Methylene blue (antidote) 5 mg/ml intravenous solution at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$3.00
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.
$3.75
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.
$0.54 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $26.70 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 | $0.54 | ↓ -82% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1.12 | ↓ -63% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1.50 | ↓ -50% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $1.50 | ↓ -50% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $1.59 | ↓ -47% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $1.65 | ↓ -45% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $1.65 | ↓ -45% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $1.65 | ↓ -45% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $2.40 | ↓ -20% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $8.90 | ↑ +197% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $9.05 | ↑ +202% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $9.34 | ↑ +211% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $9.43 | ↑ +214% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $9.43 | ↑ +214% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $9.43 | ↑ +214% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $9.43 | ↑ +214% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $12.21 | ↑ +307% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $13.30 | ↑ +343% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $26.70 | ↑ +790% |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Methylene blue (antidote) 5 mg/ml intravenous solution at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $133.20 | $3.15 – $19.55 |
| AHN WEXFORD HOSPITAL | WEXFORD | $1,104.91 | $4.21 – $16.50 |
| GROVE CITY HOSPITAL | GROVE CITY | $977.42 | $4.21 – $16.50 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $124.80 | $5.35 – $166.40 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $133.20 | $0.90 – $19.55 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $424.00 | $0.54 – $9.43 |
| UPMC Hanover | Hanover | $133.20 | $8.64 – $13.97 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $340.80 | $1.37 – $9.43 |