MRI Wait Times Austria 2026: Public vs Private, Cost & Reimbursement

Advertising Notice: This article contains affiliate links to durchblicker.at. If you sign up through these links, we receive a commission. This does not influence our editorial selection or evaluation of the content.

TL;DR — MRI in Austria 2026:

• Public (ÖGK) institute: free via e-card, Vienna wait 14-25 days (May 2025, ORF), Salzburg avg 39.5 days (AK 2024), Carinthia up to 92 days.
• Private institute: €270 to €300 per region, +€50 to €65 for contrast agent, 1-5 days wait.
• ÖGK reimbursement at choice institute: realistically €73.60 to €110.40 per scan (80 % of public tariff, per DRdA).
• ÖGK 2025 expansion: new public-funded machines in Floridsdorf (live), Penzing (summer 2025), Landstraße (September 2025), Stadlau (end of 2025).
• Outpatient supplementary insurance pays off roughly from 2 MRI scans per year.
• 2024 Supreme Court ruling: documented missed deadlines can trigger higher cost reimbursement.

MRI in Austria 2026 at a glance: privately you pay €270 to €300 per scan; the ÖGK reimburses €75 to €110 realistically. At a public (ÖGK-contracted) institute the scan itself is free, with a legal wait time limit of 20 working days. How far the real MRI wait times in Austria still sit from that legal limit, and where the situation has actually improved, you will see in the data from Vienna, Salzburg and Carinthia below.

20 working days. That is the legal maximum wait for an MRI appointment at an ÖGK-contracted radiology institute in Austria. The rule has been in effect since 1 January 2018 (Dachverband der Sozialversicherungsträger). In Vienna the real wait averaged 21 days in April 2024 (ORF). In May 2025, the ORF reported a meaningful drop: Radiologie Hernals 25 days, Diagnosehaus Simmering 22 days, Diagnostikum Meidling 14 days (ORF Vienna, 14 May 2025). Patient advocacy offices, however, still report individual cases stretching to three or four months, particularly for tumour follow-up or post-injury diagnostics.

Going private is faster but typically costs a few hundred euros per scan. Whether it is worth it depends on how urgent your case is, which Austrian federal state you live in, and whether you hold a private doctor supplementary insurance policy (known locally as Wahlarzt-Versicherung). This guide lays out what private institutes actually charge, how much the ÖGK reimburses when you do pay privately, and what you can do if the 20-day deadline is missed.

For a broader look at specialist appointment wait times in Austria, see our guide to public doctor wait times in Austria. For the full context on Austrian health insurance, the starting point is our Austria health insurance guide 2026.

The 20-day rule: your legal rights for MRI and CT

Since 1 January 2018, Austrian social insurance law sets concrete upper limits for wait times at contracted institutes. If you are covered by ÖGK (or one of the other statutory funds), you are entitled to the following:

• Routine MRI: no more than 20 working days
• Routine CT: no more than 10 working days
• Urgent investigation (for example, suspected tumour or stroke follow-up): no more than 5 working days
• Acute emergency: immediate, around the clock

If the deadline is missed, the first step is to contact the institute, point to the statutory deadline, and request a timely appointment. If that does not resolve the issue, you have two options. Either contact the patient advocacy office (Patientenanwaltschaft) in your federal state (Vienna: patientenanwalt.wien.at), or have the scan done privately and apply to the ÖGK for a partial cost reimbursement. Since a Supreme Court ruling in 2024, this second route is a recognised legal option; more on that below.

How long you actually wait: current data

The official wait time database from the federal insurance umbrella organisation shows live appointment availability at every contracted institute. If you prefer aggregated data to a live tool, here are the documented averages from recent Austrian studies:

Region	Public institute (avg.)	Private institute (avg.)	Source
Vienna (as of May 2025)	14-25 days	1-3 days	ORF Vienna, 05/2025
Vienna (as of April 2024)	21 days avg	1-3 days	ORF Vienna, 04/2024
Salzburg	39.5 days	1-5 days	AK Salzburg survey, 09/2024
Carinthia (Klagenfurt, extreme case)	up to 92 days	1-5 days	AK survey 09/2024
Vienna (tumour follow-up, individual cases)	up to 3.5 months	5 working days by law	Patient Advocacy Vienna 2024

These are federal-state averages. Individual institutes may be faster or slower. For a same-day snapshot of any specific location, use the official social insurance tool linked above.

