Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at UPMC Passavant-McCandless
9100 Babcock Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1225047699
$32.55
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.
$54.25
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.
$0.75 with Aetna vs $25.44 with UPMC Health Plan — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna | Medicare | $0.75 | ↓ -98% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $1.02 | ↓ -97% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1.08 | ↓ -97% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $1.17 | ↓ -96% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $1.17 | ↓ -96% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $1.17 | ↓ -96% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1.17 | ↓ -96% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1.20 | ↓ -96% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Workers' Comp | $1.26 | ↓ -96% |
| Health Plan of Upper Ohio Valley | Commercial | $1.39 | ↓ -96% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $1.50 | ↓ -95% |
| PA Health & Wellness | PA Medicaid HMO | $1.65 | ↓ -95% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $2.10 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $2.34 | ↓ -93% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $2.49 | ↓ -92% |
| Multiplan | PPO (Includes Workers' Comp) | $2.55 | ↓ -92% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $2.55 | ↓ -92% |
| Humana | Commercial | $2.55 | ↓ -92% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $4.50 | ↓ -86% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $25.44 | ↓ -22% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $61.20 | $2.96 – $17.53 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $31.80 | $4.46 – $13.84 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $39.60 | $3.00 – $28.34 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $21.60 | $4.50 – $21.51 |
| UPMC Western Psychiatric | Pittsburgh | $32.55 | $4.41 – $4.41 |
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $13.20 | $2.23 – $17.53 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $39.60 | $3.95 – $26.40 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $70.80 | $4.46 – $4.46 |