How Much Does an MRI Lumbar Spine Cost in Minnesota?
Mri lumbar spine w/o dye
$312Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, an MRI lumbar spine costs up to about $312 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Minnesota averages $193.
- ✓Your ZIP's wage-adjusted hospital and surgery center rates
- ✓Five nearby hospitals by name, with CMS star ratings
- ✓The add-on codes that typically land on the bill
- ✓A word-for-word script for asking for a good-faith estimate
- ✓A private link you can reopen and share
- ✓Everything in the Premium report
- ✓15 nearby hospitals instead of five
- ✓Filled good-faith-estimate request letter
- ✓Bill-negotiation letter
- ✓Printable PDF download
Minnesota Medicare physician rate (2026)
+0.9% vs nationalSingle statewide locality.
What the whole procedure costs
The office rate above is what an imaging center, lab or office is paid for the whole test. In a hospital, the facility bills its own fee and the physician bills only the reading. These are 2026 national Medicare amounts.
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. For a test like this the physician in a hospital bills only the reading (the professional component); outside a hospital one global fee covers the whole test, shown in the office rate above. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.
Your ZIP in Minnesota
Check your ZIP code for your part of Minnesota, whether Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, or the farm and lake country beyond.
What MRI lumbar spine costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Minnesota moves the bill more than anything else you control.
Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.
For example 55001.
One-off payment, no account and no subscription. You get a private link and an email. No medical records and no insurance card, ever.
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 center 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. In Minnesota the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $126.34.
National vs Minnesota
Where Minnesota ranks for this CPT
MRI Lumbar Spine and how Minnesota is priced
Minnesota's physician fees are set through a small number of Medicare payment localities rather than a single statewide one, distinguishing the Twin Cities region from the rest of the state. Geographic adjustments in the metro run higher than in greater Minnesota, though the gap is modest by coastal standards. The state is otherwise notable for how its practice patterns, historically efficient and integrated, have featured in national Medicare policy debates. From Duluth to Worthington, non-metro Minnesota prices off common lower-cost factors.
The Twin Cities host a dense, integrated medical market, and Rochester is home to one of the most famous referral centers in the world, drawing patients from every state and abroad. Greater Minnesota relies on regional hubs like Duluth, St. Cloud, and Mankato, with long winter drives a real factor in care planning. Minnesota's tradition of integrated group practice tends to make billing more coordinated than in many states.
This procedure: A lumbar spine MRI without contrast images the lower back, the region responsible for most back pain and sciatica, showing discs, nerve roots, and the spinal canal. It is the definitive test before considering injections or surgery for a suspected herniated disc or spinal stenosis. You lie on your back in the scanner for 20 to 40 minutes; it is painless but the flat position can be uncomfortable if lying down aggravates your pain.
What Is MRI Lumbar Spine?
A lumbar spine MRI without contrast images the lower back, the region responsible for most back pain and sciatica, showing discs, nerve roots, and the spinal canal. It is the definitive test before considering injections or surgery for a suspected herniated disc or spinal stenosis. You lie on your back in the scanner for 20 to 40 minutes; it is painless but the flat position can be uncomfortable if lying down aggravates your pain.
What Affects the Cost
- –This is one of the most shopped scans in America, and prices between hospitals and independent centers commonly differ several-fold.
- –Insurer rules pushing six weeks of conservative care first mean therapy visit costs often precede the scan.
- –Findings frequently lead to epidural injections or surgical consultations, so the MRI is often the gateway to a much larger episode of spending.
- –Contrast is only added for specific concerns like prior surgery or infection, at a higher-code price.
- –Open or wide-bore scanners for larger or claustrophobic patients can carry different pricing at specialty centers.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Do I meet my insurer's criteria yet, or will this be denied for lack of conservative treatment first?
- 2.What is the cash or negotiated price at nearby freestanding imaging centers?
- 3.Is my scan authorized at the specific location I am booked at?
- 4.Given my history, does the radiologist need contrast, and what would that add?
- 5.If the MRI shows a disc problem, what are the typical next-step costs I should anticipate?
Other featured procedures in Minnesota
MRI Lumbar Spine in other states
MRI Lumbar Spine in Minnesota: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, an MRI lumbar spine costs up to about $312 in total at a hospital outpatient department, counting both the physician and the facility (national rates). Outside a hospital, at an independent imaging center, lab or office, Medicare's full rate in Minnesota averages $193. Minnesota is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Minnesota 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 $39 for the office physician line or $13 for the hospital physician line in Minnesota. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.
It depends on where the test is done. At an independent imaging center, lab or office, $193.44 is Medicare's full rate in Minnesota, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $67.10) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $312. Minnesota ranks #37 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (within 2% of the national office rate of $191.72).