The Chamber of Labour in Salzburg called 70 radiology institutes in September 2024. Their finding: 70 percent of surveyed patients who did not want to wait paid privately. That alone is a strong indicator that the statutory deadline is regularly missed in Salzburg.

Why wait times are this long

Austria has one of the highest imaging rates in Europe, roughly 160 MRI scans per 1,000 inhabitants per year according to OECD data cited by Nachrichten.at. The number of MRI referrals has risen by 30 to 50 percent since 2018. At the same time, the number of ÖGK-funded machines is capped by the federal Großgeräteplan (Large Equipment Plan) within the Austrian Structural Health Plan (ÖSG). The maths simply does not add up anymore, and the backlog hits elective scans like knee or spine imaging hardest.

ÖGK 2025 expansion: four new public machines in Vienna

The ÖGK has responded to the bottleneck with a concrete capacity programme, for now limited to Vienna. According to ORF Vienna (14 May 2025), the following new public-funded MRT units are coming online:

• Floridsdorf: new unit already operational (May 2025).
• Penzing: scheduled for summer 2025.
• Landstraße: first publicly funded MRT institute in Vienna's 3rd district, from September 2025.
• Stadlau (Donaustadt): additional unit by end of 2025.

That programme explains the meaningful drop in average wait time in Vienna from around 60 days in spring 2024 to 14-25 days in May 2025. Outside Vienna - particularly Salzburg, Tyrol and Carinthia - no comparable expansion has been publicly announced, and the gap to the 20-day deadline remains wide.

MRI cost Austria: what private institutes actually charge

Online price estimates vary widely, often because they are generic ranges without a source. We reviewed the publicly posted price lists of several major private institutes in Vienna and Upper Austria:

Scan	Bader-MR Vienna	DZAM Vienna	Privat-MRT Linz
Knee MRI	€290	€270	€275
Spine MRI (per segment)	€290	€270	€285
Head / brain MRI	€300	€270	€295
Shoulder MRI	€290	€270	€285
Contrast agent surcharge	+€50	+€65	+€60
Preventive whole-body MRI	€1,500	€1,220	n/a

Sources: public price lists at bader-mr.at/tarife, dzam.at/preisliste, privatmrtlinz.at. As of April 2026. Prices apply to self-payers; weekend or evening slots may carry a surcharge.

A preventive whole-body MRI costs roughly €1,200 to €1,500, not the €600 to €1,000 often quoted online. For a single body region, expect €270 to €300, plus €50 to €65 if a contrast agent is needed.

ÖGK reimbursement at a private institute: what actually comes back

This is where many patients are disappointed. The ÖGK does not reimburse 80 percent of your private invoice. It reimburses 80 percent of the ÖGK tariff, which is substantially lower than what a private institute charges. A legal journal analysis (DRdA, 361_INFAS_31) puts concrete figures on it:

• Low-field MRI machine: ÖGK tariff roughly €92, reimbursement €73.60
• High-field MRI (current standard technology): tariff roughly €138, reimbursement €110.40

So for a knee MRI that costs you €270 to €290 privately, you realistically get €75 to €110 back. Your out-of-pocket lands somewhere between €160 and €215 per scan. The ÖGK documents this on its official CT, MRI and X-ray page. There is also a broader explainer on private doctor reimbursement in Austria.

Contract institute vs choice institute: a meaningful difference

A contract institute (Vertragsinstitut) has a direct contract with the ÖGK. You pay nothing out of pocket; billing runs through your e-card. The full list of ÖGK-contracted MRI/CT institutes is published on the ÖGK website.

A choice institute (Wahlinstitut) has no ÖGK contract. You pay the invoice upfront and submit it to the ÖGK for partial reimbursement afterwards. Processing typically takes four to eight weeks.

The 2024 Supreme Court ruling: "unreasonable" wait times

In 2024, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) decided that the ÖGK must cover more than the standard 80 percent of a private MRI when public-institute wait times are genuinely unreasonable. The underlying case involved a patient with a suspected tumour who waited longer than the statutory limit and then paid for a private scan. The court treated it as a form of medically necessary emergency care and obliged the fund to reimburse beyond the usual tariff-based cap (Der Standard, 2024).

