Afamelanotide implant, 1 mg at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$6,227.40
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.
$10,379.00
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.
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The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$1,364.81 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $8,619.99 with United Healthcare — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $1,364.81 | ↓ -78% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $3,001.70 | ↓ -52% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $3,051.15 | ↓ -51% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $3,149.46 | ↓ -49% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $3,178.89 | ↓ -49% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $3,178.89 | ↓ -49% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $3,178.89 | ↓ -49% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $3,178.89 | ↓ -49% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $3,632.65 | ↓ -42% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $3,858.91 | ↓ -38% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $5,189.50 | ↓ -17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $5,189.50 | ↓ -17% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $5,189.50 | ↓ -17% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $5,500.87 | ↓ -12% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $5,708.45 | ↓ -8% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $5,708.45 | ↓ -8% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $5,708.45 | ↓ -8% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $8,303.20 | ↑ +33% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $8,619.99 | ↑ +38% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Afamelanotide implant, 1 mg at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $6,529.20 | $1,061.99 – $9,793.80 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $6,733.80 | $1,364.81 – $3,178.89 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $6,529.20 | $2,669.39 – $3,178.89 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $6,529.20 | $2,635.24 – $3,478.32 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $140,689.80 | $1,377.80 – $3,178.89 |
| UPMC McKeesport | Mckeesport | $6,529.20 | $1,377.80 – $3,237.76 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $6,529.20 | $1,364.81 – $3,237.76 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $140,689.80 | $1,377.80 – $3,237.76 |