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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) MRI (with contrast) at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center
1000 Blythe Blvd, Charlotte, NC · Atrium Health · · NPI 1295789907
$2,415.68
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.
$4,831.35
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.
$73.83 with Partners vs $4,348.22 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 | $73.83 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Wellcare | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Trillium | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Healthy Blue | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Vaya | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Amerihealth Caritas | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Carolina Complete Health | Managed Medicaid | $74.57 | ↓ -97% |
| Alliance | Managed Medicaid | $75.31 | ↓ -97% |
| Cigna Healthspring | Medicare Advantage | $79.20 | ↓ -97% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $80.78 | ↓ -97% |
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $81.97 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $82.20 | ↓ -97% |
| Ortho Carolina | Commercial | $99.00 | ↓ -96% |
| Molina | Managed Medicaid | $751.55 | ↓ -69% |
| Aetna | North Carolina Preferred Plus Commercial | $906.00 | ↓ -62% |
| Aetna | Broad Network | $1,020.00 | ↓ -58% |
| Alliance | Behavioral Health | $1,063.86 | ↓ -56% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Group Commercial | $1,202.52 | ↓ -50% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Individual Commercial | $1,266.78 | ↓ -48% |
| Aetna | Connected North Carolina Individual HMO | $1,280.31 | ↓ -47% |
| Ambetter | CoBranded Commercial | $1,403.51 | ↓ -42% |
| Cigna | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $1,446.30 | ↓ -40% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $1,582.27 | ↓ -35% |
| Aetna | Whole Health HMO | $1,671.65 | ↓ -31% |
| Ambetter | Individual Commercial | $1,753.78 | ↓ -27% |
| United Healthcare | IEX Commercial | $1,942.20 | ↓ -20% |
| Cigna | Commercial NB | $2,091.97 | ↓ -13% |
| Employers Health Network | Commercial | $2,135.46 | ↓ -12% |
| United Healthcare | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $2,140.29 | ↓ -11% |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan P | $2,415.68 | ↑ +0% |
| MedCost | Ultra | $2,507.47 | ↑ +4% |
| MedCost | PPO | $2,850.50 | ↑ +18% |
| Magellan | Behavioral Health | $2,898.81 | ↑ +20% |
| Aetna First Health | Commercial | $2,947.12 | ↑ +22% |
| Quik Trip | Commercial | $3,140.38 | ↑ +30% |
| GMMI | Commercial | $3,140.38 | ↑ +30% |
| Cigna | Commercial SAR | $3,261.16 | ↑ +35% |
| ChoiceCare | Commercial | $3,478.57 | ↑ +44% |
| Carolina Behavioral Health | Employee Plan | $3,478.57 | ↑ +44% |
| First Health | Commercial | $3,865.08 | ↑ +60% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Commercial | $3,865.08 | ↑ +60% |
| Cigna | Behavioral Health | $3,865.08 | ↑ +60% |
| Carolina Behavioral Health | Commercial | $3,865.08 | ↑ +60% |
| Healthgram | Commercial | $3,865.08 | ↑ +60% |
| Provider Select | Commercial | $3,913.39 | ↑ +62% |
| Lifesynch Community Choice Care | Behavioral Health | $3,961.71 | ↑ +64% |
| Beechstreet | Commercial | $4,203.27 | ↑ +74% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $4,348.22 | ↑ +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) MRI (with contrast) at other North-carolina hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte | Charlotte | $2,415.68 | $74.57 – $4,251.59 |
| Atrium Health Mercy | Charlotte | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,444.84 |
| Atrium Health Pineville | Charlotte | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,444.84 |
| Carolinas Rehabilitation Charlotte | Charlotte | $2,415.68 | $74.57 – $4,444.84 |
| Atrium Health University City | Charlotte | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,444.84 |
| Atrium Health Anson | Wadesboro | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,589.78 |
| Atrium Health Cleveland | Shelby | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,589.78 |
| Atrium Health Cabarrus | Concord | $2,415.68 | $73.83 – $4,589.78 |