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Procedure price report · Myelogram

Dye X-ray study of the spinal canal in the mid-back

CPT 72255the billing code this page is about

Covers the X-ray imaging and interpretation of the chest-level portion of the spinal canal after contrast dye is placed; the injection itself is billed separately.

Hospitals typically charge $1,255 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,356 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,298. Most fall between $650 and $2,425 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,356
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 1,356 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
$420$749$1,255$2,096$3,497

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($420 vs $3,497).

How the prices are spread

$265 – $359: 38 hospitals$265$359 – $485: 69 hospitals$485 – $656: 102 hospitals$485$656 – $888: 170 hospitals$888 – $1,201: 204 hospitals$888$1,201 – $1,624: 265 hospitals$1,624 – $2,196: 114 hospitals$1,624$2,196 – $2,969: 136 hospitals$2,969 – $4,016: 94 hospitals$2,969$4,016 – $5,431: 30 hospitals$4,016median $1,255price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,222 of 1,356 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$265$35938
$359$48569
$485$656102
$656$888170
$888$1,201204
$1,201$1,624265
$1,624$2,196114
$2,196$2,969136
$2,969$4,01694
$4,016$5,43130

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$801
Median cash price$1,255
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.57×

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 $1,255.

Alaska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,410 across 37 hospitalsWA$1,410Idaho: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $464 across 12 hospitalsMN$464Illinois: median $1,502 across 35 hospitalsIL$1,502Wisconsin: median $771 across 40 hospitalsWI$771Michigan: median $850 across 31 hospitalsMI$850New York: median $1,004 across 53 hospitalsNY$1,004Massachusetts: median $1,628 across 20 hospitalsMA$1,628Oregon: median $1,364 across 19 hospitalsOR$1,364Nevada: median $852 across 10 hospitalsNV$852Wyoming: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $728 across 21 hospitalsIA$728Indiana: median $1,145 across 30 hospitalsIN$1,145Ohio: median $974 across 86 hospitalsOH$974Pennsylvania: median $1,336 across 51 hospitalsPA$1,336New Jersey: median $874 across 35 hospitalsNJ$874Connecticut: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $1,918 across 131 hospitalsCA$1,918Utah: median $1,423 across 33 hospitalsUT$1,423Colorado: median $1,019 across 44 hospitalsCO$1,019Nebraska: median $728 across 18 hospitalsNE$728Missouri: median $974 across 30 hospitalsMO$974Kentucky: median $693 across 21 hospitalsKY$693West Virginia: median $1,570 across 11 hospitalsWV$1,570Virginia: median $785 across 15 hospitalsVA$785Maryland: median $127 across 20 hospitalsMD$127Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $889 across 32 hospitalsAZ$889New Mexico: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: median $2,425 across 19 hospitalsKS$2,425Arkansas: median $668 across 10 hospitalsAR$668Tennessee: median $621 across 22 hospitalsTN$621North Carolina: median $776 across 28 hospitalsNC$776South Carolina: median $1,301 across 35 hospitalsSC$1,301Oklahoma: median $465 across 27 hospitalsOK$465Louisiana: median $837 across 26 hospitalsLA$837Mississippi: median $660 across 13 hospitalsMS$660Alabama: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $1,104 across 25 hospitalsGA$1,104Hawaii: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,370 across 148 hospitalsTX$1,370Florida: median $1,923 across 88 hospitalsFL$1,923
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,255. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Kansas KS19$2,425+93%$738 – $4,773
Florida FL88$1,923+53%$1,299 – $9,015
California CA131$1,918+53%$896 – $3,075
Massachusetts MA20$1,628+30%$996 – $2,412
West Virginia WV11$1,570+25%$1,265 – $2,586
Illinois IL35$1,502+20%$435 – $2,554
Utah UT33$1,423+13%$1,061 – $1,423
Washington WA37$1,410+12%$1,061 – $1,736
Texas TX148$1,370+9%$755 – $2,805
Oregon OR19$1,364+9%$796 – $2,356
Pennsylvania PA51$1,336+6%$871 – $2,263
South Carolina SC35$1,301+4%$995 – $2,404
Indiana IN30$1,145−9%$570 – $1,491
Georgia GA25$1,104−12%$615 – $1,589
Colorado CO44$1,019−19%$771 – $2,460
New York NY53$1,004−20%$783 – $2,056
Missouri MO30$974−22%$621 – $2,390
Ohio OH86$974−22%$856 – $2,287
Arizona AZ32$889−29%$522 – $3,306
New Jersey NJ35$874−30%$303 – $1,036
Nevada NV10$852−32%$317 – $3,080
Michigan MI31$850−32%$654 – $1,376
Louisiana LA26$837−33%$298 – $1,214
Virginia VA15$785−37%$785 – $1,847
North Carolina NC28$776−38%$488 – $2,599
Wisconsin WI40$771−39%$574 – $1,255
Iowa IA21$728−42%$530 – $1,577
Nebraska NE18$728−42%$497 – $1,982
Kentucky KY21$693−45%$338 – $2,125
Arkansas AR10$668−47%$298 – $1,022
Mississippi MS13$660−47%$468 – $816
Tennessee TN22$621−51%$230 – $1,211
Oklahoma OK27$465−63%$72 – $1,526
Minnesota MN12$464−63%$277 – $955
Maryland MD20$127−90%$94 – $1,346
Alabama AL9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $1,255.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,168$1,255$660 – $2,475
Children’s33$1,467$708 – $2,373
Critical access147$1,158$574 – $1,722
Ownership
For-profit224$1,973$852 – $5,871
Government154$944$593 – $1,807
Non-profit970$1,213$614 – $2,263
System affiliation
Part of a system1,163$1,255$649 – $2,460
Independent193$1,131$660 – $2,341

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,092
Median cash price$1,255
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

965 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,255 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,286; most fall between $654 and $2,377.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 965 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
$417$760$1,255$1,923$3,052

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.3× what the cheapest tenth charges ($417 vs $3,052).

Of the 1,092 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 965 gave a usable cash price; 69 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 58 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,356 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (34%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,530 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,356
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here108
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 — excluded66
Hospitals that filed this code1,530

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 Myelogram family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Myelography Thoracic Rs&I|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, “Dye X-ray study of the spinal canal in the mid-back (CPT 72255) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-72255-dye-x-ray-study-of-the-spinal-canal-in-the-mid-back