How much is an MRI

1 ANSWERS

1. Ali Abdullah
   

   Hi, That is going to depend on many things, including what part of your body you need to have imaged. Is this a brain MRI? A lumbar spine MRI? If you have an order from your doctor, you can take that order to ANY imaging facility (even if the top of the order says "General Hospital", you can go to "Fred's Imaging Center")....much like when you get a prescription for drugs and you can take that prescription to any pharmacy. Anyhow, where I am, in Northern CA, a brain MRI with no contrast runs about $1500. With and without contrast, it is about $2400. A lumbar spine, on a patient with no previous back surgery, runs about $1400. My best advice would be to look in your local yellow pages, and make calls for estimated costs at facilities in your area. Make sure you have your doctor's order in front of you when you make these calls, so you can read, word for word, what exactly your doctor is ordering and why he/she is ordering it. Prices will vary depending on which state you are in....in fact, the prices can vary quite a bit between facilities in the same area. I work in a free standing imaging center, and we charge about half what the hospital (located in the same town!) charges. Look in the yellow pages under "x-ray" or "physicians - radiologist" and start calling facilities. If you call the imaging department of a hospital, make sure you get both the technical fee (for the cost of the procedure) and the professional fee (for the radiologist's reading). Most free standing imaging centers combine those costs into one fee. Other things to think about.....find out if the facility offers a cash discount for uninsured patients. Where I work, we offer 40% off the cost of CTs and MRIs for uninsured patients, if they pay the total on the day of service. Also, find out if they can make a payment plan for you, if you cannot come up with all of the money at the time of your procedure. We ask for 25% down at time of service, and then we do a payment plan, mapping out monthly payments for the balance. Sometimes the monthly payment is fairly low.....$50 even. A little bit of research can save you some money!

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