National averages, city comparisons, and savings tips for MRI, colonoscopy, knee replacement, hip replacement, and mammogram. Sourced from real hospital pricing data.
About These Guides
Our guides explain how hospital pricing works, how to read a price-transparency file, and how to compare what facilities charge in your area. Every guide cites real numbers from machine-readable files published under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule (45 CFR Part 180), covering hospitals across the top 100 US metros.
Our guides library is for anyone who wants the bigger picture before they start shopping. Each guide reads like a friend explaining how pricing works for a specific procedure, with real ranges from the more than 2,000 hospitals where we have published prices. Plain English, no medical jargon, written so a regular person gets it on the first read.
See what hospitals in your city are charging. Select a procedure and city to compare prices.
National median: $1,977 · 669 hospitals
“Hospital outpatient centers charge 2x to 3x more than freestanding imaging centers for the identical brain MRI. The images are the same. The price is not.”
National median: $1,554 · 96 hospitals
“A hospital outpatient colonoscopy can cost 3x to 5x more than the same procedure at an ambulatory surgery center. The scope is the same. The sedation is the same. The bill is not.”
National median: $17,101 · 668 hospitals
“The same total knee replacement can cost $16,000 at one hospital and $68,000 at another in the same metro. Your surgeon is the same quality. Your knee is the same knee. The price is not.”
National median: $13,692 · 663 hospitals
“A total hip replacement at the cheapest hospital in your metro may cost less than just the facility fee at the most expensive one. Location and facility type determine more than clinical complexity.”
“A screening mammogram at a hospital-based breast center can cost 4x more than the same exam at a freestanding imaging center. The mammography machine is the same. The radiologist reading is the same. The facility fee is not.”
ProcedureRadar surfaces hospital pricing data published under federal transparency rules.
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