Getting an X-ray typically starts with a visit to a healthcare provider who can write an order for the scan. You can’t walk into most imaging facilities and request one on your own. The process is straightforward, though, and a standard X-ray of a single body part takes only a few minutes once you’re in the room.
Who Can Order an X-Ray
A physician who is actively treating you for a medical problem is the primary person authorized to order a diagnostic X-ray. But doctors aren’t the only option. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse-midwives, and clinical nurse specialists can all order X-rays when they’re working within their scope of practice under state law. If you’re being seen for a twisted ankle, a sore back, or persistent chest symptoms, the provider evaluating you can write the order on the spot.
Most primary care offices don’t have X-ray machines on site. If your doctor orders one, you’ll typically be sent to a hospital radiology department, a freestanding imaging center, or an urgent care clinic to have it done.
The Fastest Way to Get One
If you think you have a fracture or another issue that needs imaging right away, urgent care is usually your best bet. You don’t need an appointment, walk-ins are standard, and wait times tend to be much shorter than an emergency department because no ambulance cases are coming through the door. Most urgent care locations have X-ray equipment on site and a provider who can write the order, read the initial images, and start treatment in a single visit.
For non-urgent situations, your primary care doctor or specialist can place the order and refer you to an outpatient imaging center. These centers often let you schedule a specific appointment time, which means less waiting. The tradeoff is that it may take a day or two to get on the schedule.
Emergency departments can handle X-rays 24/7, but they’re best reserved for serious injuries or symptoms. You’ll pay more, and wait times are unpredictable.
Insurance and Prior Authorization
Standard X-rays rarely require prior authorization from your insurance company. Prior authorization is mainly a hurdle for advanced imaging like MRIs and CT scans, which insurers flag because of their higher cost. For those advanced studies, your provider’s office needs to submit documentation showing why the test is medically necessary, including symptoms, prior treatments that didn’t work, and relevant exam findings. Common reasons for denials include incomplete documentation or a request for the wrong type of study.
For a plain X-ray, your insurance typically covers it as long as a treating provider ordered it and there’s a medical reason on file. If you’re uninsured or paying out of pocket, expect to pay roughly $78 to $138 for a single-body-part X-ray, depending on the facility and your location. Shopping around helps: freestanding imaging centers are almost always cheaper than hospital-based radiology departments for the same scan.
What to Wear and How to Prepare
There’s no fasting or special prep needed for a standard X-ray. The main thing you can control is what you wear, and it matters more than most people expect. Metal, dense fabric, and even decorative elements on clothing can block the X-ray beam and create bright spots or streaks that obscure the image. If the tech can’t see through your clothing, you’ll need to change into a hospital gown, which adds time.
To avoid that, skip these items on the day of your appointment:
- Jewelry and piercings near the area being imaged (necklaces for chest X-rays, rings for hand X-rays)
- Bras with underwire or plastic adjusters, especially for chest or spine imaging
- Jeans or denim for abdomen, pelvis, or lower spine X-rays, since the thick weave and metal rivets interfere with the image
- Shirts with buttons, snaps, or zippers over the area of interest
- Clothing with glitter, sequins, or metallic thread
- Thick elastic clothing like compression leggings or tight waistbands
Loose-fitting cotton clothing with no metal or decorative elements is ideal. If you have braided hair, beads, or hair ties that fall over the area being scanned (skull, neck, upper spine), you’ll be asked to move them. For young children, wet diapers need to come off since the absorbent gel shows up dense on the image.
What Happens During the X-Ray
A standard diagnostic X-ray is one of the quickest medical tests you’ll ever have. You’ll be positioned by a radiology technologist, either standing against a flat panel, sitting, or lying on a table, depending on the body part. The tech will align the machine, step behind a protective barrier, and take the image. Each exposure lasts a fraction of a second. Most exams involve two or three images from different angles.
The entire process, from walking into the X-ray room to walking out, typically takes 10 to 15 minutes. You won’t feel anything from the radiation itself. The only discomfort comes if you need to hold a painful limb in a specific position for the shot.
Specialized X-ray procedures that use contrast dye or real-time imaging (called fluoroscopy) take longer, anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours depending on the study. But these are scheduled procedures, not the standard X-ray most people are searching for.
Radiation Exposure
A chest X-ray delivers about 0.1 millisieverts of radiation. For context, the average person in the U.S. absorbs about 3.1 millisieverts per year just from natural background radiation (the sun, the soil, building materials). That means a single chest X-ray is roughly equivalent to one day of natural background exposure. A dental X-ray delivers even less, about 0.005 millisieverts. The dose from a standard diagnostic X-ray is low enough that the diagnostic benefit almost always outweighs the minimal risk.
Getting Your Results
After your images are taken, a radiologist reviews them and writes a formal report that goes to the provider who ordered the X-ray. In hospital settings, preliminary reads by trainees happen within hours, but the finalized report from an attending radiologist can take anywhere from several hours to a couple of days. At urgent care, a provider often reviews the images immediately and gives you a working assessment before you leave.
Many health systems now post radiology results to online patient portals, sometimes before your doctor has had a chance to call you. If you see your report appear online, keep in mind that the radiologist’s language can sound alarming even for minor findings. Your ordering provider will interpret the results in the context of your symptoms and explain what they actually mean for you.