Thoracentesis pleural space needle/catheter aspiration with imaging guidance (both sides) at UPMC Hamot
201 State Street, Erie, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1487647590
$1,974.60
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.
$3,291.00
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.
$403.71 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $2,632.80 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 | $403.71 | ↓ -80% |
| Univera | Univera_Medicare_Hamot_2024 | $493.65 | ↓ -75% |
| Fidelis | Medicare | $680.28 | ↓ -66% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $693.89 | ↓ -65% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $694.43 | ↓ -65% |
| Wellcare | Medicare Advantage | $700.69 | ↓ -65% |
| BCBS of Western NY | Medicare Advantage | $714.29 | ↓ -64% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $727.90 | ↓ -63% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $734.63 | ↓ -63% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $734.70 | ↓ -63% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $734.70 | ↓ -63% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $734.70 | ↓ -63% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $822.75 | ↓ -58% |
| Independent Health | Medicare Advantage | $857.29 | ↓ -57% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $863.16 | ↓ -56% |
| Cigna | NBR ASO/FI | $987.30 | ↓ -50% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $987.30 | ↓ -50% |
| Independent Health | Commercial | $989.88 | ↓ -50% |
| Univera | Commercial | $1,086.03 | ↓ -45% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $1,147.00 | ↓ -42% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity/Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity/Managed Care/Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,219.91 | ↓ -38% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1,316.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Cigna | EBR | $1,316.40 | ↓ -33% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $1,516.57 | ↓ -23% |
| BCBS of Western NY | Commercial | $1,572.66 | ↓ -20% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $1,810.05 | ↓ -8% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $1,810.05 | ↓ -8% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $1,951.84 | ↓ -1% |
| InterGroup | Health Coalition Partners/PPO | $2,139.15 | ↑ +8% |
| Multiplan | PPO (Includes PHCS as a Payer) | $2,303.70 | ↑ +17% |
| Aetna | AXA/MMO | $2,303.70 | ↑ +17% |
| Multiplan | Complimentary Network Rate (Includes Multiplan as Payer) | $2,632.80 | ↑ +33% |
| InterGroup | Beech Street | $2,632.80 | ↑ +33% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Thoracentesis pleural space needle/catheter aspiration with imaging guidance (both sides) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $1,635.00 | $403.71 – $2,180.00 |
| UPMC Bedford | Everett | $2,040.00 | $212.67 – $3,060.00 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $2,304.60 | $64.39 – $1,016.56 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $1,092.60 | $42.41 – $863.16 |
| UPMC Community Osteopathic | Harrisburg | $2,304.60 | $94.00 – $1,221.53 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $2,153.40 | $407.56 – $2,871.20 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $1,509.00 | $534.56 – $863.16 |
| UPMC Hanover | Hanover | $2,304.60 | $584.71 – $1,221.53 |