CPT 70551
MRI of the brain, without contrast
An MRI scan of the brain with no contrast. Usually ordered as an outpatient after a CT, for headaches, seizures, or neurological symptoms. Billed as a facility line (revenue code 0610 or 0611) plus the radiologist's reading.
Billed to Medicare
$397
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in a hospital setting.
Medicare accepted
$68
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
5.8x
How many times the accepted amount the billed figure was.
National averages from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2024 data, retrieved 2026-09-14. Medicare fee-for-service, physician and practitioner claims only. The hospital's own charge for the same code is separate and is usually higher. Based on 812,298 services.
Among the 8 imaging codes on this site with CMS figures, this gap ranks 4 of 8 (median 5.5x). The widest is CT scan of the head, without contrast at 6x.
Where this line goes wrong
Prior authorization
Most insurers require prior authorization for MRI. A denial for no authorization is the provider's problem to fix if they were responsible for obtaining it; check your plan's rules before paying a denied claim.
Without and with
A brain MRI done both without and with contrast is 70553, a single code. 70551 plus 70552 on the same day is an error.
Hospital versus imaging center
The same MRI at a hospital outpatient department typically costs several times what a freestanding imaging center charges. If you have a choice next time, the price transparency file shows the difference.
Check it, then ask
- 1
Ask for the itemized bill and the imaging report, and check that each billed study has a report.
- 2
Check the two halves match: the facility line and the radiologist's line should carry the same code for the same date.
- 3
If the radiologist was out of network for an emergency visit or at an in-network facility, the No Surprises Act limits what you can be billed.
- 4
If you are self-pay, ask for the hospital's published cash price for the scan; it is usually a fraction of the list price.
The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: Your bill came in above the estimate.
For $49, a mediloop specialist reads your itemized bill and EOB, if available, checks every code against the record and available pricing, flags the lines to dispute, and prepares a step-by-step plan with the exact wording to send. It appears in your account within 24 hours after all required documents arrive.
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People also ask
Can I shop around for an MRI?
For a non-emergency scan, yes. Hospitals and imaging centers publish prices under federal transparency rules, and the range for the same code in the same city is often very wide.
Sources
This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.