Echo transesophageal intraop at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$2,142.60
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.
$3,571.00
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.
$224.30 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $2,856.80 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 | $224.30 | ↓ -90% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $533.09 | ↓ -75% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $541.87 | ↓ -75% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $553.28 | ↓ -74% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $559.33 | ↓ -74% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $564.56 | ↓ -74% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $564.56 | ↓ -74% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $564.56 | ↓ -74% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $564.56 | ↓ -74% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $602.86 | ↓ -72% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1,785.50 | ↓ -17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $1,785.50 | ↓ -17% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $1,830.49 | ↓ -15% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $1,892.63 | ↓ -12% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $1,964.05 | ↓ -8% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $1,964.05 | ↓ -8% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $1,964.05 | ↓ -8% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $2,856.80 | ↑ +33% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | not published by hospital | — |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Echo transesophageal intraop at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $1,737.60 | $288.48 – $2,461.60 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $1,737.60 | $402.05 – $2,461.60 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $2,853.60 | $224.30 – $714.96 |
| UPMC Lititz | Lititz | $1,737.60 | $402.05 – $842.59 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $1,978.20 | $226.44 – $575.01 |
| UPMC Memorial | York | $1,737.60 | $182.82 – $841.22 |
| UPMC Muncy | Muncy | $2,142.60 | $392.84 – $392.84 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $2,355.60 | $226.44 – $575.01 |