How Much Does an MRI Brain Without Contrast Cost in Ohio?
Mri brain stem w/o dye
$312Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, an MRI brain without contrast 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 Ohio averages $183.
- ✓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
Ohio Medicare physician rate (2026)
-6.4% 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 Ohio
Look up your ZIP to see rates for your corner of Ohio, whether Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, or the Appalachian southeast.
What MRI brain without contrast costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Ohio 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 43001.
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 Ohio the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $116.56.
National vs Ohio
Where Ohio ranks for this CPT
MRI Brain Without Contrast and how Ohio is priced
Ohio's physician pricing runs through a small number of Medicare payment localities rather than a single statewide one, so its major metros and the rest of the state are not all priced identically. Adjustments across Ohio cluster near the national average, with the urban areas at the upper end of the state's range. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati each anchor large distinct medical markets within this structure. The practical spread within Ohio is modest compared with coastal states, but it exists, so location is worth checking here.
Ohio is one of the few states with three large competing metro health markets, including a Cleveland-based system with a global referral reputation and major academic centers in Columbus and Cincinnati. Appalachian southeast Ohio is the state's hardest region for access, with fewer specialists and longer travel. Toledo, Akron, Dayton, and Youngstown round out an unusually deep bench of mid-sized hospital markets.
This procedure: A brain MRI without contrast uses a powerful magnet and radio waves, no radiation, to produce detailed pictures of the brain. It is ordered for headaches with warning signs, dizziness, memory concerns, seizure evaluation, or suspected multiple sclerosis. You lie still inside the scanner tube for 20 to 40 minutes while it makes loud knocking sounds; earplugs are provided, and no needles are involved for this non-contrast version.
What Is MRI Brain Without Contrast?
A brain MRI without contrast uses a powerful magnet and radio waves, no radiation, to produce detailed pictures of the brain. It is ordered for headaches with warning signs, dizziness, memory concerns, seizure evaluation, or suspected multiple sclerosis. You lie still inside the scanner tube for 20 to 40 minutes while it makes loud knocking sounds; earplugs are provided, and no needles are involved for this non-contrast version.
What Affects the Cost
- –Hospital-based MRI departments often charge several times what freestanding imaging centers charge for the identical scan.
- –The radiologist's interpretation fee is separate from the scan fee, and the two may come from different billers.
- –If the radiologist protocol adds contrast after reviewing initial images, the study converts to a costlier code and adds injection charges.
- –Claustrophobic patients who need sedation or an open-bore magnet add medication, monitoring, or specialty-equipment costs.
- –After-hours or stat interpretation requests can carry premium charges at some facilities.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Has prior authorization been approved, and for which specific facility?
- 2.What is the price at a freestanding imaging center versus the hospital for this exact scan?
- 3.Is the radiologist's reading fee included in the quote or billed separately?
- 4.Could the protocol change to include contrast, and what would that cost?
- 5.If I am claustrophobic, what would sedation or an open MRI add?
Other featured procedures in Ohio
MRI Brain Without Contrast in other states
MRI Brain Without Contrast in Ohio: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, an MRI brain without contrast 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 Ohio averages $183. Ohio is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Ohio 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 $37 for the office physician line or $13 for the hospital physician line in Ohio. 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, $182.90 is Medicare's full rate in Ohio, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $66.34) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $312. Ohio ranks #12 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (6% below the national office rate of $195.40).