Bill of Health

Published prices

Lower back X-ray

A standard X-ray series of the lower spine, at least four views.

Negotiated rates published

$16.40 – $8,500

across 47 hospitals in the Chicago metro. Lowest at MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER, highest at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Both are figures those hospitals published themselves — nothing here is averaged, estimated or rounded.

Every figure above comes from the 47 hospitals listed below and from the single billing code hospitals use for it. Each is that hospital's own published figure. 3 other hospitals publish only a formula for this — a percentage of some other number rather than a price — so they are not in these figures at all.

Written by an AI model (lmstudio google/gemma-4-26b-a4b) on 21 August 2026, from the published figures on this page. Every figure in it is one of theirs.

47 hospitals publish a negotiated rate for Lower back X-ray in an outpatient setting, and their figures run from $16.40 to $349.44; 2 of those hospitals published a figure we identified as a placeholder rather than a price, and it is left out of those bounds; 2 of those hospitals published a figure unlike what its peers published for the same thing. 18 hospitals publish a negotiated rate for Lower back X-ray in an inpatient setting, and their figures run from $17.46 to $725; 1 of those hospitals published a figure unlike what its peers published for the same thing. 4 hospitals publish only a formula for Lower back X-ray — a percentage of some other number rather than a price — so they are in none of these figures.

Any insurance Cash / no insurance Aetna Aetna Better Health of Illinois (Medicaid) Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Blue Cross Community Health Plans (Medicaid) Cigna CountyCare (Cook County Health Medicaid) Humana Illinois Medicaid (fee-for-service) Medicare (fee-for-service) Meridian (Medicaid) Molina Healthcare (Medicaid) UnitedHealthcare
47 hospitals · 1633 published rates Cheapest first

Sorted cheapest first. A published figure that behaves like a placeholder rather than a real price — one cent, or a figure orders of magnitude below what other hospitals publish for the same billing code — never leads this order. It stays listed, after every other figure, ordered by its own amount among the others like it.

