Vacuum drain bottle/tube kit at UPMC Altoona
620 Howard Avenue, Altoona, PA · UPMC · · NPI 112418570
$454.80
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.
$758.00
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.
$30.99 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $128.80 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Community Blue Medicare Advantage/Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage/Together Blue Medicare Advantage | $30.99 | ↓ -93% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $63.12 | ↓ -86% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $80.50 | ↓ -82% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $80.50 | ↓ -82% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $80.50 | ↓ -82% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $85.33 | ↓ -81% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $86.86 | ↓ -81% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $88.55 | ↓ -81% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $88.55 | ↓ -81% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid | $88.55 | ↓ -81% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $94.64 | ↓ -79% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $128.80 | ↓ -72% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Vacuum drain bottle/tube kit at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $211.80 | $21.00 – $86.86 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $224.40 | $30.99 – $63.12 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $341.40 | $63.12 – $105.10 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $325.20 | $63.12 – $86.86 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $71.40 | $31.53 – $86.86 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $250.20 | $31.28 – $86.86 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $190.20 | $30.99 – $68.59 |
| UPMC Muncy | Muncy | $122.40 | $63.12 – $67.53 |