healthcosts.net
Capsaicin 8% patch at UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 119473412
$19.20
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.
$32.00
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.
$1.31 with UPMC Work Partners vs $4,718.21 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 Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1.31 | ↓ -93% |
| Multiplan | Worker's Compensation | $1.52 | ↓ -92% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $2.16 | ↓ -89% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $2.60 | ↓ -86% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $2.80 | ↓ -85% |
| Fidelis | Medicare | $3.00 | ↓ -84% |
| InterGroup | InterGroup Services Corporation | $3.00 | ↓ -84% |
| Health Coalition Partners | Intergroup | $3.20 | ↓ -83% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $3.20 | ↓ -83% |
| SelectCare | Commercial | $3.20 | ↓ -83% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $3.20 | ↓ -83% |
| InterGroup | Approved National Affiliated PPO Business | $3.40 | ↓ -82% |
| Health Payors Organization | Commercial | $3.40 | ↓ -82% |
| Humana | Commercial | $3.40 | ↓ -82% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $3.42 | ↓ -82% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $3.42 | ↓ -82% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $3.42 | ↓ -82% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $3.42 | ↓ -82% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $3.63 | ↓ -81% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $3.69 | ↓ -81% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $3.69 | ↓ -81% |
| Cigna Lifesource | Medicare Transplant | $3.69 | ↓ -81% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $3.69 | ↓ -81% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $3.69 | ↓ -81% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $3.76 | ↓ -80% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $3.76 | ↓ -80% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $4.21 | ↓ -78% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Medicare Advantage | $562.46 | ↑ +2829% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,761.45 | ↑ +9074% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $1,811.54 | ↑ +9335% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $2,359.10 | ↑ +12187% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $2,426.19 | ↑ +12536% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $4,718.21 | ↑ +24474% |
| 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 Mercy | Pittsburgh | $11.40 | $2.16 – $557.16 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $9.75 | $2.16 – $562.46 |
| UPMC Western Psychiatric | Pittsburgh | $9.75 | $3.42 – $551.16 |