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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
1000 Blythe Blvd, Charlotte, NC · Atrium Health · · NPI 1295789907
$1,850.88
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.
$3,701.75
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.
$50.73 with Partners vs $3,331.58 with Multiplan — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partners | Managed Medicaid | $50.73 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Wellcare | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Trillium | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Healthy Blue | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Vaya | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Amerihealth Caritas | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Carolina Complete Health | Managed Medicaid | $51.24 | ↓ -97% |
| Alliance | Managed Medicaid | $51.74 | ↓ -97% |
| Cigna Healthspring | Medicare Advantage | $53.72 | ↓ -97% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $54.79 | ↓ -97% |
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $55.60 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $55.75 | ↓ -97% |
| Ortho Carolina | Commercial | $67.15 | ↓ -96% |
| Molina | Managed Medicaid | $395.52 | ↓ -79% |
| Alliance | Behavioral Health | $815.13 | ↓ -56% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Individual Commercial | $832.15 | ↓ -55% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Group Commercial | $844.74 | ↓ -54% |
| Aetna | North Carolina Preferred Plus Commercial | $906.00 | ↓ -51% |
| Aetna | Connected North Carolina Individual HMO | $980.96 | ↓ -47% |
| Aetna | Broad Network | $1,020.00 | ↓ -45% |
| Cigna | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $1,023.10 | ↓ -45% |
| Ambetter | CoBranded Commercial | $1,075.36 | ↓ -42% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $1,111.27 | ↓ -40% |
| Aetna | Whole Health HMO | $1,280.81 | ↓ -31% |
| Ambetter | Individual Commercial | $1,343.74 | ↓ -27% |
| United Healthcare | IEX Commercial | $1,488.10 | ↓ -20% |
| Cigna | Commercial NB | $1,602.86 | ↓ -13% |
| Employers Health Network | Commercial | $1,636.17 | ↓ -12% |
| United Healthcare | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $1,639.88 | ↓ -11% |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan P | $1,850.88 | ↑ +0% |
| MedCost | Ultra | $1,921.21 | ↑ +4% |
| MedCost | PPO | $2,184.03 | ↑ +18% |
| Magellan | Behavioral Health | $2,221.05 | ↑ +20% |
| Aetna First Health | Commercial | $2,258.07 | ↑ +22% |
| Quik Trip | Commercial | $2,406.14 | ↑ +30% |
| GMMI | Commercial | $2,406.14 | ↑ +30% |
| Cigna | Commercial SAR | $2,498.68 | ↑ +35% |
| ChoiceCare | Commercial | $2,665.26 | ↑ +44% |
| Carolina Behavioral Health | Employee Plan | $2,665.26 | ↑ +44% |
| First Health | Commercial | $2,961.40 | ↑ +60% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Commercial | $2,961.40 | ↑ +60% |
| Cigna | Behavioral Health | $2,961.40 | ↑ +60% |
| Carolina Behavioral Health | Commercial | $2,961.40 | ↑ +60% |
| Healthgram | Commercial | $2,961.40 | ↑ +60% |
| Provider Select | Commercial | $2,998.42 | ↑ +62% |
| Lifesynch Community Choice Care | Behavioral Health | $3,035.44 | ↑ +64% |
| Beechstreet | Commercial | $3,220.52 | ↑ +74% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $3,331.58 | ↑ +80% |
| Broughton Cardinal Partners | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
| Optum | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan H | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at other North-carolina hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte | Charlotte | $1,850.88 | $51.24 – $3,257.54 |
| Atrium Health Mercy | Charlotte | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,405.61 |
| Atrium Health Pineville | Charlotte | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,405.61 |
| Carolinas Rehabilitation Charlotte | Charlotte | $1,850.88 | $51.24 – $3,405.61 |
| Atrium Health University City | Charlotte | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,405.61 |
| Atrium Health Anson | Wadesboro | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,516.66 |
| Atrium Health Cleveland | Shelby | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,516.66 |
| Atrium Health Cabarrus | Concord | $1,850.88 | $50.73 – $3,516.66 |