The practical takeaway: if you can document a missed 20-day deadline (written appointment confirmations, screenshots from the wait time tool, refusals from multiple institutes) and the scan is medically necessary, you have a legal argument. The path is not quick, but the ruling is a precedent you can cite. Your regional patient advocacy office can help you file the application.

Step by step: filing for higher reimbursement

If you want to invoke the 2024 Supreme Court ruling, here is the practical sequence:

1. Document the wait before the scan. Call at least three ÖGK-contracted institutes for the next available appointment and ask for the answer in writing, e.g. by email. Take a screenshot of the official wait-time database on the day you make the calls.
2. Keep the original referral. The medical question and any urgency note must be legible. No referral, no entitlement to reimbursement.
3. Pay the choice institute and keep invoice, payment receipt and the radiology report. Ideally the invoice lists position numbers that match the public tariff codes; that helps the ÖGK route your claim.
4. Submit the invoice to the ÖGK via MeineSV or the WAHonline app. In the cover note, explicitly request higher reimbursement under the 2024 OGH ruling. Attach your wait-time documentation.
5. If the ÖGK only pays the standard rate (80% of the tariff), file an appeal. In parallel, contact your regional patient advocacy office; they have template letters and can advise on next steps.
6. Mind the deadlines. Invoices may be submitted up to 42 months retroactively; appeals against ÖGK decisions must be filed within four weeks.

Does a private doctor supplementary insurance pay off?

If you regularly see Wahlärzte (choice doctors) or use private imaging, outpatient supplementary insurance often pays off. The product is known as Wahlarzt-Versicherung or Privatarzt-Versicherung. Monthly premiums start around €25 for children and €50 to €70 for 30-year-old adults. By age 50, you are looking at €130 to €180 per month.

Rule of thumb: if you expect more than two MRI scans or three choice-doctor visits per year, the maths usually works out. For a full provider comparison, pricing tables by age, and a break-even calculation, see our separate guide to outpatient supplementary insurance in Vienna.

Six ways to cut your wait time

1. Call multiple institutes

Wait times differ significantly even between neighbouring institutes. The official wait time tool shows live availability at every contracted location. Five minutes in the tool can save you several weeks.

2. Ask for the cancellation list

Most institutes keep an informal list of patients who can come in on short notice if someone else cancels. Ask to be put on it and keep your phone available. If you are reachable and flexible, you often get in within days.

3. Get an "urgent" referral

If your referring doctor marks a specific suspected condition on the referral (meniscus tear, disc herniation, suspected tumour), the statutory deadline tightens. Urgent cases qualify for the 5-working-day rule.

4. Book off-peak slots

Appointments at 7:00 am or late evening are much less popular. Weekend slots, which some private institutes offer, usually come with a surcharge.

5. Look across federal-state lines

If you live in Lower Austria or Burgenland, an appointment in Vienna or a neighbouring state is often quicker. Your ÖGK entitlement applies nationwide.

6. Involve the patient advocacy office

When the 20-day deadline is missed, it is not a minor issue. It is a legal breach. Each federal state has a Patientenanwaltschaft that can intervene, demand a concrete appointment, or point the way toward reimbursement under the 2024 precedent.

MRI cost Austria by federal state

The MRI cost in Austria barely differs between institutes within the same city; weekend or evening surcharges usually outweigh the gap between two metropolitan areas. The MRI wait time in Austria, however, varies sharply: Vienna and Salzburg are nearly three weeks apart. The aggregated picture, sourced from ORF, AK, Patientenanwaltschaft and sozialversicherung.at:

• Vienna, Graz, Linz: single-region private MRI from €270; public wait 20 to 30 days; dense supply of private institutes.
• Salzburg, Innsbruck: comparable prices; public wait clearly longer (avg. 39.5 days per AK survey); fewer private alternatives per capita.
• Klagenfurt and rural areas: prices are stable, wait times can climb past 90 days; driving to a neighbouring federal capital is often the faster option.

