43$139−56%$118 – $429
Mississippi MS38$130−59%$112 – $202
Arkansas AR26$107−66%$93 – $250
Rhode Island RI9not 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 $319.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,228$327$156 – $606
Children’s52$336$273 – $535
Critical access841$304$172 – $490
Ownership
For-profit448$441$194 – $1,718
Government549$284$139 – $471
Non-profit2,124$313$161 – $536
System affiliation
Part of a system2,612$332$170 – $583
Independent518$273$132 – $484

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$524
Median cash price$319
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

2,172 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $343 and the average of the middle 60% is $355; most fall between $175 and $565.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,172 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
$117$215$343$512$713

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($117 vs $713).

Of the 2,410 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,172 gave a usable cash price; 137 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 101 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,130 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (79%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,470 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,130
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here229
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 — excluded110
Hospitals that filed this code3,470

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 PR X-Ray Thoracic Spine+Swim 3 Vw.

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, three views (CPT 72072) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72072-x-ray-of-the-mid-back-spine-three-views