Why is the cheapest hospital for lumbar puncture (spinal tap) in Washington DC so much less than the most expensive?

Hospitals set their own cash-pay prices and they vary widely even inside the same metro. Facility type matters: ambulatory surgery centers usually cost less than hospital outpatient departments. Bundling matters too: some posted prices include physician and facility fees, others do not. 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 Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap)?

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 · 23 reporting hospitals

Top 10 Most Affordable Hospitals for Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap) in Washington DC (2026)

Direct answer

For lumbar puncture (spinal tap) in Washington DC, the 10 lowest cash-pay prices range from $39 to $347. Across all 23 reporting hospitals in the metro, the median cash price is $446. Every price below is sourced from federally mandated hospital transparency files we refresh monthly and link back to.

By Kevin Monangai, Founder, ProcedureRadar.

See the cheapest hospital Get price-change alerts

#	Hospital	Confidence	Cash price	Source
1	MEDSTAR MONTGOMERY MEDICAL CENTER MRF updated Apr 2026	Low	$39	MRF file
2	Umd Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute MRF updated Jun 2026	Low	$46	MRF file
3	MEDSTAR SOUTHERN MARYLAND HOSPITAL CENTER MRF updated Apr 2026	Low	$51	MRF file
4	University Of Md Charles Regional Medical Center MRF updated Jun 2026	Low	$75	MRF file
5	Umd Baltimore Washington Medical Center MRF updated Jun 2026	Low	$82	MRF file
6	University Of Md Upper Chesapeake Medical Center MRF updated Jun 2026	Low	$92	MRF file
7	Buchanan General Hospital	Low	$104	MRF file
8	Wythe County Community Hospital MRF updated May 2025	Low	$153	MRF file
9	MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL MRF updated Apr 2026	Low	$278	MRF file
10	Kennedy Krieger Institute MRF updated Jan 2025	High	$347	MRF file

Showing the 10 lowest cash-pay prices out of 23 reporting hospitals in Washington DC, Washington DC. Updated September 2026.

For providers

Run a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) program in Washington DC?

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 MEDSTAR MONTGOMERY MEDICAL CENTER 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 MEDSTAR MONTGOMERY MEDICAL CENTER

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 Washington DC for lumbar puncture (spinal tap) 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 Washington DC?

Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap) 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.

MEDSTAR MONTGOMERY MEDICAL CENTER MRF (April 1, 2026)
Umd Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute MRF (June 8, 2026)
MEDSTAR SOUTHERN MARYLAND HOSPITAL CENTER MRF (April 1, 2026)
University Of Md Charles Regional Medical Center MRF (June 8, 2026)
Umd Baltimore Washington Medical Center MRF (June 8, 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.