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Procedure price report · Other CT scan

CT scan of the lower back with contrast

CPT 72132the billing code this page is about

A computed tomography scan of the lumbar spine (lower back vertebrae) performed after contrast dye is given.

Hospitals typically charge $1,611 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,223 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,689. Most fall between $801 and $2,914 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,223
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 3,223 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
$511$927$1,611$2,602$4,392

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($511 vs $4,392).

How the prices are spread

$400 – $532: 181 hospitals$400$532 – $709: 225 hospitals$709 – $943: 255 hospitals$709$943 – $1,256: 345 hospitals$1,256 – $1,672: 514 hospitals$1,256$1,672 – $2,225: 491 hospitals$2,225 – $2,962: 424 hospitals$2,225$2,962 – $3,942: 215 hospitals$3,942 – $5,248: 159 hospitals$3,942$5,248 – $6,985: 92 hospitals$5,248median $1,611price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,901 of 3,223 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$400$532181
$532$709225
$709$943255
$943$1,256345
$1,256$1,672514
$1,672$2,225491
$2,225$2,962424
$2,962$3,942215
$3,942$5,248159
$5,248$6,98592

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$356
Median cash price$1,611
Cash as a multiple of Medicare4.5×

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 $1,611.

Alaska: median $2,394 across 16 hospitalsAK$2,394Maine: median $890 across 25 hospitalsME$890Vermont: median $2,275 across 12 hospitalsVT$2,275New Hampshire: median $1,481 across 19 hospitalsNH$1,481Washington: median $1,723 across 68 hospitalsWA$1,723Idaho: median $1,483 across 21 hospitalsID$1,483Montana: median $1,633 across 17 hospitalsMT$1,633North Dakota: median $1,557 across 27 hospitalsND$1,557Minnesota: median $1,369 across 93 hospitalsMN$1,369Illinois: median $2,422 across 131 hospitalsIL$2,422Wisconsin: median $1,495 across 103 hospitalsWI$1,495Michigan: median $1,408 across 86 hospitalsMI$1,408New York: median $1,262 across 99 hospitalsNY$1,262Massachusetts: median $1,767 across 49 hospitalsMA$1,767Oregon: median $1,622 across 46 hospitalsOR$1,622Nevada: median $1,750 across 20 hospitalsNV$1,750Wyoming: median $1,919 across 14 hospitalsWY$1,919South Dakota: median $2,554 across 27 hospitalsSD$2,554Iowa: median $1,693 across 79 hospitalsIA$1,693Indiana: median $894 across 93 hospitalsIN$894Ohio: median $1,387 across 142 hospitalsOH$1,387Pennsylvania: median $1,424 across 114 hospitalsPA$1,424New Jersey: median $506 across 57 hospitalsNJ$506Connecticut: median $1,410 across 22 hospitalsCT$1,410Rhode Island: median $1,022 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,022California: median $2,912 across 214 hospitalsCA$2,912Utah: median $2,210 across 41 hospitalsUT$2,210Colorado: median $1,709 across 65 hospitalsCO$1,709Nebraska: median $2,490 across 72 hospitalsNE$2,490Missouri: median $1,330 across 74 hospitalsMO$1,330Kentucky: median $1,564 across 63 hospitalsKY$1,564West Virginia: median $1,227 across 38 hospitalsWV$1,227Virginia: median $1,365 across 69 hospitalsVA$1,365Maryland: median $221 across 38 hospitalsMD$221Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,389 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,389New Mexico: median $2,203 across 28 hospitalsNM$2,203Kansas: median $1,203 across 77 hospitalsKS$1,203Arkansas: median $762 across 33 hospitalsAR$762Tennessee: median $856 across 78 hospitalsTN$856North Carolina: median $1,851 across 94 hospitalsNC$1,851South Carolina: median $2,057 across 51 hospitalsSC$2,057Oklahoma: median $1,168 across 67 hospitalsOK$1,168Louisiana: median $843 across 56 hospitalsLA$843Mississippi: median $952 across 47 hospitalsMS$952Alabama: median $1,398 across 42 hospitalsAL$1,398Georgia: median $1,102 across 100 hospitalsGA$1,102Hawaii: median $1,658 across 17 hospitalsHI$1,658Texas: median $2,381 across 237 hospitalsTX$2,381Florida: median $3,626 across 173 hospitalsFL$3,626
