Chromatography at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$169.20
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.
$282.00
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.
$17.85 with UPMC Work Partners vs $225.60 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $17.85 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $18.42 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $18.72 | ↓ -89% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $19.32 | ↓ -89% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $19.50 | ↓ -88% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $19.50 | ↓ -88% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $19.50 | ↓ -88% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $19.50 | ↓ -88% |
| Aetna | Medicaid | $19.97 | ↓ -88% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $19.97 | ↓ -88% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $20.97 | ↓ -88% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $21.97 | ↓ -87% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $27.76 | ↓ -84% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $29.62 | ↓ -82% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $31.18 | ↓ -82% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $34.03 | ↓ -80% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $47.94 | ↓ -72% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $141.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $141.00 | ↓ -17% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $144.55 | ↓ -15% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $145.60 | ↓ -14% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $149.46 | ↓ -12% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $155.10 | ↓ -8% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $158.65 | ↓ -6% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $225.60 | ↑ +33% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Chromatography at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $108.00 | $6.52 – $162.00 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $159.00 | $17.85 – $212.00 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $213.00 | $17.85 – $47.94 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $163.80 | $16.38 – $22.97 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $149.40 | $16.17 – $33.89 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $49.20 | $17.85 – $48.78 |
| UPMC Kane | Kane | $208.20 | $17.85 – $77.95 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $437.40 | $16.90 – $48.39 |