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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at UPMC Magee
300 Halket Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1952311508
$3,160.80
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.
$5,268.00
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.
$165.60 with UPMC Health Plan vs $4,846.56 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 Medicaid | $165.60 | ↓ -95% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $165.60 | ↓ -95% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $195.72 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $223.27 | ↓ -93% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $234.36 | ↓ -93% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $238.23 | ↓ -92% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $256.57 | ↓ -92% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $318.66 | ↓ -90% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $347.96 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Partners/Select | $349.26 | ↓ -89% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $357.50 | ↓ -89% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $367.68 | ↓ -88% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $367.72 | ↓ -88% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $367.72 | ↓ -88% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $374.53 | ↓ -88% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $379.18 | ↓ -88% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $814.85 | ↓ -74% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,097.02 | ↓ -65% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $1,195.38 | ↓ -62% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $1,271.91 | ↓ -60% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $1,469.11 | ↓ -54% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $1,703.37 | ↓ -46% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $1,896.48 | ↓ -40% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $2,054.52 | ↓ -35% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $2,065.06 | ↓ -35% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $2,107.20 | ↓ -33% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $2,107.20 | ↓ -33% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $2,107.20 | ↓ -33% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $2,107.20 | ↓ -33% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $2,203.67 | ↓ -30% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $2,634.00 | ↓ -17% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $3,687.60 | ↑ +17% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $4,214.40 | ↑ +33% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $4,477.80 | ↑ +42% |
| Humana | Commercial | $4,477.80 | ↑ +42% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $4,846.56 | ↑ +53% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $2,654.40 | $165.60 – $3,760.40 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $3,054.00 | $165.60 – $4,581.00 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $4,599.60 | $112.80 – $6,516.10 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $2,722.80 | $165.60 – $3,857.30 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $2,917.20 | $165.60 – $3,889.60 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $2,052.60 | $140.66 – $2,394.70 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $1,424.40 | $123.14 – $2,017.90 |
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $1,405.80 | $94.00 – $1,874.40 |