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Procedure price report · Magnetic resonance imaging

MRI guidance for needle placement, such as a biopsy

CPT 77021the billing code this page is about

Magnetic resonance imaging used to guide a needle into position for a biopsy, aspiration, injection or drainage; covers the imaging guidance only.

Hospitals typically charge $1,398 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 1,147 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $1,458. Most fall between $634 and $2,787 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
1,147
States
49
Filings dated
Jan 2024 – 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 1,147 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
$392$772$1,398$2,321$4,161

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 11× what the cheapest tenth charges ($392 vs $4,161).

How the prices are spread

$250 – $340: 35 hospitals$250$340 – $460: 65 hospitals$460 – $624: 71 hospitals$460$624 – $846: 100 hospitals$846 – $1,147: 152 hospitals$846$1,147 – $1,556: 169 hospitals$1,556 – $2,110: 173 hospitals$1,556$2,110 – $2,860: 109 hospitals$2,860 – $3,878: 84 hospitals$2,860$3,878 – $5,258: 80 hospitals$3,878median $1,398price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (1,038 of 1,147 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$250$34035
$340$46065
$460$62471
$624$846100
$846$1,147152
$1,147$1,556169
$1,556$2,110173
$2,110$2,860109
$2,860$3,87884
$3,878$5,25880

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $1,398.

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: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $1,218 across 23 hospitalsWA$1,218Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $1,436 across 14 hospitalsMN$1,436Illinois: median $1,600 across 47 hospitalsIL$1,600Wisconsin: median $1,728 across 29 hospitalsWI$1,728Michigan: median $933 across 22 hospitalsMI$933New York: median $1,313 across 46 hospitalsNY$1,313Massachusetts: median $1,058 across 20 hospitalsMA$1,058Oregon: median $1,776 across 20 hospitalsOR$1,776Nevada: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $1,148 across 23 hospitalsIA$1,148Indiana: median $707 across 44 hospitalsIN$707Ohio: median $1,379 across 44 hospitalsOH$1,379Pennsylvania: median $1,383 across 54 hospitalsPA$1,383New Jersey: median $1,092 across 21 hospitalsNJ$1,092Connecticut: median $1,048 across 10 hospitalsCT$1,048Rhode Island: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $2,831 across 101 hospitalsCA$2,831Utah: median $1,965 across 24 hospitalsUT$1,965Colorado: median $2,456 across 35 hospitalsCO$2,456Nebraska: median $1,061 across 14 hospitalsNE$1,061Missouri: median $878 across 24 hospitalsMO$878Kentucky: median $1,260 across 25 hospitalsKY$1,260West Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: median $1,403 across 28 hospitalsVA$1,403Maryland: median $93 across 11 hospitalsMD$93Delaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $582 across 21 hospitalsAZ$582New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $504 across 23 hospitalsTN$504North Carolina: median $978 across 31 hospitalsNC$978South Carolina: median $1,873 across 23 hospitalsSC$1,873Oklahoma: median $389 across 22 hospitalsOK$389Louisiana: median $468 across 12 hospitalsLA$468Mississippi: median $533 across 12 hospitalsMS$533Alabama: median $1,214 across 14 hospitalsAL$1,214Georgia: median $1,022 across 51 hospitalsGA$1,022Hawaii: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $1,162 across 106 hospitalsTX$1,162Florida: median $1,866 across 82 hospitalsFL$1,866
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $1,398. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA101$2,831+102%$1,081 – $4,684
Colorado CO35$2,456+76%$1,560 – $5,491
Utah UT24$1,965+41%$1,965 – $1,965
South Carolina SC23$1,873+34%$660 – $1,971
Florida FL82$1,866+33%$1,528 – $4,470
Oregon OR20$1,776+27%$1,268 – $2,148
Wisconsin WI29$1,728+24%$1,082 – $3,670
Illinois IL47$1,600+14%$361 – $3,066
Minnesota MN14$1,436+3%$947 – $2,773
Virginia VA28$1,4030%$634 – $1,419
Pennsylvania PA54$1,383−1%$939 – $5,039
Ohio OH44$1,379−1%$908 – $1,619
New York NY46$1,313−6%$604 – $2,946
Kentucky KY25$1,260−10%$492 – $3,180
Washington WA23$1,218−13%$818 – $2,121
Alabama AL14$1,214−13%$278 – $4,188
Texas TX106$1,162−17%$901 – $2,801
Iowa IA23$1,148−18%$143 – $2,095
New Jersey NJ21$1,092−22%$382 – $2,466
Nebraska NE14$1,061−24%$892 – $2,068
Massachusetts MA20$1,058−24%$769 – $2,329
Connecticut CT10$1,048−25%$847 – $3,207
Georgia GA51$1,022−27%$460 – $1,493
North Carolina NC31$978−30%$575 – $1,621
Michigan MI22$933−33%$476 – $1,611
Missouri MO24$878−37%$634 – $2,198
Indiana IN44$707−49%$441 – $1,636
Arizona AZ21$582−58%$430 – $4,161
Mississippi MS12$533−62%$297 – $902
Tennessee TN23$504−64%$443 – $722
Louisiana LA12$468−67%$336 – $1,457
Oklahoma OK22$389−72%$250 – $1,095
Maryland MD11$93−93%$82 – $147
Kansas KS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI2not 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 $1,398.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,012$1,384$625 – $2,831
Children’s22$1,595$908 – $4,124
Critical access108$1,378$707 – $2,148
Ownership
For-profit147$1,880$747 – $4,844
Government131$1,148$625 – $1,880
Non-profit864$1,378$619 – $2,584
System affiliation
Part of a system1,006$1,416$634 – $2,796
Independent141$1,258$612 – $2,463

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$2,359
Median cash price$1,398
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

860 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $1,419 and the average of the middle 60% is $1,487; most fall between $634 and $2,663.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 860 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
$389$818$1,419$2,321$3,962

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 10× what the cheapest tenth charges ($389 vs $3,962).

Of the 962 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 860 gave a usable cash price; 59 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 43 a list price only.

How complete is this

1,147 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (29%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 1,329 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted1,147
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here92
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded2
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded88
Hospitals that filed this code1,329

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 MRI Guidance Needle Placement Rs&I.

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 guidance for needle placement, such as a biopsy (CPT 77021) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-77021-mri-guidance-for-needle-placement-such-as-a-biopsy