The average spine MRI was billed to Medicare at about $829 in 2024 — Medicare paid about $85
The services-weighted average of $829 is pulled up by a right tail: the median group lists about $582, while the highest-listing tenth list about $1,736 or more.
The gap widened over 2020 to 2024 — from about 7.6 to about 9.7 times as much billed as paid.
Charged about 9.7 times what it paid: for the average spine MRI in 2024, these groups billed about $829 and Medicare paid about $85.
The gap is a list price set against a fee schedule. Submitted charges are amounts each group sets on its own. Medicare pays its allowed amount for the scan, whatever the list price.
Medicare is one payer. The submitted charge is a list price, and a higher one does not raise Medicare's payment. The gap measures a list price against one payer's schedule, from Medicare claims only. It says nothing about what any other payer pays.
An MRI is often billed in parts. A professional-interpretation component, a technical scanner component, or a combined global study — so the per-service average spans all of these, not one complete study.
A record of what was billed and what Medicare paid — not a verdict on price, value, or fairness. The charge is a list amount each group sets; the payment is the fee schedule's fixed amount.
The average submitted charge and the average Medicare payment per spine MRI/MRA service, across named physician groups, in 2024.
Not a total-spending figure, not the price of one complete study and not all-payer.