healthcosts.net
Colonoscopy (diagnostic) at UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 119473412
$1,500.00
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.
$2,500.00
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.
$198.55 with UPMC Health Plan vs $5,023.10 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 | $198.55 | ↓ -87% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $234.65 | ↓ -84% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $267.68 | ↓ -82% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $272.19 | ↓ -82% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $280.98 | ↓ -81% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $285.62 | ↓ -81% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $307.61 | ↓ -79% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $531.60 | ↓ -65% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $625.00 | ↓ -58% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Medicare Advantage | $736.75 | ↓ -51% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $796.95 | ↓ -47% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $880.96 | ↓ -41% |
| Multiplan | Worker's Compensation | $926.69 | ↓ -38% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $938.75 | ↓ -37% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $938.75 | ↓ -37% |
| Cigna Lifesource | Medicare Transplant | $938.75 | ↓ -37% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $938.75 | ↓ -37% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $938.75 | ↓ -37% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $956.13 | ↓ -36% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $1,625.00 | ↑ +8% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $1,750.00 | ↑ +17% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1,826.31 | ↑ +22% |
| Fidelis | Medicare | $1,875.00 | ↑ +25% |
| InterGroup | InterGroup Services Corporation | $1,875.00 | ↑ +25% |
| Health Coalition Partners | Intergroup | $2,000.00 | ↑ +33% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $2,000.00 | ↑ +33% |
| SelectCare | Commercial | $2,000.00 | ↑ +33% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $2,000.00 | ↑ +33% |
| InterGroup | Approved National Affiliated PPO Business | $2,125.00 | ↑ +42% |
| Health Payors Organization | Commercial | $2,125.00 | ↑ +42% |
| Humana | Commercial | $2,125.00 | ↑ +42% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $2,445.67 | ↑ +63% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $3,750.78 | ↑ +150% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $4,891.34 | ↑ +226% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $5,023.10 | ↑ +235% |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Colonoscopy (diagnostic) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $1,685.40 | $198.55 – $2,125.00 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $1,500.00 | $198.55 – $2,300.00 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $1,500.00 | $198.55 – $2,250.00 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $1,500.00 | $198.55 – $2,125.00 |
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $1,500.00 | $180.50 – $2,000.00 |
| UPMC Cole | Coudersport | $609.00 | $189.53 – $1,041.88 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $1,500.00 | $198.55 – $2,000.00 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $1,500.00 | $198.55 – $1,750.00 |