CPT70552

MRI Brain With Contrast Cost in Arkansas

Mri brain stem w/dye

$625Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facility
Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers.
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Arkansas Medicare physician rate (2026)

-11.6% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Arkansas (Hospital)
$237.78
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$309–$476
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$190–$357
~80–150% of Medicare

What the whole procedure costs

The rate above is the physician’s fee on its own. The facility bills separately, and for most procedures the facility is the larger half of the bill. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.

Surgery centre, total
$456
$269 physician + $187 facility
Physician fee alone
$269
Only 43% of the hospital total

Choosing a surgery centre over a hospital saves about $169 on the Medicare allowed amount for mri brain with contrast. Ask whether your procedure can be done at an ambulatory surgery centre.

Medicare may pay the facility separately for this code or package it into another service on the same day, so treat the facility share as an upper bound. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.

Your ZIP in Arkansas

Try a ZIP lookup to see rates for your corner of Arkansas, whether around Little Rock, the fast-growing Fayetteville and Springdale corridor, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, or the rural Delta.

What mri brain with contrast costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Arkansas moves the bill more than anything else you control.

Locked

Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.

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What these numbers are

Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery centre rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again.

National vs Arkansas

National office$268.88
National hospital (physician)$268.88
Arkansas vs national12% below the national office rate of $268.88

Where Arkansas ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#1 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($237.78)
Highest stateAlaska ($309.58)

MRI Brain With Contrast and how Arkansas is priced

One payment locality covers the whole of Arkansas, and its geographic indices are among the lowest CMS publishes, so Medicare-approved amounts here sit near the bottom of the national range. A clinic visit in Little Rock is priced with the same adjustments as one in the Delta or the Ozarks. For consumers this means the statewide numbers on this site are a close match for almost any Arkansas address. The bigger price swings come from whether a procedure is billed in a hospital department or an independent office.

Little Rock is the state's referral hub, home to its academic medical center and the densest concentration of specialists, with Northwest Arkansas growing quickly as a second center of care. Large parts of the Delta and the mountain counties have limited local options, so traveling for procedures is routine. Lower area wages also mean cash prices for care in Arkansas often undercut national averages.

This procedure: A brain MRI with contrast adds an IV injection of gadolinium dye partway through the scan to highlight areas with increased blood flow or a disrupted blood-brain barrier, such as tumors, infections, or active inflammation. The experience matches a standard brain MRI, lying still in the scanner for 30 to 45 minutes, plus a small IV placed in your arm. The dye is generally well tolerated and passes in your urine within a day.

What Is MRI Brain With Contrast?

A brain MRI with contrast adds an IV injection of gadolinium dye partway through the scan to highlight areas with increased blood flow or a disrupted blood-brain barrier, such as tumors, infections, or active inflammation. The experience matches a standard brain MRI, lying still in the scanner for 30 to 45 minutes, plus a small IV placed in your arm. The dye is generally well tolerated and passes in your urine within a day.

What Affects the Cost

  • The gadolinium contrast agent itself is billed as a separate supply line, with newer agents costing more.
  • The IV placement and injection may add administration charges depending on the biller.
  • Some facilities require a recent kidney function blood test before giving contrast, adding a lab charge.
  • Facility choice, hospital versus freestanding center, remains the dominant price variable for any MRI.
  • The radiologist's professional fee for a contrast study is higher than for a non-contrast scan.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

  • 1.Does my authorization specifically cover a contrast study, not just a plain MRI?
  • 2.Is the contrast agent billed separately, and how much does it add?
  • 3.Do I need a kidney function test first, and who bills for that?
  • 4.Why is contrast-only being ordered rather than the combined without-then-with protocol?
  • 5.What is the total at a freestanding center versus the hospital, including the radiologist fee?

MRI Brain With Contrast in Arkansas: questions

Arkansas is a single Medicare locality for this fee schedule. The 2026 physician rate for CPT 70552 is $237.78 in an office and $237.78 in a hospital, statewide. A ZIP lookup still confirms the locality mapping.

Not on the physician fee schedule. Arkansas uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.

After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $48 for the office physician line or $48 for the hospital physician line in Arkansas. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

No. $237.78 is only the physician's share. Adding Medicare's facility payment brings the total to about $625 in a hospital outpatient department, or about $456 at an ambulatory surgery centre. Anesthesia, pathology and other codes billed the same day are extra. Arkansas ranks #1 of 51 states on the physician line (12% below the national office rate of $268.88).

Data source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (CMS PPRRVU26B, released March 2026). Conversion factor: $33.4009. Prices shown are Medicare allowed amounts for the physician service and may not match what you are billed. Private insurance and self-pay ranges, when shown, are labeled estimates (typical multiples of Medicare), not quotes. This site is an independent cost tool, not medical advice.