Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at UPMC Hamot
201 State Street, Erie, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1487647590
$70.80
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.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$118.00
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.
$4.46 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $36.80 with InterGroup — 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 | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $4.46 | ↓ -94% |
| Univera | Univera_Medicare_Hamot_2024 | $6.90 | ↓ -90% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $11.50 | ↓ -84% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $13.03 | ↓ -82% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity/Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity/Managed Care/Managed Care - Social Mission | $13.48 | ↓ -81% |
| Cigna | NBR ASO/FI | $13.80 | ↓ -81% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $13.80 | ↓ -81% |
| Univera | Commercial | $15.18 | ↓ -79% |
| BCBS of Western NY | Commercial | $16.10 | ↓ -77% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $16.93 | ↓ -76% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $18.40 | ↓ -74% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $18.40 | ↓ -74% |
| Cigna | EBR | $18.40 | ↓ -74% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $20.91 | ↓ -70% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $21.57 | ↓ -70% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $23.00 | ↓ -68% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $25.30 | ↓ -64% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $25.30 | ↓ -64% |
| InterGroup | Health Coalition Partners/PPO | $29.90 | ↓ -58% |
| Multiplan | PPO (Includes PHCS as a Payer) | $32.20 | ↓ -55% |
| Aetna | AXA/MMO | $32.20 | ↓ -55% |
| Multiplan | Complimentary Network Rate (Includes Multiplan as Payer) | $36.80 | ↓ -48% |
| InterGroup | Beech Street | $36.80 | ↓ -48% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $13.20 | $2.23 – $17.53 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $39.60 | $3.95 – $26.40 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $24.00 | $21.21 – $21.21 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $25.20 | $17.53 – $17.53 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $7.80 | $2.69 – $17.53 |
| UPMC Kane | Kane | $13.20 | $12.91 – $18.00 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $61.20 | $2.96 – $17.53 |
| UPMC McKeesport | Mckeesport | $42.00 | $2.96 – $17.53 |