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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI blood vessel scan of the spinal canal

CPT 72159the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance angiography of the blood vessels in and around the spinal canal, performed with or without contrast dye.

Hospitals typically charge $1,795 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 982 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,833. Most fall between $855 and $3,221 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
982
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 982 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
$526$1,007$1,795$2,831$4,536

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($526 vs $4,536).

How the prices are spread

$370 – $494: 35 hospitals$370$494 – $660: 53 hospitals$660 – $881: 74 hospitals$660$881 – $1,176: 66 hospitals$1,176 – $1,570: 145 hospitals$1,176$1,570 – $2,096: 178 hospitals$2,096 – $2,798: 132 hospitals$2,096$2,798 – $3,735: 105 hospitals$3,735 – $4,987: 60 hospitals$3,735$4,987 – $6,658: 49 hospitals$4,987median $1,795price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (897 of 982 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$370$49435
$494$66053
$660$88174
$881$1,17666
$1,176$1,570145
$1,570$2,096178
$2,096$2,798132
$2,798$3,735105
$3,735$4,98760
$4,987$6,65849

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $1,795.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: median $1,549 across 10 hospitalsME$1,549Vermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,306 across 30 hospitalsWA$1,306Idaho: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $718 across 15 hospitalsMN$718Illinois: median $1,988 across 59 hospitalsIL$1,988Wisconsin: median $2,036 across 52 hospitalsWI$2,036Michigan: median $1,437 across 31 hospitalsMI$1,437New York: median $2,333 across 40 hospitalsNY$2,333Massachusetts: median $1,685 across 24 hospitalsMA$1,685Oregon: median $1,203 across 17 hospitalsOR$1,203Nevada: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $1,446 across 30 hospitalsIA$1,446Indiana: median $583 across 35 hospitalsIN$583Ohio: median $1,619 across 44 hospitalsOH$1,619Pennsylvania: median $1,676 across 25 hospitalsPA$1,676New Jersey: median $929 across 13 hospitalsNJ$929Connecticut: median $939 across 10 hospitalsCT$939Rhode Island: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $3,716 across 85 hospitalsCA$3,716Utah: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $5,728 across 17 hospitalsCO$5,728Nebraska: median $1,847 across 19 hospitalsNE$1,847Missouri: median $1,666 across 14 hospitalsMO$1,666Kentucky: median $905 across 14 hospitalsKY$905West Virginia: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $2,215 across 15 hospitalsVA$2,215Maryland: median $1,192 across 25 hospitalsMD$1,192Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $766 across 16 hospitalsAZ$766New Mexico: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $1,369 across 23 hospitalsKS$1,369Arkansas: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $1,799 across 26 hospitalsNC$1,799South Carolina: median $580 across 13 hospitalsSC$580Oklahoma: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: median $802 across 10 hospitalsLA$802Mississippi: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,732 across 33 hospitalsGA$1,732Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,804 across 82 hospitalsTX$1,804Florida: median $2,197 across 54 hospitalsFL$2,197
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,795. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Colorado CO17$5,728+219%$2,008 – $8,233
California CA85$3,716+107%$1,213 – $6,658
New York NY40$2,333+30%$787 – $4,582
Virginia VA15$2,215+23%$1,908 – $2,760
Florida FL54$2,197+22%$1,360 – $3,529
Wisconsin WI52$2,036+13%$1,225 – $3,452
Illinois IL59$1,988+11%$1,350 – $3,199
Nebraska NE19$1,847+3%$1,415 – $3,587
Texas TX82$1,8040%$1,458 – $6,237
North Carolina NC26$1,7990%$959 – $2,727
Georgia GA33$1,732−4%$1,212 – $4,865
Massachusetts MA24$1,685−6%$1,058 – $3,125
Pennsylvania PA25$1,676−7%$554 – $2,035
Missouri MO14$1,666−7%$1,104 – $2,706
Ohio OH44$1,619−10%$1,320 – $1,994
Maine ME10$1,549−14%$662 – $2,344
Iowa IA30$1,446−19%$232 – $2,431
Michigan MI31$1,437−20%$1,042 – $2,157
Kansas KS23$1,369−24%$880 – $2,989
Washington WA30$1,306−27%$898 – $3,101
Oregon OR17$1,203−33%$770 – $2,839
Maryland MD25$1,192−34%$544 – $1,575
Connecticut CT10$939−48%$691 – $2,470
New Jersey NJ13$929−48%$736 – $2,348
Kentucky KY14$905−50%$461 – $1,489
Louisiana LA10$802−55%$450 – $920
Arizona AZ16$766−57%$529 – $972
Minnesota MN15$718−60%$718 – $2,366
Indiana IN35$583−68%$370 – $999
South Carolina SC13$580−68%$504 – $3,513
Oklahoma OK9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not 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 $1,795.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care742$1,732$770 – $3,341
Children’s37$2,755$1,283 – $5,454
Critical access200$2,012$987 – $2,928
Ownership
For-profit95$1,804$662 – $6,237
Government151$1,973$965 – $3,334
Non-profit733$1,756$817 – $3,075
System affiliation
Part of a system813$1,773$834 – $3,208
Independent169$1,973$900 – $3,334

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,840
Median cash price$1,795
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

688 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,804 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,908; most fall between $944 and $3,452.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 688 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
$583$1,203$1,804$2,932$4,536

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.8× what the cheapest tenth charges ($583 vs $4,536).

Of the 811 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 688 gave a usable cash price; 71 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 52 a list price only.

How complete is this

982 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (25%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,179 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted982
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here104
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded93
Hospitals that filed this code1,179

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • 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 Mra Spinal Canal W/WO 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 blood vessel scan of the spinal canal (CPT 72159) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72159-mri-blood-vessel-scan-of-the-spinal-canal