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Procedure price report · Other CT scan

CT scan of the lower back with and without contrast

CPT 72133the billing code this page is about

A computed tomography scan of the lumbar spine done first without contrast dye and then repeated after contrast is given, billed as one combined study.

Hospitals typically charge $1,754 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,035 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,838. Most fall between $813 and $3,229 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,035
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 3,035 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
$506$998$1,754$2,890$4,940

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($506 vs $4,940).

How the prices are spread

$282 – $394: 83 hospitals$282$394 – $551: 106 hospitals$551 – $771: 220 hospitals$551$771 – $1,078: 288 hospitals$1,078 – $1,507: 410 hospitals$1,078$1,507 – $2,107: 546 hospitals$2,107 – $2,946: 509 hospitals$2,107$2,946 – $4,118: 293 hospitals$4,118 – $5,757: 190 hospitals$4,118$5,757 – $8,049: 88 hospitals$5,757median $1,754price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,733 of 3,035 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$282$39483
$394$551106
$551$771220
$771$1,078288
$1,078$1,507410
$1,507$2,107546
$2,107$2,946509
$2,946$4,118293
$4,118$5,757190
$5,757$8,04988

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$179
Median cash price$1,754
Cash as a multiple of Medicare9.8×

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 $1,754.

Alaska: median $2,690 across 13 hospitalsAK$2,690Maine: median $1,063 across 23 hospitalsME$1,063Vermont: median $2,599 across 11 hospitalsVT$2,599New Hampshire: median $1,933 across 17 hospitalsNH$1,933Washington: median $1,872 across 63 hospitalsWA$1,872Idaho: median $1,442 across 21 hospitalsID$1,442Montana: median $2,036 across 18 hospitalsMT$2,036North Dakota: median $1,818 across 21 hospitalsND$1,818Minnesota: median $1,420 across 67 hospitalsMN$1,420Illinois: median $2,730 across 129 hospitalsIL$2,730Wisconsin: median $1,686 across 92 hospitalsWI$1,686Michigan: median $1,584 across 83 hospitalsMI$1,584New York: median $1,364 across 96 hospitalsNY$1,364Massachusetts: median $2,096 across 41 hospitalsMA$2,096Oregon: median $2,040 across 40 hospitalsOR$2,040Nevada: median $3,112 across 17 hospitalsNV$3,112Wyoming: median $2,582 across 14 hospitalsWY$2,582South Dakota: median $2,746 across 20 hospitalsSD$2,746Iowa: median $1,910 across 62 hospitalsIA$1,910Indiana: median $1,032 across 93 hospitalsIN$1,032Ohio: median $1,442 across 138 hospitalsOH$1,442Pennsylvania: median $1,427 across 110 hospitalsPA$1,427New Jersey: median $523 across 56 hospitalsNJ$523Connecticut: median $1,345 across 18 hospitalsCT$1,345Rhode Island: median $1,204 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,204California: median $3,120 across 205 hospitalsCA$3,120Utah: median $2,416 across 38 hospitalsUT$2,416Colorado: median $2,114 across 59 hospitalsCO$2,114Nebraska: median $2,610 across 69 hospitalsNE$2,610Missouri: median $1,596 across 75 hospitalsMO$1,596Kentucky: median $1,586 across 57 hospitalsKY$1,586West Virginia: median $1,303 across 39 hospitalsWV$1,303Virginia: median $1,688 across 64 hospitalsVA$1,688Maryland: median $273 across 36 hospitalsMD$273Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,759 across 53 hospitalsAZ$1,759New Mexico: median $2,313 across 25 hospitalsNM$2,313Kansas: median $1,233 across 67 hospitalsKS$1,233Arkansas: median $776 across 36 hospitalsAR$776Tennessee: median $905 across 77 hospitalsTN$905North Carolina: median $2,152 across 89 hospitalsNC$2,152South Carolina: median $2,406 across 50 hospitalsSC$2,406Oklahoma: median $1,490 across 69 hospitalsOK$1,490Louisiana: median $903 across 49 hospitalsLA$903Mississippi: median $937 across 47 hospitalsMS$937Alabama: median $1,497 across 40 hospitalsAL$1,497Georgia: median $1,616 across 97 hospitalsGA$1,616Hawaii: median $1,541 across 15 hospitalsHI$1,541Texas: median $2,225 across 237 hospitalsTX$2,225Florida: median $4,265 across 163 hospitalsFL$4,265