Regional differences across Austria

Vienna: highest demand, but also the largest supply of private alternatives. The Vienna patient advocacy office handled roughly 3,178 cases in 2024 (Puls24, 2024). Thanks to the ÖGK expansion (new public-funded units in Floridsdorf, Penzing, Landstraße and Stadlau), the average wait dropped to 14-25 days by May 2025 (ORF Vienna, 14.05.2025).

Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg: fewer public machines, significantly longer average wait times. The AK Salzburg study in September 2024 measured an average of 39.5 days.

Styria, Carinthia: wide variation between cities and rural areas. Klagenfurt reached 92 days in extreme cases, while Graz sits closer to 30 days on average.

Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Burgenland: moderate wait times, often a trip to Vienna is the fastest option in practice.

Related diagnostic topics

For CT, ultrasound and X-ray wait times, see the diagnostic section of our public doctor wait times guide. If you are considering planned hospital stays or surgery, the relevant guide is is special class insurance worth it in Austria. Fast specialist appointments for children are a separate and sometimes trickier problem; details are in our guide to private doctor reimbursement in Austria.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to get an MRI appointment in Austria?

By law, the maximum is 20 working days for routine scans and 5 working days for urgent cases such as suspected tumour or stroke follow-up. Current reality: Vienna has dropped to 14-25 days (ORF, 05/2025) thanks to four new ÖGK units in Floridsdorf, Penzing, Landstraße and Stadlau; Salzburg sat at 39.5 days in September 2024 (AK); Carinthia has documented individual cases up to 92 days. Private institutes typically schedule within 1 to 5 days.

What does a private MRI cost in Austria?

A single-region MRI (knee, spine segment, head, shoulder) runs €270 to €300. A contrast agent adds €50 to €65. A preventive whole-body MRI costs €1,220 to €1,500. Figures are taken from the current published price lists of leading private institutes including Bader-MR, DZAM and Privat-MRT Linz.

How much does ÖGK reimburse for a private MRI?

The ÖGK reimburses 80 percent of the public tariff, not 80 percent of your actual invoice. According to a DRdA legal analysis, that amounts to about €73.60 on low-field machines and €110.40 on high-field machines. For a knee MRI costing €280 privately, expect roughly €100 back.

Can the ÖGK cover the full cost of a private MRI in exceptional cases?

Yes, in limited circumstances. In 2024, the Austrian Supreme Court ruled that the fund must reimburse beyond the standard 80 percent if wait times are unreasonable and the scan is medically necessary. The process is not straightforward, but it is a precedent you can invoke with help from your patient advocacy office.

Do I need a referral for a private MRI in Austria?

For the scan itself, most institutes require a doctor's referral. For the ÖGK reimbursement, a referral is mandatory. The referral should state the medical question so the institute can choose the correct imaging protocol.

What if the 20-day limit is not met?

Start by pointing out the statutory deadline to the institute and requesting a timely appointment in writing. If that fails, contact the patient advocacy office in your federal state. As a last resort, have the scan done privately and apply for reimbursement, citing the 2024 Supreme Court ruling.

Does outpatient supplementary insurance cover MRI and CT?

Yes. Most Austrian outpatient supplementary insurance plans reimburse imaging done at choice institutes, after the ÖGK contribution, at 70 to 100 percent depending on your tariff. Our outpatient insurance guide walks through providers and tariff levels.

Bottom line

The 20-day rule gives you a statutory right that is often missed in practice. If you cannot wait, a private scan runs €270 to €300 per region, and only €75 to €110 of that comes back from the ÖGK. For anyone who regularly needs imaging or choice-doctor visits, outpatient supplementary insurance is worth a serious look. And if the legal deadline is breached, the 2024 Supreme Court ruling gives you a formal route to claim higher reimbursement.

Related guides:

• Public doctor wait times in Austria 2026
• Outpatient supplementary insurance Vienna: choice doctor guide
• Austria health insurance guide 2026
• Is special class insurance worth it in Austria?
• Private doctor reimbursement in Austria

---

Disclaimer: The prices, wait times and ÖGK reimbursement figures in this article are reference values sourced from the cited primary documents (ORF, AK, ÖGK, DRdA, OGH, Patient Advocacy Office, Statistik Austria) and may vary in individual cases. For binding information, contact the institute, ÖGK, or your insurer directly. This article is not medical or legal advice. As of May 2026.