healthcosts.net
Establish brain cavity shunt at UPMC Passavant-McCandless
9100 Babcock Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1225047699
$8,881.80
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.
?
What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$14,803.00
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.
?
The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$1,579.01 with UPMC Health Plan vs $12,582.55 with Private Health Care Systems — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
?
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 →
?
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 | Commercial | $1,579.01 | ↓ -82% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $1,623.68 | ↓ -82% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $3,176.22 | ↓ -64% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $3,615.10 | ↓ -59% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Workers' Comp | $3,693.28 | ↓ -58% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $3,700.75 | ↓ -58% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $4,506.59 | ↓ -49% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $4,841.62 | ↓ -45% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $5,033.02 | ↓ -43% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $5,921.20 | ↓ -33% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $6,035.60 | ↓ -32% |
| Health Plan of Upper Ohio Valley | Commercial | $6,838.99 | ↓ -23% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $7,401.50 | ↓ -17% |
| PA Health & Wellness | PA Medicaid HMO | $8,141.65 | ↓ -8% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $9,683.24 | ↑ +9% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $10,362.10 | ↑ +17% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $12,286.49 | ↑ +38% |
| Humana | Commercial | $12,582.55 | ↑ +42% |
| Multiplan | PPO (Includes Workers' Comp) | $12,582.55 | ↑ +42% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $12,582.55 | ↑ +42% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Establish brain cavity shunt at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $13,183.20 | $998.40 – $18,676.20 |