Calcitonin (salmon) 200 unit/ml injection solution at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$8,582.40
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.
$10,728.00
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.
$82.85 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $8,582.40 with Private Health Care Systems — 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 | $82.85 | ↓ -99% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $494.57 | ↓ -94% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $502.72 | ↓ -94% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $518.92 | ↓ -94% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $523.77 | ↓ -94% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $523.77 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $523.77 | ↓ -94% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $523.77 | ↓ -94% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $1,241.02 | ↓ -86% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $3,427.23 | ↓ -60% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $3,988.67 | ↓ -54% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $5,364.00 | ↓ -38% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $5,364.00 | ↓ -38% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $5,685.84 | ↓ -34% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $5,900.40 | ↓ -31% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $5,900.40 | ↓ -31% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $5,900.40 | ↓ -31% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $7,800.72 | ↓ -9% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $8,582.40 | ↑ +0% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Calcitonin (salmon) 200 unit/ml injection solution at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $9,437.60 | $174.98 – $10,617.30 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $939.60 | $96.72 – $775.95 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $4,067.40 | $59.60 – $172.00 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $939.60 | $137.94 – $1,241.02 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $9,437.60 | $83.64 – $9,437.60 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $10,588.80 | $82.85 – $1,748.83 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $9,437.60 | $215.02 – $523.77 |
| UPMC Hanover | Hanover | $939.60 | $480.12 – $1,241.02 |