Independent imaging center: one global payment, no hospital facility fee
A freestanding imaging center typically owns the scanner and bills the service globally under the Physician Fee Schedule - technical and professional components together, or split between the center and the interpreting radiologist without a hospital facility bill.
Confirm your price in writing before service. Ask whether the quote is facility-only or all-in.
- Setting
- Freestanding MRI, CT, ultrasound, mammography, and X-ray centers
- Payment system
- Physician Fee Schedule global payment when the center owns the equipment and employs or contracts the radiologist
- Facility fee
- No separate hospital facility fee - the technical component is inside the global PFS payment
For brain MRI without contrast (CPT 70551) the verified CY2026 PFS global anchor is $192.65, split into professional $69.04 and technical $123.61. For CT abdomen and pelvis with contrast (CPT 74177) the global anchor is $294.96. In a hospital outpatient department the same codes billed alone trigger a single-service OPPS facility payment (for example $243.77, APC 5523, for 70551 and $356.43, APC 5572, for 74177, national unadjusted) plus the professional fee. That is a payment-system difference, not a different scan.
Imaging-center cash prices vary by market, scanner, and whether interpretation is included, and this site publishes no self-pay range for them. Always ask whether the quote includes the radiologist report and standard image delivery to the ordering clinician.
When your clinician allows a choice of site, price the same CPT code at an imaging center and at the hospital outpatient department. Compare all-in to all-in, and confirm your price in writing before service.
Imaging codes billed globally at a freestanding center
Imaging procedures on this site with a fee schedule global anchor, which is the amount a freestanding center typically bills when it owns the scanner and the reading is included, next to the technical share of that global amount.
| Procedure | CPT | PFS global anchor | Technical component (TC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRI Without Contrast | 70551 | $192.65 | $123.61 |
| MRI With Contrast | 70553 | $312.34 | $205.07 |
| CT Abdomen and Pelvis | 74177 | $294.96 | $209.34 |
| CT Head | 70450 | $105.23 | $65.03 |
| Ultrasound Abdomen | 76700 | $112.60 | $74.61 |
| Screening Mammogram | 77067 | $123.91 | $88.23 |
| X-Ray Chest | 71046 | $32.64 | $22.48 |
| Echocardiogram | 93306 | $193.43 | $125.46 |
| MRI Lumbar Spine | 72148 | $189.10 | $119.42 |
| MRI Knee | 73721 | $200.97 | $137.14 |
| CT Chest | 71250 | $130.87 | $80.50 |
| CT Abdomen and Pelvis Without Contrast | 74176 | $181.27 | $100.08 |
Medicare anchors verified 2026-10-18: fee schedule amounts for Michigan Locality 01, hospital amounts national unadjusted. Not cash prices. The general explanation of facility fees and the four questions that work in any setting are on the facility types overview.
Reading an imaging center quote
A freestanding center quote is usually closest to a true all-in figure, because the technical and professional parts are often billed together. The common exception is a center that contracts the reading out: then a radiology group may send its own bill for the interpretation.
Some centers are owned by or affiliated with a hospital and bill as a hospital department. If the center's name on the quote is a hospital system, ask whether the scan will be billed with a hospital facility charge.
Questions for this setting
- Is the radiologist's interpretation included in this price?
- Is this center billed as an independent facility or as part of a hospital?
- If contrast is added on the day, what code and price apply?
- How are images and the report sent to the ordering clinician, and is there a fee?