Why is the cheapest hospital for mri of the lower back (lumbar) in Chicago so much less than the most expensive?

Hospitals set their own cash-pay prices and they vary widely even inside the same metro. The price shown is each hospital's own posted cash rate from its federal transparency file, not an estimate. Facility type matters: ambulatory surgery centers usually cost less than hospital outpatient departments. Bundling matters too: some posted prices include both the physician and facility fees, others post the facility charge alone and the physician bills separately. Cash-pay rates also tend to be lower than billed charges or insurance-negotiated rates, but each hospital publishes them differently.

Is the lowest cash price always the best choice for MRI of the Lower Back (Lumbar)?

Not always. Cash-pay rates are real numbers, but they should not be the only factor. Quality scores, distance, whether the price is bundled, and whether your physician has admitting privileges all matter. Use this list as a starting point, then call the hospital for a Good Faith Estimate in writing under the No Surprises Act before you commit.

How current is this pricing data?

Updated September 2026. We download every hospital's Machine-Readable File on a monthly cycle and republish the cash-pay rate after we parse it. The "Updated" date at the top of the page and on each row reflect when we last pulled fresh data from the source. If a price has changed since then, our next monthly run will catch it.

How does the cash price compare to what I would pay with insurance?

It depends on the procedure, the hospital, and your plan. Cash-pay rates are often lower than billed charges but can be either higher or lower than what your insurance has negotiated. The honest comparison: call your insurer and ask for the in-network negotiated rate for the specific procedure code, then put it next to the cash-pay price here. If your deductible is unmet and the cash price is lower, paying cash and skipping the claim can save money.

What about hospital quality, not just price?

Price and quality are separate questions. CMS publishes hospital-level quality data (readmission rates, complication rates, patient experience scores) at qualitycheck.cms.gov, and Leapfrog publishes safety grades at hospitalsafetygrade.org. We surface price; cross-reference against those two sources before you choose. For most outpatient procedures the quality variance inside a single metro is smaller than the price variance, but it is never zero.

How does ProcedureRadar source these prices?

We download the Machine-Readable File each hospital is required to publish under 45 CFR Part 180 (the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule), parse it monthly, normalize the billing codes to plain English, and surface the cash-discount price. We link to the raw file on every row so you can verify the price yourself.

Updated September 2026 · 17 hospitals reporting a cash price

Top 10 Most Affordable Hospitals for MRI of the Lower Back (Lumbar) in Chicago (2026)

Direct answer

For mri of the lower back (lumbar) in Chicago, the 10 most affordable hospitals have median cash prices from $960 to $3,748. Across all 17 hospitals reporting a cash price, the median cash price is $3,554. Every price below is a hospital's own median cash price from its federally mandated transparency file, refreshed monthly.

What this price includes: This is the hospital's actual posted cash price from its federal transparency file (45 CFR Part 180), not an estimate. As with any hospital price, the physician performing or interpreting the procedure may bill separately, so confirm what's included when you book.

Typical imaging-center benchmark

about $190 national Medicare benchmark

What Medicare pays an independent, non-hospital imaging center for this scan.

2026 national Medicare physician fee schedule. A public benchmark, not a cash quote. Cash prices vary by center.

By Kevin Monangai, Founder, ProcedureRadar.

See the cheapest hospital Get price-change alerts

#	Hospital	Confidence	Cash price	Source
1	Carle Eureka Hospital	Low	$960	MRF file
2	Alton Memorial Hospital MRF updated Dec 2025	High	$1,669	MRF file
3	Community Hospital Of Staunton MRF updated Feb 2026	Low	$2,251	MRF file
4	Ingalls Memorial Hospital MRF updated Aug 2025	Low	$2,486	MRF file
5	St Joseph Medical Center MRF updated Jan 2026	Low	$2,994	MRF file
6	Memorial Hospital Shiloh MRF updated Dec 2025	High	$3,014	MRF file
7	Saint Anthony Medical Center MRF updated Jan 2026	Low	$3,092	MRF file
8	Saint Francis Medical Center MRF updated Jan 2026	Low	$3,380	MRF file
9	Jackson Park Hospital	Low	$3,554	MRF file
10	Sparta Community Hospital	Low	$3,748	MRF file

Showing the 10 most affordable hospitals by median cash price, out of 17 reporting a cash price in Chicago, Illinois. Updated September 2026.

For providers

Run a mri of the lower back (lumbar) program in Chicago?

We are opening a Featured Listings slot at the top of this page for ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and direct-pay clinics that publish honest cash prices. Limited to one provider per procedure-and-metro. Email [email protected] if you want first look.

Your next step

Call Carle Eureka Hospital and ask for a Good Faith Estimate in writing. Reference the cash price shown above as your starting point. Under the No Surprises Act, every hospital is required to give you one. Pick a second hospital from this list as your backup before the call, so you have a price to negotiate against.

See Carle Eureka Hospital

Get notified when these prices change

We refresh this list every month from the source files. Drop your email and we will send a short note the next time the cheapest cash-pay price in Chicago for mri of the lower back (lumbar) moves more than 10%, or when a new hospital reports a lower number. No newsletter, no marketing, one purpose. Unsubscribe is a single click in every email.

Also shopping in Chicago?

MRI of the Lower Back (Lumbar) in other metros

Most cost guides just tell you what something usually costs. We thought it was more useful to actually rank the 10 cheapest hospitals near you, head-to-head. Each ranked page pulls live cash-discount prices from federally mandated transparency files for one procedure in one metro, refreshed monthly, drawn from the more than 2,000 hospitals where we have published prices. Same data we use everywhere, just sorted the way most people want to read it.
Kevin Monangai, Founder of ProcedureRadar

Common questions

How we sourced these prices

Every price on this page comes from a Machine-Readable File each hospital is required to publish under 45 CFR Part 180. We refresh the data monthly, normalize the billing codes to plain English, and link back to the raw file on each row. If a price looks off, click the MRF link and check it yourself. The full methodology white-paper documents how we handle severity distributions, confidence intervals, and data quality scoring.

Building a healthcare product that needs procedure-pricing data at scale? See our B2B API tiers.

Pricing data sourced from federally mandated hospital Machine-Readable Files.

Disclosure required by 45 CFR Part 180.

Carle Eureka Hospital MRF (September 1, 2026)
Alton Memorial Hospital MRF (December 15, 2025)
Community Hospital Of Staunton MRF (February 9, 2026)
Ingalls Memorial Hospital MRF (August 1, 2025)
St Joseph Medical Center MRF (January 1, 2026)

Last updated: September 1, 2026

Prices shown are sourced from publicly available hospital pricing files required by federal law (45 CFR Part 180). Actual costs may vary based on your insurance plan, specific diagnosis, treatment complexity, and other factors. ProcedureRadar does not provide medical advice. This information is for comparison purposes only. Contact the hospital or your insurance provider for a personalized cost estimate.