Ultrasound guide intraoperative at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$315.60
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.
$526.00
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.
$174.73 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $761.93 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 | $174.73 | ↓ -45% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $263.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $263.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $263.00 | ↓ -17% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $269.63 | ↓ -15% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $278.78 | ↓ -12% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $289.30 | ↓ -8% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $289.30 | ↓ -8% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $289.30 | ↓ -8% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $420.80 | ↑ +33% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $699.27 | ↑ +122% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $761.93 | ↑ +141% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Ultrasound guide intraoperative at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $890.40 | $203.31 – $1,261.40 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $481.80 | $148.16 – $642.40 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $890.40 | $233.75 – $1,261.40 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $1,607.40 | $176.39 – $2,143.20 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $879.00 | $174.73 – $349.19 |
| UPMC Hanover | Hanover | $890.40 | $699.27 – $699.27 |
| UPMC Lititz | Lititz | $890.40 | $54.27 – $699.27 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $1,401.00 | $59.70 – $557.42 |