How Much Does a Knee X-Ray Cost in Tennessee?
X-ray exam of knee 1 or 2
$97Hospital outpatient total2026 Medicare, physician + facilityUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a knee x-ray costs up to about $97 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 Tennessee averages $32.
- ✓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
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- ✓Everything in the Premium report
- ✓15 nearby hospitals instead of five
- ✓Filled good-faith-estimate request letter
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- ✓Printable PDF download
Tennessee Medicare physician rate (2026)
-8.4% 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 Tennessee
Enter a ZIP code for your part of Tennessee, whether Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, the Tri-Cities, or the rural plateau and delta counties.
What knee x-ray costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Tennessee 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 37010.
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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 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 Tennessee the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $23.86.
National vs Tennessee
Where Tennessee ranks for this CPT
Knee X-Ray and how Tennessee is priced
Tennessee's Medicare rates come from one statewide locality with below-average geographic indices, so Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga all publish the same approved amounts despite being four distinct metro markets. The uniform locality stretches across a state that spans two time zones and several regional economies. Nashville's boom has raised local practice costs faster than the statewide averages that feed the indices. For patients, the fee schedule is identical statewide; the markets around it are anything but.
Nashville is the corporate capital of American hospital operations, home to major for-profit chains, alongside a prominent academic medical center, while Memphis anchors care for the Mid-South including parts of Mississippi and Arkansas. Knoxville and Chattanooga serve East Tennessee, and the rural Cumberland Plateau and West Tennessee counties have seen multiple hospital closures. Cross-border patient flows into Tennessee's metros are heavy from every neighboring state.
This procedure: A knee X-ray takes one or two views of the knee joint, checking for fractures, arthritis, alignment problems, and fluid. It is the recommended first test for most knee pain, especially in patients over 50 where arthritis is likely, and often the only imaging needed. The technologist positions your leg for each quick exposure; standing views may be taken because they show arthritis narrowing better than lying down. The whole visit takes minutes.
What Is Knee X-Ray?
A knee X-ray takes one or two views of the knee joint, checking for fractures, arthritis, alignment problems, and fluid. It is the recommended first test for most knee pain, especially in patients over 50 where arthritis is likely, and often the only imaging needed. The technologist positions your leg for each quick exposure; standing views may be taken because they show arthritis narrowing better than lying down. The whole visit takes minutes.
What Affects the Cost
- –Orthopedic and primary care offices with in-house X-ray typically cost less than hospital radiology departments.
- –Weight-bearing or additional specialized views can be billed as expanded series under related codes.
- –A separate radiologist reading fee may apply where images are sent out for interpretation.
- –A normal X-ray in a younger patient with mechanical symptoms often leads to a knee MRI at many times the price.
- –Imaging both knees for comparison doubles the studies billed.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Can the X-ray be done here in the office today, and what will it add to my bill?
- 2.Are standing views needed, and are they billed differently?
- 3.Is an outside radiologist reading the film for a separate fee?
- 4.Based on my age and symptoms, is an MRI likely to be needed, or should the X-ray settle it?
- 5.If you want to compare both knees, is that one charge or two?
Other featured procedures in Tennessee
Knee X-Ray in other states
Knee X-Ray in Tennessee: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a knee x-ray costs up to about $97 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 Tennessee averages $32. Tennessee is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Tennessee 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 $6 for the office physician line or $2 for the hospital physician line in Tennessee. 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, $31.51 is Medicare's full rate in Tennessee, covering the test and the reading. In a hospital outpatient department the physician is paid only for the reading (about $7.65) and the hospital is paid separately, which brings the national total to up to about $97. Tennessee ranks #8 of 51 states on the non-hospital rate (8% below the national office rate of $34.40).