DRG 551 · Musculoskeletal

Back Problems Cost in Iowa — Compare All Hospitals

Back or spine problems, such as disc disease, spinal narrowing, or severe back pain, treated without surgery. The stay typically involves pain control, medication, and physical therapy.

State average
$21,053
gross charge · DRG 551
Hospitals
11
with published pricing
Price range
$8,791 – $48,339
low to high
Lowest $8,791 Highest $48,339

Iowa hospitals price back problems (Medicare DRG 551) anywhere from $8,791 to $48,339 — a $39,548 gap between the cheapest and most expensive option. The cheapest is Waverly Health Center in Waverly; the most expensive is Mercy Medical Center Cedar Rapids (Acute Care) in Cedar Rapids. The state average sits at $21,053.

Gross charges are the hospital's list price for the facility part of your stay — the room, operating-room time, nursing, and equipment. Insurance plans negotiate substantial discounts, Medicare and Medicaid pay fixed federal rates, and uninsured patients can usually qualify for a cash-pay discount. But the gross charge still works as a useful benchmark: a hospital that lists back problems at twice the price of another typically negotiates higher rates with insurers too, and quotes more for uninsured patients.

If you're scheduling back problems in Iowa, sort the list below by price, then click each hospital name to see its quality profile — CMS overall star rating, surgical-safety measures, readmission rates, patient-experience scores. The cheapest hospital isn't always the right call. Teaching hospitals often charge more because they take complex cases, and a higher-rated community hospital may deliver equivalent outcomes for a straightforward case at a lower price. Use the price column to narrow the field; use the quality data to make the final call.

Pricing comes from each hospital's Machine-Readable File (MRF), published under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule. Iowa hospitals missing from the list either don't perform back problems in volume, haven't published a usable price for DRG 551 in their most recent MRF, or fell below our data-quality thresholds (we filter out clearly erroneous entries like $0 charges). The list refreshes as hospitals update their files.

Hospitals ranked by gross charge

  1. 1

    Waverly Health Center

    Waverly, IA

    Gross charge $8,791
    Cash pay $4,571
  2. 2

    Myrtue Medical Center

    Harlan, IA

    Gross charge $9,622
    Cash pay $5,581
  3. 3

    Cass County Memorial Hospital

    Atlantic, IA

    Gross charge $9,941
    Cash pay $6,959
  4. 4
    Gross charge $11,006
    Cash pay $6,604
  5. 5
    Gross charge $11,073
    Cash pay $7,751
  6. 6

    Winnmed

    Decorah, IA

    Gross charge $15,835
    Cash pay $11,084
  7. 7

    Virginia Gay Hospital

    Vinton, IA

    Gross charge $17,537
    Cash pay $14,030
  8. 8

    Floyd County Medical Center

    Charles City, IA

    Gross charge $22,852
    Cash pay $9,141
  9. 9
    Gross charge $28,939
    Cash pay $23,152
  10. 10

    St Anthony Regional Hospital

    Carroll, IA

    Gross charge $47,647
  11. 11

    Mercy Medical Center Cedar Rapids (Acute Care)

    Cedar Rapids, IA

    Gross charge $48,339
    Cash pay $31,420
  12. 12

    UnityPoint Health - Marshalltown Hospital

    Marshalltown, IA

    Gross charge
  13. 13

    Trinity Muscatine

    Muscatine, IA

    Gross charge
  14. 14

    Trinity Regional Medical Center

    Fort Dodge, IA

    Gross charge
  15. 15

    Chi Health Mercy Council Bluffs

    Council Bluffs, IA

    Gross charge
  16. 16
    Gross charge
  17. 17

    St Lukes Hospital (Acute Care)

    Cedar Rapids, IA

    11 Medicare stays/yr
    Gross charge
    Medicare pays (avg) $9,046
  18. 18

    Methodist Jennie Edmundson

    Council Bluffs, IA

    Gross charge
  19. 19

    UnityPoint Health - Iowa Methodist Medical Center

    Des Moines, IA

    36 Medicare stays/yr
    Gross charge
    Medicare pays (avg) $10,227
  20. 20

    UnityPoint Health - Trinity Bettendorf Hospital

    Bettendorf, IA

    Gross charge
  21. 21

    Allen Hospital

    Waterloo, IA

    Gross charge
  22. 22

    Finley Hospital

    Dubuque, IA

    Gross charge
  23. 23
    Gross charge
  24. 24
    Gross charge
  25. 25

    Chi Health - Mercy Corning

    Corning, IA

    Gross charge
  26. 26
    Gross charge
  27. 27

    Chi Health Missouri Valley

    Missouri Valley, IA

    Gross charge
  28. 28
    Gross charge
  29. 29

    Clarke County Hospital

    Osceola, IA

    Gross charge
  30. 30

    Henry County Health Center

    Mount Pleasant, IA

    Gross charge
  31. 31

    St Lukes Regional Medical Center

    Sioux City, IA

    Gross charge
  32. 32
    Gross charge
  33. 33

    Sioux Center Health

    Sioux Center, IA

    Gross charge

Compare back problems pricing in nearby states