All procedures / Lower Back MRI / Houston, TX
Across 12 hospitals in the Houston, TX area that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate under commercial insurance is $524 (middle half of hospitals: $492–$2,315) and the median self-pay (cash) price is $3,523 for an MRI of the lower back (lumbar spine). The Medicare outpatient baseline for the same procedure family is $243.
Source: hospital machine-readable files (45 CFR §180), file dates 2024-01-01 to 2026-08-06 · Medicare baseline: CMS OPPS Addendum B · Data extracted 2026-10-31 · Page updated 2026-10-31
Area covered: hospitals in Houston, Baytown, Pasadena, Sugar Land and The Woodlands, Texas. Hospitals outside these places are not in this table, even if they serve the area.
| Hospital | Insured median | PPO | HMO | Commercial | Medicare Adv. | ACA Exchange | Medicare | Cash | List (gross) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tops Surgical Specialty Hospital Houston · file updated 2026-04-15 | $428 | $5532.3× Medicare | $4281.8× Medicare | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital Baytown · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-01 | $492 | $4922.0× Medicare | — | $1,0844.5× Medicare | $2561.1× Medicare | $4351.8× Medicare | $2461.0× Medicare | — | — |
| Houston Methodist Sugarland Hospital Sugar Land · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-01 | $492 | $4922.0× Medicare | — | $1,0844.5× Medicare | $2561.1× Medicare | $4351.8× Medicare | $2461.0× Medicare | — | — |
| Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital Houston · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-01 | $492 | $4922.0× Medicare | — | $1,0844.5× Medicare | $2561.1× Medicare | $4351.8× Medicare | $2461.0× Medicare | — | — |
| Houston Methodist West Hospital Houston · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-01 | $492 | $4922.0× Medicare | — | $9583.9× Medicare | $2561.1× Medicare | $4351.8× Medicare | $2461.0× Medicare | — | — |
| Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital The Woodlands · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-01 | $492 | $4922.0× Medicare | — | $1,0844.5× Medicare | $2561.1× Medicare | $3901.6× Medicare | $2451.0× Medicare | — | — |
| Voyages Behavioral Health Of Sugar Land Sugar Land · file updated 2026-08-06 | $555 | $4762.0× Medicare | — | $6352.6× Medicare | $7933.3× Medicare | — | — | $1,058 | $1,058 |
| St Luke'S Hospital At The Vintage Houston · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-02-28 | $2,241 | $2,66510.9× Medicare | $1,8187.5× Medicare | $6,55326.9× Medicare | — | $3631.5× Medicare | $2451.0× Medicare | $3,528 | $10,082 |
| St Luke'S Patients Medical Center Pasadena · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-02-28 | $2,315 | $2,81211.5× Medicare | $1,8187.5× Medicare | $4,94920.3× Medicare | — | $3631.5× Medicare | $2461.0× Medicare | $2,887 | $8,249 |
| St Luke'S Sugar Land Hospital Sugar Land · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-02-28 | $2,315 | $2,81211.5× Medicare | $1,8187.5× Medicare | $6,55326.9× Medicare | — | $3631.5× Medicare | $2451.0× Medicare | $3,528 | $10,082 |
| St Luke'S The Woodlands Hospital The Woodlands · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-02-28 | $3,933 | $6,55326.9× Medicare | $1,8187.5× Medicare | $6,04924.8× Medicare | — | $3631.5× Medicare | $2451.0× Medicare | $3,528 | $10,082 |
| Texas Childrens Hospital Houston · file updated 2024-01-01file >12 mo old | $3,936 | $4,27717.5× Medicare | — | $3,67415.1× Medicare | — | — | — | $3,516 | $5,249 |
Each figure is the median of that hospital's published rates for the procedure's code family under that plan type. "Insured median" is the median of the hospital's commercial-plan rates (PPO, HMO, EPO, POS, ACA marketplace and plans not labelled by type); the headline figure is the median of that column. Hospitals label plan types differently, so compare the Insured median column across hospitals rather than a single plan-type column. "×Medicare" compares to the CMS national outpatient rate. Blank cells mean the hospital's file discloses no dollar rate for that plan type.
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