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Procedure price report · Other CT scan

CT scan of the mid-back spine with contrast

CPT 72129the billing code this page is about

A computed tomography scan of the thoracic spine (mid-back vertebrae) performed after contrast dye is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,527 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,126 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,583. Most fall between $724 and $2,784 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,126
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 3,126 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
$457$850$1,527$2,462$4,162

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($457 vs $4,162).

How the prices are spread

$253 – $351: 71 hospitals$253$351 – $488: 132 hospitals$488 – $679: 218 hospitals$488$679 – $943: 310 hospitals$943 – $1,311: 437 hospitals$943$1,311 – $1,822: 568 hospitals$1,822 – $2,532: 482 hospitals$1,822$2,532 – $3,519: 325 hospitals$3,519 – $4,891: 176 hospitals$3,519$4,891 – $6,797: 96 hospitals$4,891median $1,527price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,815 of 3,126 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$253$35171
$351$488132
$488$679218
$679$943310
$943$1,311437
$1,311$1,822568
$1,822$2,532482
$2,532$3,519325
$3,519$4,891176
$4,891$6,79796

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$1,527
Cash as a multiple of Medicare8.5×

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 $1,527.

Alaska: median $2,859 across 16 hospitalsAK$2,859Maine: median $838 across 25 hospitalsME$838Vermont: median $1,991 across 12 hospitalsVT$1,991New Hampshire: median $1,442 across 19 hospitalsNH$1,442Washington: median $1,475 across 65 hospitalsWA$1,475Idaho: median $1,422 across 20 hospitalsID$1,422Montana: median $1,646 across 16 hospitalsMT$1,646North Dakota: median $1,504 across 26 hospitalsND$1,504Minnesota: median $1,293 across 83 hospitalsMN$1,293Illinois: median $2,316 across 125 hospitalsIL$2,316Wisconsin: median $1,499 across 98 hospitalsWI$1,499Michigan: median $1,394 across 84 hospitalsMI$1,394New York: median $1,003 across 97 hospitalsNY$1,003Massachusetts: median $1,546 across 49 hospitalsMA$1,546Oregon: median $1,422 across 43 hospitalsOR$1,422Nevada: median $1,840 across 19 hospitalsNV$1,840Wyoming: median $1,982 across 14 hospitalsWY$1,982South Dakota: median $2,743 across 25 hospitalsSD$2,743Iowa: median $1,706 across 68 hospitalsIA$1,706Indiana: median $852 across 92 hospitalsIN$852Ohio: median $1,179 across 140 hospitalsOH$1,179Pennsylvania: median $1,424 across 112 hospitalsPA$1,424New Jersey: median $465 across 57 hospitalsNJ$465Connecticut: median $1,422 across 22 hospitalsCT$1,422Rhode Island: median $1,261 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,261California: median $2,964 across 212 hospitalsCA$2,964Utah: median $2,280 across 40 hospitalsUT$2,280Colorado: median $1,600 across 65 hospitalsCO$1,600Nebraska: median $2,337 across 69 hospitalsNE$2,337Missouri: median $1,330 across 74 hospitalsMO$1,330Kentucky: median $1,376 across 58 hospitalsKY$1,376West Virginia: median $1,176 across 33 hospitalsWV$1,176Virginia: median $1,390 across 69 hospitalsVA$1,390Maryland: median $221 across 37 hospitalsMD$221Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,339 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,339New Mexico: median $1,499 across 25 hospitalsNM$1,499Kansas: median $1,200 across 71 hospitalsKS$1,200Arkansas: median $687 across 33 hospitalsAR$687Tennessee: median $746 across 77 hospitalsTN$746North Carolina: median $1,550 across 88 hospitalsNC$1,550South Carolina: median $1,610 across 51 hospitalsSC$1,610Oklahoma: median $997 across 66 hospitalsOK$997Louisiana: median $765 across 53 hospitalsLA$765Mississippi: median $869 across 46 hospitalsMS$869Alabama: median $1,355 across 40 hospitalsAL$1,355Georgia: median $1,289 across 98 hospitalsGA$1,289Hawaii: median $1,448 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,448Texas: median $2,274 across 234 hospitalsTX$2,274Florida: median $3,568 across 174 hospitalsFL$3,568