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,611. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL173$3,626+125%$1,320 – $12,156
California CA214$2,912+81%$1,337 – $5,325
South Dakota SD27$2,554+59%$2,239 – $4,127
Nebraska NE72$2,490+55%$1,667 – $2,952
Illinois IL131$2,422+50%$955 – $3,506
Alaska AK16$2,394+49%$1,517 – $3,764
Texas TX237$2,381+48%$1,323 – $4,548
Vermont VT12$2,275+41%$1,733 – $3,272
Utah UT41$2,210+37%$1,896 – $2,249
New Mexico NM28$2,203+37%$1,350 – $2,986
South Carolina SC51$2,057+28%$1,282 – $2,726
Wyoming WY14$1,919+19%$803 – $2,763
North Carolina NC94$1,851+15%$1,150 – $2,405
Massachusetts MA49$1,767+10%$985 – $2,190
Nevada NV20$1,750+9%$771 – $3,711
Washington WA68$1,723+7%$1,090 – $2,513
Colorado CO65$1,709+6%$1,074 – $2,519
Iowa IA79$1,693+5%$1,215 – $2,426
Hawaii HI17$1,658+3%$1,322 – $2,336
Montana MT17$1,633+1%$1,117 – $1,982
Oregon OR46$1,622+1%$991 – $2,108
Kentucky KY63$1,564−3%$970 – $3,008
North Dakota ND27$1,557−3%$1,241 – $1,806
Wisconsin WI103$1,495−7%$580 – $1,869
Idaho ID21$1,483−8%$929 – $2,263
New Hampshire NH19$1,481−8%$1,019 – $4,593
Pennsylvania PA114$1,424−12%$472 – $3,406
Connecticut CT22$1,410−12%$925 – $1,519
Michigan MI86$1,408−13%$607 – $2,153
Alabama AL42$1,398−13%$869 – $3,068
Arizona AZ53$1,389−14%$538 – $7,721
Ohio OH142$1,387−14%$951 – $1,871
Minnesota MN93$1,369−15%$650 – $2,105
Virginia VA69$1,365−15%$1,050 – $3,379
Missouri MO74$1,330−17%$900 – $2,550
New York NY99$1,262−22%$455 – $2,664
West Virginia WV38$1,227−24%$927 – $2,302
Kansas KS77$1,203−25%$694 – $1,946
Oklahoma OK67$1,168−28%$826 – $1,849
Georgia GA100$1,102−32%$583 – $2,121
Rhode Island RI10$1,022−37%$564 – $1,782
Mississippi MS47$952−41%$717 – $1,491
Indiana IN93$894−44%$565 – $1,681
Maine ME25$890−45%$452 – $1,716
Tennessee TN78$856−47%$560 – $1,734
Louisiana LA56$843−48%$483 – $1,718
Arkansas AR33$762−53%$384 – $1,674
New Jersey NJ57$506−69%$421 – $1,056
Maryland MD38$221−86%$161 – $321
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 $1,611.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,329$1,592$734 – $3,260
Children’s61$2,752$1,551 – $4,923
Critical access823$1,620$900 – $2,528
Ownership
For-profit479$2,540$1,010 – $8,082
Government562$1,519$798 – $2,486
Non-profit2,172$1,565$762 – $2,704
System affiliation
Part of a system2,665$1,644$812 – $3,034
Independent558$1,411$729 – $2,513

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,703
Median cash price$1,611
Cash as a share of list, median hospital63%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 37%. 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

2,207 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,672 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,742; most fall between $850 and $2,880.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,207 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
$560$991$1,672$2,609$4,108

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($560 vs $4,108).

Of the 2,443 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,207 gave a usable cash price; 131 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,223 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (81%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,569 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,223
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here227
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 — excluded118
Hospitals that filed this code3,569

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 PR CT Scan Lumbar Sp Contrast.

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 lower back with contrast (CPT 72132) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72132-ct-scan-of-the-lower-back-with-contrast