Lower back MRI with contrast cost in Kalispell, MT
In Kalispell, MT, 2 hospitals list a cash price for MRI of the lower back, without and then with contrast dye: from $2,158.00 to $2,311.56, with a median of $2,234.78. The lowest listed price is at Logan Health Medical Center — $76.78 less than the median here. Across Montana, the median is $2,656.39 at 21 hospitals.
Cash prices at 2 facilities across 2 cities for code 72158, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 29, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Apr 1, 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 Kalispell, MT.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Health Medical Center lowest Kalispell, MT · (406) 752-5111 MRI LUMBAR SPINE W/&WO LIMITED | $2,158.00 | $3,320.00 | — | 35% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Logan Health Medical Center Kalispell, MT · (406) 752-5111 MRI LUMBAR SPINE W/ & W/O | $2,222.51 | $3,419.25 | — | 35% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| Logan Health - Whitefish Whitefish, MT · (406) 863-3550 MRI LUMBAR SPINE W/ & W/O | $2,311.56 | $3,556.25 | — | 35% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $2,158.00, median $2,234.78, highest $2,311.56 — a 1.1× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 2 facilities here, median $2,234.78. 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 MRI of the lumbar spine takes one set of pictures without contrast dye and a second set after the dye is injected into a vein. The dye helps tell scar tissue from a new disc problem after back surgery and can show infection, inflammation or tumors.
What the price covers
The hospital price usually covers both sets of images; the contrast agent may appear as a separate line on some bills. The radiologist's reading is often billed separately.
2 rows held back from this comparison
They are priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 72158 ($2,978.40). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.
| Logan Health - Whitefish Whitefish, MTMRI LUMBAR SPINE W/O & W/DYE | $168.35 | file |
| Logan Health Medical Center Kalispell, MTMRI LUMBAR SPINE W/O & W/DYE | $168.35 | file |