Lower back MRI with contrast cost in Manchester, NH
In Manchester-Nashua, NH, 3 hospitals list a cash price for MRI of the lower back, without and then with contrast dye: from $2,494.54 to $4,747.48, with a median of $2,497.56. The lowest listed price is at Elliot Hospital — $3.02 less than the median here. Across New Hampshire, the median is $2,814.63 at 6 hospitals.
Cash prices at 3 facilities across 3 cities for code 72158, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 22, 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 Manchester-Nashua, NH.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliot Hospital lowest Manchester, NH · (603) 669-5300 Hc Mr Spine Lumbar Wo&W Contrast | $2,494.54 | $6,742.00 | — | 63% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
| St Joseph Hospital of Nashua Nashua, NH · (603) 882-3000 HC MRI-SPINE LUMBAR WO & W CONT | $2,497.56 | $6,404.00 | — | 61% | — source file |
| Monadnock Community Hospital Peterborough, NH · (603) 924-7191 MR L SPINE W AND W/O CONTRAST | $4,747.48 | $7,912.46 | — | 40% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $2,494.54, median $2,497.56, highest $4,747.48 — a 1.9× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 3 facilities here, median $2,497.56. 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.