MRI of the brain, with and without contrast dye in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
In San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, 5 hospitals list a cash price for MRI of the brain, with and without contrast dye: from $2,004.50 to $7,817.50, with a median of $5,499.20. The lowest listed price is at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Cash prices at 5 facilities across 5 cities for code 70553, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Mar 31, 2026 and Apr 1, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford lowest Palo Alto, CA HC MRI Brain W & WO Con Lmtd | $2,004.50 | $4,009.00 | 50% | Mar 31, 2026 source file |
| El Camino Hospital Mountain View, CA HC MRI HEAD W/WO CONTRAST | $4,326.50 | $17,306.00 | 75% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Jose San Jose, CA MRI BRAIN BRAIN STEM W/O W/CONTRAST MATERIAL | $5,499.20 | $9,820.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Santa Clara Santa Clara, CA MRI BRAIN BRAIN STEM W/O W/CONTRAST MATERIAL | $5,499.20 | $9,820.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Stanford Health Care Stanford, CA MRI Brain WO/W Contrst | $6,788.00 | $16,970.00 | 60% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford Palo Alto, CA HC MRI Brain W&WO Contrast | $7,817.50 | $15,635.00 | 50% | Mar 31, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $2,004.50, median $5,499.20, highest $7,817.50 — a 3.9× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 4 facilities here, median $5,499.20. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
What it is
This brain MRI is done in two parts: first without contrast dye, then again after a gadolinium contrast dye is injected into a vein. The contrast helps show tumors, infection, inflammation and conditions such as multiple sclerosis more clearly.
What the price covers
The hospital price usually covers both sets of images. The radiologist's reading is often billed separately, and the contrast agent may appear as its own pharmacy charge.