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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI of the lower back (lumbar spine) with contrast

CPT 72149the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar (lower) portion of the spine, performed after contrast dye is injected.

Hospitals typically charge $2,182 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,003 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $2,218. Most fall between $1,024 and $3,875 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,003
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 3,003 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
$644$1,208$2,182$3,386$5,714

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($644 vs $5,714).

How the prices are spread

$465 – $619: 97 hospitals$465$619 – $823: 216 hospitals$823 – $1,095: 205 hospitals$823$1,095 – $1,457: 286 hospitals$1,457 – $1,938: 385 hospitals$1,457$1,938 – $2,579: 468 hospitals$2,579 – $3,430: 462 hospitals$2,579$3,430 – $4,563: 297 hospitals$4,563 – $6,071: 164 hospitals$4,563$6,071 – $8,076: 140 hospitals$6,071median $2,182price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,720 of 3,003 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$465$61997
$619$823216
$823$1,095205
$1,095$1,457286
$1,457$1,938385
$1,938$2,579468
$2,579$3,430462
$3,430$4,563297
$4,563$6,071164
$6,071$8,076140

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$356
Median cash price$2,182
Cash as a multiple of Medicare6.1×

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 $2,182.

Alaska: median $3,665 across 11 hospitalsAK$3,665Maine: median $1,444 across 24 hospitalsME$1,444Vermont: median $3,386 across 11 hospitalsVT$3,386New Hampshire: median $2,170 across 18 hospitalsNH$2,170Washington: median $2,123 across 66 hospitalsWA$2,123Idaho: median $1,763 across 21 hospitalsID$1,763Montana: median $2,269 across 15 hospitalsMT$2,269North Dakota: median $2,458 across 27 hospitalsND$2,458Minnesota: median $1,615 across 76 hospitalsMN$1,615Illinois: median $3,332 across 131 hospitalsIL$3,332Wisconsin: median $2,210 across 100 hospitalsWI$2,210Michigan: median $1,974 across 76 hospitalsMI$1,974New York: median $1,070 across 109 hospitalsNY$1,070Massachusetts: median $2,838 across 43 hospitalsMA$2,838Oregon: median $2,224 across 44 hospitalsOR$2,224Nevada: median $2,297 across 17 hospitalsNV$2,297Wyoming: median $1,534 across 12 hospitalsWY$1,534South Dakota: median $3,514 across 21 hospitalsSD$3,514Iowa: median $2,421 across 67 hospitalsIA$2,421Indiana: median $1,051 across 89 hospitalsIN$1,051Ohio: median $1,843 across 124 hospitalsOH$1,843Pennsylvania: median $2,450 across 112 hospitalsPA$2,450New Jersey: median $699 across 57 hospitalsNJ$699Connecticut: median $1,701 across 15 hospitalsCT$1,701Rhode Island: median $1,814 across 10 hospitalsRI$1,814California: median $3,537 across 205 hospitalsCA$3,537Utah: median $3,215 across 38 hospitalsUT$3,215Colorado: median $2,378 across 60 hospitalsCO$2,378Nebraska: median $3,360 across 76 hospitalsNE$3,360Missouri: median $1,975 across 73 hospitalsMO$1,975Kentucky: median $1,711 across 59 hospitalsKY$1,711West Virginia: median $1,886 across 35 hospitalsWV$1,886Virginia: median $2,020 across 66 hospitalsVA$2,020Maryland: median $730 across 36 hospitalsMD$730Delaware: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $1,266 across 48 hospitalsAZ$1,266New Mexico: median $2,339 across 22 hospitalsNM$2,339Kansas: median $1,384 across 73 hospitalsKS$1,384Arkansas: median $804 across 27 hospitalsAR$804Tennessee: median $1,014 across 76 hospitalsTN$1,014North Carolina: median $2,431 across 76 hospitalsNC$2,431South Carolina: median $2,631 across 50 hospitalsSC$2,631Oklahoma: median $1,450 across 58 hospitalsOK$1,450Louisiana: median $1,035 across 48 hospitalsLA$1,035Mississippi: median $1,228 across 48 hospitalsMS$1,228Alabama: median $1,652 across 36 hospitalsAL$1,652Georgia: median $1,883 across 92 hospitalsGA$1,883Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $2,447 across 227 hospitalsTX$2,447Florida: median $4,109 across 164 hospitalsFL$4,109
