healthcosts.net
Capsaicin 8% patch at UPMC Mercy
1400 Locust Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 163914308
$11.40
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.
$19.00
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.
$2.16 with UPMC Health Plan vs $2,183.64 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 Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $2.16 | ↓ -81% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $2.51 | ↓ -78% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $2.74 | ↓ -76% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $2.79 | ↓ -76% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $2.85 | ↓ -75% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $3.06 | ↓ -73% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $3.13 | ↓ -73% |
| Bravo | Medicare | $3.15 | ↓ -72% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $3.42 | ↓ -70% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $3.42 | ↓ -70% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $3.42 | ↓ -70% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $3.42 | ↓ -70% |
| UPMC Health Plan | EPO Partners/EPO Select Plan/HMO | $3.51 | ↓ -69% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $3.59 | ↓ -69% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $3.60 | ↓ -68% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $3.60 | ↓ -68% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $3.69 | ↓ -68% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $3.69 | ↓ -68% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $3.69 | ↓ -68% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $3.76 | ↓ -67% |
| UPMC Health Plan | CHIP | $3.80 | ↓ -67% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $3.96 | ↓ -65% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $4.21 | ↓ -63% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $4.50 | ↓ -61% |
| Cigna Behavioral Health | Commercial | $5.40 | ↓ -53% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $6.75 | ↓ -41% |
| InterGroup | Approved National Affiliated PPO Business | $7.20 | ↓ -37% |
| American Healthcare Group | Commercial | $7.20 | ↓ -37% |
| National Provider Network | PPO | $7.38 | ↓ -35% |
| Multiplan | PPO (inc. Auto and Worker's Compensation) | $8.10 | ↓ -29% |
| Health Payors Organization | Commercial | $8.10 | ↓ -29% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $557.16 | ↑ +4787% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,585.32 | ↑ +13806% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $1,630.38 | ↑ +14202% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $2,123.21 | ↑ +18525% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $2,183.64 | ↑ +19055% |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Capsaicin 8% patch at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $9.75 | $2.16 – $562.46 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $19.20 | $1.31 – $562.46 |
| UPMC Western Psychiatric | Pittsburgh | $9.75 | $3.42 – $551.16 |