Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at UPMC East
2775 Mosside Boulevard, Monroeville, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1225323983
$39.60
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.
$66.00
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.
$3.95 with UPMC Work Partners vs $36.96 with Highmark BCBS of PA — 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 | $3.95 | ↓ -90% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $4.50 | ↓ -89% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $8.25 | ↓ -79% |
| United Healthcare | Compass Exchange | $10.89 | ↓ -73% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $11.58 | ↓ -71% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $12.54 | ↓ -68% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $12.61 | ↓ -68% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $12.87 | ↓ -68% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $12.87 | ↓ -68% |
| Cigna | NBR ASO/FI | $12.87 | ↓ -68% |
| United Healthcare | All Business | $12.87 | ↓ -68% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $13.20 | ↓ -67% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $13.20 | ↓ -67% |
| Cigna | EBR | $13.20 | ↓ -67% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $16.50 | ↓ -58% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $16.50 | ↓ -58% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $17.53 | ↓ -56% |
| PA Health & Wellness | PA Medicaid HMO | $18.15 | ↓ -54% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $18.15 | ↓ -54% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $18.48 | ↓ -53% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $18.48 | ↓ -53% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $18.81 | ↓ -53% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $18.81 | ↓ -53% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $21.27 | ↓ -46% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $23.10 | ↓ -42% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $26.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $36.96 | ↓ -7% |
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 Hamot | Erie | $70.80 | $4.46 – $4.46 |
| 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 |