healthcosts.net
Neck (Cervical Spine) MRI (with contrast) at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$1,810.80
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.
$3,018.00
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.
$269.00 with Aetna vs $2,414.40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna | Medicaid | $269.00 | ↓ -85% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $282.45 | ↓ -84% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $295.90 | ↓ -84% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $373.88 | ↓ -79% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $398.93 | ↓ -78% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $405.65 | ↓ -78% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $419.94 | ↓ -77% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $425.00 | ↓ -77% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $458.43 | ↓ -75% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $690.01 | ↓ -62% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1,509.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $1,509.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $1,509.00 | ↓ -17% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $1,547.03 | ↓ -15% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $1,599.54 | ↓ -12% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $1,659.90 | ↓ -8% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $2,172.46 | ↑ +20% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $2,367.13 | ↑ +31% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $2,414.40 | ↑ +33% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Neck (Cervical Spine) MRI (with contrast) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $4,621.20 | $316.41 – $6,546.70 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $5,074.20 | $341.40 – $6,765.60 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $1,455.60 | $220.65 – $1,698.20 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $4,973.40 | $304.83 – $7,045.65 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $1,929.60 | $309.35 – $2,830.08 |
| UPMC McKeesport | Mckeesport | $4,936.20 | $315.59 – $6,992.95 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $2,854.80 | $338.22 – $4,044.30 |
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $4,625.40 | $122.85 – $6,938.10 |