Sterile needle at UPMC Magee
300 Halket Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1952311508
$838.20
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.
$1,397.00
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.
$0.15 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $699.61 with UPMC Health Plan — 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 | $0.15 | ↓ -100% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $0.17 | ↓ -100% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $0.50 | ↓ -100% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $0.51 | ↓ -100% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $0.67 | ↓ -100% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $0.68 | ↓ -100% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $1.03 | ↓ -100% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $6.48 | ↓ -99% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $12.96 | ↓ -98% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $14.04 | ↓ -98% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $14.11 | ↓ -98% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $14.40 | ↓ -98% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $14.40 | ↓ -98% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $14.40 | ↓ -98% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $14.40 | ↓ -98% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $18.00 | ↓ -98% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $18.00 | ↓ -98% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $19.80 | ↓ -98% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $19.80 | ↓ -98% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $25.20 | ↓ -97% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $28.80 | ↓ -97% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $30.60 | ↓ -96% |
| Humana | Commercial | $30.60 | ↓ -96% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $33.12 | ↓ -96% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $452.87 | ↓ -46% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $699.61 | ↓ -17% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile needle at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $291.00 | $0.15 – $357.61 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $649.80 | $0.15 – $657.17 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $367.80 | $0.15 – $555.71 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $367.80 | $0.15 – $490.40 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $259.20 | $0.15 – $0.15 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $256.80 | $548.02 – $548.02 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $192.00 | $0.15 – $452.87 |
| UPMC McKeesport | Mckeesport | $34.80 | $0.15 – $452.87 |