Injection glatiramer acetate at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$811.20
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.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$1,014.00
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.
$48.50 with Aetna vs $811.20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna | Medicaid | $48.50 | ↓ -94% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $48.50 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $71.32 | ↓ -91% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $170.62 | ↓ -79% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $173.43 | ↓ -79% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $179.02 | ↓ -78% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $180.69 | ↓ -78% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $180.69 | ↓ -78% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $180.69 | ↓ -78% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $180.69 | ↓ -78% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $354.90 | ↓ -56% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $377.01 | ↓ -54% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $507.00 | ↓ -38% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $507.00 | ↓ -38% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $507.00 | ↓ -38% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $514.71 | ↓ -37% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $537.42 | ↓ -34% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $557.70 | ↓ -31% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $557.70 | ↓ -31% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $557.70 | ↓ -31% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $811.20 | ↑ +0% |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Injection glatiramer acetate at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $1,206.60 | $48.50 – $427.20 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $1,550.40 | $48.50 – $180.69 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $509.40 | $72.58 – $209.14 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $1,356.00 | $53.35 – $180.69 |
| UPMC McKeesport | Mckeesport | $805.60 | $72.00 – $545.44 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $1,279.20 | $55.77 – $184.04 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $1,207.20 | $50.92 – $184.04 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $775.80 | $48.50 – $184.04 |