# Guides

MRIPrices has 3 guides on MRI scans at US hospitals, grouped by country.

## United States

- [How much does an MRI cost without insurance?](https://mriprices.fyi/guides/how-much-does-an-mri-cost.md): A US hospital can charge a different cash price for the same MRI scan. The machine-readable file each hospital must publish holds its prices; here is how to read yours before you book.
- [MRI CPT codes explained: 70551, 72148, 73221, 73721](https://mriprices.fyi/guides/mri-cpt-codes-explained.md): The four CPT codes that describe the MRI scans people price most often: brain, lumbar spine, shoulder and knee, all without contrast. Learn what each code means and why the code decides the price.
- [Questions to ask before an MRI](https://mriprices.fyi/guides/questions-to-ask-before-an-mri.md): The questions that turn a vague scan into a number you can plan around: the cash price for your CPT code, what it includes, who reads the images and what the hospital's own price file says.