Nushield 1 square cm at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$907.20
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.
$1,512.00
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.
$56.69 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $3,424.78 with UPMC Health Plan — 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 | $56.69 | ↓ -94% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $98.80 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $113.70 | ↓ -87% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $171.60 | ↓ -81% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $171.60 | ↓ -81% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $175.92 | ↓ -81% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $202.80 | ↓ -78% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $260.00 | ↓ -71% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $260.00 | ↓ -71% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $260.00 | ↓ -71% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $275.60 | ↓ -70% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $281.79 | ↓ -69% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $286.00 | ↓ -68% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $416.00 | ↓ -54% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $1,758.06 | ↑ +94% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $3,424.78 | ↑ +278% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Nushield 1 square cm at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $951.60 | $95.95 – $454.50 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $171.60 | $79.28 – $2,784.38 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $321.60 | $56.69 – $1,758.06 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $1,812.60 | $113.70 – $144.49 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $2,889.00 | $57.23 – $3,424.78 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $1,269.60 | $57.23 – $3,424.78 |
| UPMC Wellsboro | Wellsboro | $3,704.80 | $2,784.38 – $3,062.82 |
| UPMC Williamsport | Williamsport | $312.00 | $2,784.38 – $3,062.82 |