# CPT 70551

> Medicare paid $233.99 for CPT 70551 in the office (non-facility) setting and $233.99 in a facility under the Q1 2017 Physician Fee Schedule, effective January 2017. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This is a 0.9% increase from the previous quarter.

## What it is

A magnetic resonance scan of the brain performed with no gadolinium contrast given. MRI uses a strong magnet and radio waves rather than X-rays, and it shows brain tissue - grey and white matter, the brainstem, small strokes, inflammation - far more clearly than CT does. This is the plain study; sibling codes cover the same scan done after contrast injection, and the fuller version done both before and after contrast, which is the one usually chosen when a tumor or infection is suspected.

## Selected release

- Release: Q1 2017 (2017 A)
- Effective: January 1 – March 31, 2017
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $233.99
- Facility national allowed amount: $233.99
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 1.48
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 4.95
- Facility practice expense RVU: 4.95
- Malpractice RVU: 0.09
- Conversion factor: 35.8887
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q1 2017)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu17a.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU17_V1219.csv, row 11,501
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/70551/2017/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/70551/2017/A
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:07:28+00:00