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,754. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL163$4,265+143%$1,444 – $13,561
California CA205$3,120+78%$1,304 – $5,485
Nevada NV17$3,112+77%$613 – $4,341
South Dakota SD20$2,746+57%$2,442 – $3,794
Illinois IL129$2,730+56%$1,305 – $3,750
Alaska AK13$2,690+53%$872 – $4,709
Nebraska NE69$2,610+49%$1,517 – $3,183
Vermont VT11$2,599+48%$1,850 – $3,591
Wyoming WY14$2,582+47%$963 – $3,221
Utah UT38$2,416+38%$1,556 – $2,416
South Carolina SC50$2,406+37%$1,228 – $3,145
New Mexico NM25$2,313+32%$1,546 – $3,132
Texas TX237$2,225+27%$1,382 – $5,347
North Carolina NC89$2,152+23%$1,378 – $2,801
Colorado CO59$2,114+21%$1,266 – $2,546
Massachusetts MA41$2,096+19%$765 – $2,797
Oregon OR40$2,040+16%$1,026 – $2,378
Montana MT18$2,036+16%$1,333 – $2,398
New Hampshire NH17$1,933+10%$1,362 – $5,197
Iowa IA62$1,910+9%$1,370 – $2,664
Washington WA63$1,872+7%$1,143 – $2,621
North Dakota ND21$1,818+4%$1,471 – $2,338
Arizona AZ53$1,7590%$646 – $8,049
Virginia VA64$1,688−4%$920 – $3,729
Wisconsin WI92$1,686−4%$701 – $2,305
Georgia GA97$1,616−8%$834 – $2,175
Missouri MO75$1,596−9%$990 – $2,566
Kentucky KY57$1,586−10%$857 – $3,443
Michigan MI83$1,584−10%$626 – $2,821
Hawaii HI15$1,541−12%$1,002 – $2,484
Alabama AL40$1,497−15%$799 – $2,647
Oklahoma OK69$1,490−15%$857 – $2,507
Idaho ID21$1,442−18%$1,093 – $1,908
Ohio OH138$1,442−18%$1,034 – $2,014
Pennsylvania PA110$1,427−19%$483 – $3,544
Minnesota MN67$1,420−19%$649 – $1,911
New York NY96$1,364−22%$339 – $2,975
Connecticut CT18$1,345−23%$781 – $1,801
West Virginia WV39$1,303−26%$847 – $2,435
Kansas KS67$1,233−30%$765 – $2,436
Rhode Island RI10$1,204−31%$415 – $2,096
Maine ME23$1,063−39%$569 – $2,649
Indiana IN93$1,032−41%$542 – $1,895
Mississippi MS47$937−47%$649 – $1,535
Tennessee TN77$905−48%$588 – $1,930
Louisiana LA49$903−49%$499 – $2,005
Arkansas AR36$776−56%$384 – $1,754
New Jersey NJ56$523−70%$210 – $875
Maryland MD36$273−84%$199 – $383
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 $1,754.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,241$1,720$773 – $3,461
Children’s57$2,894$1,593 – $5,804
Critical access728$1,754$993 – $2,746
Ownership
For-profit461$2,599$1,093 – $9,681
Government526$1,644$857 – $2,699
Non-profit2,039$1,708$776 – $3,069
System affiliation
Part of a system2,527$1,812$821 – $3,324
Independent508$1,525$760 – $2,699

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,015
Median cash price$1,754
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

2,086 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,816 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,906; most fall between $903 and $3,158.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,086 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
$588$1,083$1,816$2,921$4,648

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($588 vs $4,648).

Of the 2,299 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,086 gave a usable cash price; 118 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 95 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,035 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (77%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,351 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,035
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here208
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 — excluded107
Hospitals that filed this code3,351

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 Lumbar Spine W/O & 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 lower back with and without contrast (CPT 72133) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72133-ct-scan-of-the-lower-back-with-and-without-contrast