MRI, brain (no contrast) cost in FL
What a mri, brain (no contrast) costs at FL hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are +38% above the fair benchmark (1.38×) even after accounting for local nurse/doctor wages and patient complexity.
Balances commercial hospital prices against CMS clinical safety, infection control, and patient experience.
Loss-Leader / Captive Ancillary Cross-Subsidizer
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Hospital, Inc. prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.6× Medicare (p50 0.90×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.0× Medicare (p75 0.97×, +8% upper-tail jump). Patients scheduling elective outpatient care can capture competitive rates, but emergency and ancillary bills require strict line-item auditing.
Where They're Good (Patient & Payer Edge)
- Elective shoppable care is priced 18% below peer Fair BaseRate (0.82×)
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 56% of shoppable procedures (99/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (54/100 safety score) with 72% patient recommendation
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (21.2% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (1.38× Fair BaseRate), out-of-network or unnegotiated chargemaster bills can exceed commercial medians — confirm in-network status or request a self-pay cash quote up front.
- Captive ER (0.9×) & laboratory (2.9×) services average 1.67× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.6×)
- Even at low-cost facilities (1.38× Fair BaseRate), out-of-network or unnegotiated chargemaster bills can exceed commercial medians — confirm in-network status or request a self-pay cash quote up front.
- Unnegotiated chargemaster list prices average 15.9× Medicare (14¢ true HCRIS cost per $1 gross)
Pre-scheduled outpatient procedures where patients can comparison-shop.
Emergency, inpatient DRG, lab, and specialty drug lines billed after admission.
Detects median-gaming when upper-quartile codes spike above the p50 median.
In general, FL hospitals charge above the fair price — worth shopping around here. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, FL’s fair BaseRate ($356) is about the same as the national fair price of $339.
Cheapest FL hospitals for a mri, brain (no contrast)
- H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Hospital, Inc. · Tampa $104
- Fishermen's Community Hospital · Marathon $113
- Sarasota Memorial Hospital · Sarasota $131
- Doctors Hospital · Coral Gables $145
- South Miami Hospital · Miami $145
- West Kendall Baptist Hospital · Miami $145
- Baptist Hospital of Miami · Miami $152
- Bethesda Hospital East · Boynton Beach $160
- Baycare Alliant Hospital Inc · Dunedin $161
- Madison County Memorial Hospital · Madison $166
- Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital · Vero Beach $197
- Cleveland Clinic Hospital · Weston $203
- Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital · Stuart $205
- Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center · Palm Beach Gardens $225
- PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Venice · Nokomis $235
Audit a Bill or Quote at FL Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $412
At 274% FPL (201%–400% FPL tier), 26 U.S.C. § 501(r)(5) caps FAP-eligible bills at Amounts Generally Billed (36.3% of gross = $412).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask FL Hospital Benchmark's billing desk for their written 45 CFR § 180 discounted self-pay cash price and Good Faith Estimate under the No Surprises Act.
Negotiate Toward $356 Fair BaseRate ($206 Medicare)
Your bill ($1,135) is $779 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($356) and 5.5× the $206 Medicare rate.