healthcosts.net
Brain MRI (with contrast) at UPMC Magee
300 Halket Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1952311508
$5,502.60
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.
$9,171.00
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.
$318.66 with UPMC Health Plan vs $8,437.32 with Multiplan — 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 Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $318.66 | ↓ -94% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $349.26 | ↓ -94% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $357.50 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $367.68 | ↓ -93% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $367.72 | ↓ -93% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $367.72 | ↓ -93% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $372.90 | ↓ -93% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $372.90 | ↓ -93% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $374.53 | ↓ -93% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $440.70 | ↓ -92% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $502.74 | ↓ -91% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $527.72 | ↓ -90% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $536.43 | ↓ -90% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $577.72 | ↓ -90% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $624.18 | ↓ -89% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $687.79 | ↓ -88% |
| Premier Comp Solutions | Worker's Comp | $1,400.12 | ↓ -75% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1,479.38 | ↓ -73% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,989.85 | ↓ -64% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $2,144.30 | ↓ -61% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $2,307.09 | ↓ -58% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $2,664.78 | ↓ -52% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $3,089.70 | ↓ -44% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $3,301.56 | ↓ -40% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $3,576.69 | ↓ -35% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $3,595.03 | ↓ -35% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $3,668.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $3,668.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $3,668.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $3,668.40 | ↓ -33% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $3,997.19 | ↓ -27% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $4,585.50 | ↓ -17% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $6,419.70 | ↑ +17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $7,336.80 | ↑ +33% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $7,795.35 | ↑ +42% |
| Humana | Commercial | $7,795.35 | ↑ +42% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $8,437.32 | ↑ +53% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Brain MRI (with contrast) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $4,621.20 | $316.41 – $6,546.70 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $5,313.60 | $283.82 – $7,970.40 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $8,004.00 | $322.80 – $11,339.00 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $4,742.40 | $293.97 – $6,718.40 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $5,074.20 | $341.40 – $6,765.60 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $5,178.60 | $220.15 – $6,041.70 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $2,586.00 | $304.83 – $3,663.50 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $2,119.20 | $279.12 – $3,108.16 |