Everything published Only figures that look like prices
MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER
82 published rates Lowest
$16.40 – $1,537.93
negotiated rate
Provident Hospital Cook County
Chicago 16 published rates
$17.46 – $214.40
negotiated rate
Unusual for this billing code 17 of the 18 hospitals published between $92.85 and $725.
HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL
78 published rates
$18.45 – $1,537.93
negotiated rate
MacNeal Hospital Gottlieb Community Health Services Corporation
Berwyn 96 published rates
$19.07 – $1,390.54
negotiated rate
Rush Oak Park Hospital
Oak Park 30 published rates
$22.76 – $837.20
negotiated rate
Children's Hospital of Illinois
Peoria 6 published rates
$35.19 – $380.87
negotiated rate
One file, 3 locations These prices come from a file that covers 3 locations — OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Almost Home Kids at OSF Healthcare Children's Hospital of Illinois and Childrens Hospital of Illinois — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's. The file's own header names it "OSF Saint Francis Medical Center".
Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago (Presence Chicago Hospital Network)
49 published rates
$44.12 – $730.42
negotiated rate
Copley Memorial Hospital, Inc
28 published rates
$48.67 – $1,778.40
negotiated rate
UChicago Medicine Adventhealth La Grange
La Grange 15 published rates
$51.77 – $314.25
negotiated rate
UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale
Hinsdale 16 published rates
$51.77 – $314.25
negotiated rate
Ingalls Memorial Hospital
Harvey 7 published rates
$51.77 – $330.13
negotiated rate
UChicago Medicine AdventHealth GlenOaks
Glendale Heights 12 published rates
$51.77 – $314.25
negotiated rate
UChicago Medicine Adventhealth Bolingbrook
Bolingbrook 12 published rates
$51.77 – $314.25
negotiated rate
University of Chicago Medical Center
Chicago 8 published rates
$51.77 – $402.34
negotiated rate
One file, 3 locations These prices come from a file that covers 3 locations — The University of Chicago Medical Center, UChicago Medicine Center for Care and Discovery and UChicago Medicine Comer Childrens Hospital — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's. The file's own header names it "The University of Chicago Medical Center".
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago 32 published rates
$57.19 – $989.55
negotiated rate
Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital
Chicago 44 published rates
$60.05 – $708.73
negotiated rate
West Suburban Medical Center
Oak Park 44 published rates
$60.05 – $725
negotiated rate
Central DuPage Hospital
Winfield 41 published rates
$89.63 – $1,299
negotiated rate
UChicago Crown Point
Crown Point 7 published rates
$92.85 – $332.66
negotiated rate
Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital
Arlington Heights 4 published rates
$99.51 – $142.73
negotiated rate
Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital
Elmhurst 3 published rates
$112.03 – $180.49
negotiated rate
Endeavor Health Edward Hospital
Naperville 3 published rates
$112.03 – $180.49
negotiated rate
One file, 2 locations These prices come from a file that covers 2 locations — Endeavor Health Edward Hospital and Edward Emergency Center - Plainfield — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's. The file's own header names it "Edward Hospital".
Highland Park Hospital
Highland Park 4 published rates
$112.03 – $285.73
negotiated rate
Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital
Chicago 5 published rates
$112.03 – $168.05
negotiated rate
Endeavor Health Clinical Operations
Evanston 4 published rates
$112.03 – $285.73
negotiated rate
Not one hospital — 3 facilities in one file This is not a single hospital. Endeavor Health Clinical Operations publishes one price file for 3 of its facilities — Endeavor Health Evanston Hospital, Endeavor Health Glenbrook Hospital and Endeavor Health Skokie Hospital — and names all 3 without saying which of them any price belongs to, so these figures cannot be split between them. The address we show for it — 2650 Ridge Ave, Evanston, IL 60201 — is the one this file gives for Endeavor Health Evanston Hospital, one of the 3, and not an address of its own. We list it under "Endeavor Health Skokie Hospital", the name that publisher's own index of its files gave this one; the file's own header calls it "Endeavor Health Clinical Operations". The prices are served in full, exactly as published; what no file here can tell you is which of the 3 you would be charged at.
Advocate Sherman Hospital
Elgin 21 published rates
$153.62 – $841.50
negotiated rate
Advocate Condell Medical Center
Libertyville 22 published rates
$160.73 – $960
negotiated rate
Advocate Christ Medical Center
Oak Lawn 22 published rates
$160.73 – $634
negotiated rate
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
Park Ridge 22 published rates
$160.73 – $952.30
negotiated rate
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
Downers Grove 22 published rates
$160.73 – $1,080
negotiated rate
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Chicago 22 published rates
$160.73 – $822.14
negotiated rate
Advocate South Suburban Hospital
Hazel Crest 22 published rates
$160.73 – $1,120.10
negotiated rate
Advocate Childrens Hospital - Park Ridge
Park Ridge 22 published rates
$160.73 – $952.30
negotiated rate
Advocate Trinity Hospital
Chicago 22 published rates
$160.73 – $920
negotiated rate
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
Barrington 22 published rates
$160.73 – $808
negotiated rate
Advocate Childrens Hospital - Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn 22 published rates
$160.73 – $634
negotiated rate
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Chicago 242 published rates
$177.48 – $8,500
negotiated rate
Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital
Geneva 27 published rates
$193.55 – $1,299
negotiated rate
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago 135 published rates
$194.69 – $1,299
negotiated rate
One file, 2 locations These prices come from a file that covers 2 locations — Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women's Hospital — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's.
Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
Palos Heights 30 published rates
$207.84 – $1,299
negotiated rate
Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital DBA Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital
Lake Forest 21 published rates
$215.63 – $1,299
negotiated rate
One file, 2 locations These prices come from a file that covers 2 locations — Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Grayslake — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's. The file's own header names it "Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital".
Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital
DeKalb 27 published rates
$237.72 – $1,299
negotiated rate
Northwestern Medicine Valley West Hospital
Sandwich 25 published rates
$246.81 – $1,299
negotiated rate
Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital
McHenry 23 published rates
$250.71 – $1,299
negotiated rate
One file, 3 locations These prices come from a file that covers 3 locations — Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital — and the file does not say which of them any price belongs to. Every figure here is that whole file's rather than this one address's. The file's own header names it "Northern Illinois Medical Center DBA Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital".
Northwestern Medicine Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital
Wheaton 28 published rates
$349.44 – $832
negotiated rate
Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
Melrose Park 96 published rates
$0.01 – $2,544
negotiated rate
Unusual for this billing code This hospital published $0.01 for this code — 45 of the 47 hospitals publishing it charge at least a thousand times that, and this hospital published $0.01 for 314 different billing codes. That is a placeholder, not a price.
Loyola University Medical Center
Maywood 92 published rates
$0.01 – $1,058.22
negotiated rate
Unusual for this billing code This hospital published $0.01 for this code — 45 of the 47 hospitals publishing it charge at least a thousand times that, and this hospital published $0.01 for 260 different billing codes. That is a placeholder, not a price.

Comparisons against other hospitals were computed on 2 November 2026. Each price carries its own fetch date; a comparison is a snapshot of what other hospitals had published when it ran, not a standing fact.

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