5% dextrose and 0.45% saline at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$79.20
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.
?
What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$99.00
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.
?
The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$24.87 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $79.20 with Private Health Care Systems — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
?
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 →
?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $24.87 | ↓ -69% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $36.81 | ↓ -54% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $49.50 | ↓ -38% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $49.50 | ↓ -38% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $49.50 | ↓ -38% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $52.47 | ↓ -34% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $54.45 | ↓ -31% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $54.45 | ↓ -31% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $54.45 | ↓ -31% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $68.04 | ↓ -14% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $74.14 | ↓ -6% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $79.20 | ↑ +0% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
5% dextrose and 0.45% saline at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $74.20 | $23.19 – $83.47 |