Smear wet mount at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$58.20
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.
$97.00
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.
$5.75 with UPMC Work Partners vs $77.60 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $5.75 | ↓ -90% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $5.82 | ↓ -90% |
| Aetna | Medicaid | $5.82 | ↓ -90% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $5.94 | ↓ -90% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $6.03 | ↓ -90% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $6.11 | ↓ -90% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $6.23 | ↓ -89% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $6.29 | ↓ -89% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $6.29 | ↓ -89% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $6.29 | ↓ -89% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $6.29 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $6.40 | ↓ -89% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $8.09 | ↓ -86% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $8.63 | ↓ -85% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $9.09 | ↓ -84% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $9.92 | ↓ -83% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $11.60 | ↓ -80% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $41.10 | ↓ -29% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $44.79 | ↓ -23% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $48.50 | ↓ -17% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $48.50 | ↓ -17% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $49.72 | ↓ -15% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $51.41 | ↓ -12% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $53.35 | ↓ -8% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $77.60 | ↑ +33% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Smear wet mount at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $41.40 | $2.10 – $62.10 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $32.40 | $5.76 – $45.90 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $44.40 | $3.78 – $59.20 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $32.40 | $5.76 – $41.10 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $161.40 | $5.75 – $11.60 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $33.00 | $5.28 – $6.69 |
| UPMC Hanover | Hanover | $32.40 | $5.76 – $9.31 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $67.80 | $5.21 – $10.92 |