Sterile water/saline, 10 ml at Sanford Westbrook Hospital
920 Bell Ave, Westbrook, MN · Sanford Health · · NPI 1942253547
$5.19
Cash price Discounted cash price What a hospital charges a self-pay patient who pays directly, without going through insurance — usually well below the gross charge. Example: A CT scan has a $3,200 gross charge but an $850 discounted cash price. Ask for it by name when scheduling — hospitals don't always advertise it up front.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$6.48
Gross charge Gross charge (chargemaster price) The hospital's full, undiscounted list price — pulled from its internal "chargemaster" price list. Almost no one actually pays this. Example: A chest X-ray has a gross charge of $1,450. The same hospital's discounted cash price for the same X-ray is $180 — the gross charge mostly anchors negotiations, not what patients pay.
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The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$1.57 with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota vs $6.09 with Medica — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →Payer ?Payer The insurance company footing the bill — Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Medicare, and so on. Example: "Blue Cross Blue Shield" is the payer. Its negotiated rate for an MRI might be $904, while a different payer's negotiated rate for the same scan is $1,509. Full explanation → |
Plan ?Plan The specific product an insurer sells — e.g. "Blue Cross PPO 500" — which sets your deductible, coinsurance and negotiated rates. Example: Two people both insured by Aetna can owe very different amounts for the same MRI: $50 with an HMO plan's flat copay, or the full $1,200 toward a high-deductible PPO plan's unmet deductible. Full explanation → |
Negotiated rate | vs. cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | PMAP | $1.57 | ↓ -70% |
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $2.77 | ↓ -47% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $2.97 | ↓ -43% |
| Wellmark SD | Medicare Replacement | $2.97 | ↓ -43% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $3.01 | ↓ -42% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $3.01 | ↓ -42% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $3.01 | ↓ -42% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $3.01 | ↓ -42% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $3.06 | ↓ -41% |
| Primewest | Medicaid Managed Care | $3.28 | ↓ -37% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $3.56 | ↓ -31% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $4.46 | ↓ -14% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $5.12 | ↓ -1% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $5.12 | ↓ -1% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $5.18 | ↓ -0% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | State Employees | $5.30 | ↑ +2% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $5.41 | ↑ +4% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $5.63 | ↑ +8% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $5.69 | ↑ +10% |
| Medica | Choice | $5.70 | ↑ +10% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $5.83 | ↑ +12% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $5.83 | ↑ +12% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $5.83 | ↑ +12% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $5.83 | ↑ +12% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | Commercial/Federal | $6.00 | ↑ +16% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $6.02 | ↑ +16% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial/ND Pers | $6.02 | ↑ +16% |
| Medica | Elect | $6.09 | ↑ +17% |
| Ucare | Medicaid Managed Care | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 10 ml at other Minnesota hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Canby Medical Center | Canby | $5.20 | $1.18 – $4.37 |
| Sanford Bagley Medical Center | Bagley | $11.37 | $3.42 – $12.71 |
| Sanford Wheaton | Wheaton | $2.40 | $0.73 – $2.70 |
| Sanford Luverne Medical Center | Luverne | $5.09 | $1.20 – $4.46 |
| Sanford Bemidji Medical Center | Bemidji | $17.20 | $0.59 – $12.74 |
| Sanford Worthington Medical Center | Worthington | $3.60 | $0.59 – $4.05 |
| Sanford Tracy Hospital | Tracy | $5.19 | $1.57 – $5.83 |