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,527. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL174$3,568+134%$1,431 – $10,752
California CA212$2,964+94%$1,394 – $5,233
Alaska AK16$2,859+87%$1,517 – $4,148
South Dakota SD25$2,743+80%$2,350 – $3,587
Nebraska NE69$2,337+53%$1,410 – $2,851
Illinois IL125$2,316+52%$923 – $3,114
Utah UT40$2,280+49%$1,488 – $2,280
Texas TX234$2,274+49%$1,005 – $4,421
Vermont VT12$1,991+30%$1,225 – $2,920
Wyoming WY14$1,982+30%$809 – $2,746
Nevada NV19$1,840+20%$775 – $4,359
Iowa IA68$1,706+12%$1,298 – $2,149
Montana MT16$1,646+8%$1,351 – $2,046
South Carolina SC51$1,610+5%$1,190 – $2,266
Colorado CO65$1,600+5%$1,024 – $2,451
North Carolina NC88$1,550+1%$1,091 – $2,130
Massachusetts MA49$1,546+1%$775 – $2,277
North Dakota ND26$1,504−2%$1,249 – $1,908
Wisconsin WI98$1,499−2%$584 – $1,818
New Mexico NM25$1,499−2%$800 – $2,072
Washington WA65$1,475−3%$979 – $2,148
Hawaii HI17$1,448−5%$1,119 – $2,336
New Hampshire NH19$1,442−6%$1,017 – $3,493
Pennsylvania PA112$1,424−7%$472 – $3,054
Idaho ID20$1,422−7%$899 – $1,816
Oregon OR43$1,422−7%$995 – $2,066
Connecticut CT22$1,422−7%$800 – $1,716
Michigan MI84$1,394−9%$465 – $2,127
Virginia VA69$1,390−9%$886 – $3,288
Kentucky KY58$1,376−10%$804 – $3,202
Alabama AL40$1,355−11%$638 – $2,477
Arizona AZ53$1,339−12%$546 – $8,180
Missouri MO74$1,330−13%$878 – $2,262
Minnesota MN83$1,293−15%$610 – $1,872
Georgia GA98$1,289−16%$624 – $2,081
Rhode Island RI10$1,261−17%$415 – $1,782
Kansas KS71$1,200−21%$694 – $1,955
Ohio OH140$1,179−23%$900 – $1,733
West Virginia WV33$1,176−23%$843 – $2,210
New York NY97$1,003−34%$219 – $2,532
Oklahoma OK66$997−35%$691 – $1,642
Mississippi MS46$869−43%$600 – $1,301
Indiana IN92$852−44%$514 – $1,646
Maine ME25$838−45%$436 – $2,055
Louisiana LA53$765−50%$406 – $1,653
Tennessee TN77$746−51%$544 – $1,487
Arkansas AR33$687−55%$384 – $1,573
New Jersey NJ57$465−70%$210 – $895
Maryland MD37$221−86%$161 – $310
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 $1,527.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,303$1,477$670 – $2,991
Children’s61$2,576$1,528 – $4,804
Critical access752$1,553$850 – $2,357
Ownership
For-profit469$2,274$875 – $8,180
Government529$1,464$706 – $2,349
Non-profit2,118$1,471$694 – $2,586
System affiliation
Part of a system2,595$1,550$734 – $2,920
Independent531$1,405$687 – $2,381

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,545
Median cash price$1,527
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

2,127 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,595 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,650; most fall between $800 and $2,702.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,127 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
$524$923$1,595$2,474$3,758

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($524 vs $3,758).

Of the 2,352 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,127 gave a usable cash price; 124 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

3,126 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 3,459 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,126
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here218
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 — excluded114
Hospitals that filed this code3,459

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 CT scan family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as CT Thoracic Spine W/Contrast Material|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, “CT scan of the mid-back spine with contrast (CPT 72129) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72129-ct-scan-of-the-mid-back-spine-with-contrast