# CPT 72148

> The national PFS baseline is $191.72 for CPT 72148 in the office (non-facility) setting and $191.72 in a facility under the Q3 2026 Physician Fee Schedule, effective July 2026. These are the national allowed amounts before locality (GPCI) adjustment; sequestration is excluded. Across payment localities, both settings' amount is $170.32–$257.47. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2026, when it increased 1.8%.

## What it is

Lumbar Spine MRI Without Contrast

## Selected release

- Release: Q3 2026 (2026 C)
- Effective: July 1 – September 30, 2026
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $191.72
- Facility national allowed amount: $191.72
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 1.44
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 4.20
- Facility practice expense RVU: 4.20
- Malpractice RVU: 0.10
- Conversion factor: 33.4009
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## NCCI edits

- Never-billable pair count: 10
- Modifier-allowed pair count: 5
- MUE units per patient per date of service: not published
- Complete list: https://localishealth.com/cpt/72148/ncci-edits.txt

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q3 2026)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu26c-updated-06-30-2026.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU2026_Jul_nonQPP.csv, row 7,964
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/72148
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/72148/2026/C
- Last significant update: 2026-08-13T15:11:57+00:00