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $2,182. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Florida FL164$4,109+88%$1,843 – $9,193
Alaska AK11$3,665+68%$1,582 – $5,288
California CA205$3,537+62%$2,013 – $7,503
South Dakota SD21$3,514+61%$3,348 – $4,862
Vermont VT11$3,386+55%$2,097 – $3,958
Nebraska NE76$3,360+54%$2,525 – $3,965
Illinois IL131$3,332+53%$1,452 – $4,771
Utah UT38$3,215+47%$2,222 – $3,782
Massachusetts MA43$2,838+30%$1,368 – $3,945
South Carolina SC50$2,631+21%$1,637 – $4,012
North Dakota ND27$2,458+13%$2,093 – $3,162
Pennsylvania PA112$2,450+12%$592 – $4,742
Texas TX227$2,447+12%$1,162 – $5,156
North Carolina NC76$2,431+11%$1,896 – $3,578
Iowa IA67$2,421+11%$1,693 – $3,426
Colorado CO60$2,378+9%$1,179 – $3,079
New Mexico NM22$2,339+7%$1,735 – $2,906
Nevada NV17$2,297+5%$956 – $3,948
Montana MT15$2,269+4%$1,377 – $2,471
Oregon OR44$2,224+2%$1,597 – $3,048
Wisconsin WI100$2,210+1%$950 – $2,861
New Hampshire NH18$2,170−1%$1,703 – $5,704
Washington WA66$2,123−3%$1,252 – $2,821
Virginia VA66$2,020−7%$967 – $4,384
Missouri MO73$1,975−9%$1,279 – $3,051
Michigan MI76$1,974−10%$1,022 – $3,875
West Virginia WV35$1,886−14%$1,376 – $3,092
Georgia GA92$1,883−14%$1,058 – $3,038
Ohio OH124$1,843−16%$1,363 – $2,994
Rhode Island RI10$1,814−17%$668 – $2,500
Idaho ID21$1,763−19%$1,448 – $2,263
Kentucky KY59$1,711−22%$1,247 – $3,543
Connecticut CT15$1,701−22%$1,078 – $2,265
Alabama AL36$1,652−24%$963 – $4,380
Minnesota MN76$1,615−26%$730 – $2,919
Wyoming WY12$1,534−30%$1,001 – $3,300
Oklahoma OK58$1,450−34%$967 – $2,522
Maine ME24$1,444−34%$543 – $2,433
Kansas KS73$1,384−37%$770 – $2,989
Arizona AZ48$1,266−42%$435 – $5,840
Mississippi MS48$1,228−44%$847 – $1,535
New York NY109$1,070−51%$447 – $3,364
Indiana IN89$1,051−52%$653 – $2,549
Louisiana LA48$1,035−53%$642 – $2,009
Tennessee TN76$1,014−54%$637 – $2,047
Arkansas AR27$804−63%$584 – $2,200
Maryland MD36$730−67%$495 – $1,113
New Jersey NJ57$699−68%$433 – $3,641
Hawaii HI8not 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 $2,182.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,210$2,064$924 – $4,050
Children’s64$3,371$2,076 – $6,832
Critical access720$2,305$1,228 – $3,377
Ownership
For-profit443$2,843$1,182 – $8,739
Government511$1,991$992 – $3,248
Non-profit2,040$2,144$1,015 – $3,520
System affiliation
Part of a system2,483$2,215$1,055 – $4,012
Independent520$1,986$872 – $3,313

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$3,750
Median cash price$2,182
Cash as a share of list, median hospital62%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 38%. 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

2,058 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $2,241 and the average of the middle 60% is $2,297; most fall between $1,162 and $3,831.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,058 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
$705$1,358$2,241$3,364$4,995

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($705 vs $4,995).

Of the 2,275 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,058 gave a usable cash price; 115 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 102 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,003 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (76%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,321 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,003
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here205
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded111
Hospitals that filed this code3,321

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 September 4, 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 Magnetic resonance imaging family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as MRI Spinal Canal Lumbar 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, “MRI of the lower back (lumbar spine) with contrast (CPT 72149) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72149-mri-of-the-lower-back-lumbar-spine-with-contrast