healthcosts.net
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (without contrast) at UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 119473412
$2,937.00
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.
$4,895.00
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.
$105.72 with United Healthcare Community Plan for Families vs $4,160.75 with Humana — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $105.72 | ↓ -96% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $109.49 | ↓ -96% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $109.49 | ↓ -96% |
| Cigna Lifesource | Medicare Transplant | $109.49 | ↓ -96% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $109.49 | ↓ -96% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $109.49 | ↓ -96% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $111.52 | ↓ -96% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $111.52 | ↓ -96% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $152.45 | ↓ -95% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $180.17 | ↓ -94% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicaid | $205.53 | ↓ -93% |
| Health Partners Plans (Jefferson Health Plan) | Medicaid/CHIP | $208.99 | ↓ -93% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $215.74 | ↓ -93% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $219.30 | ↓ -93% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $236.19 | ↓ -92% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Medicare Advantage | $326.08 | ↓ -89% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $713.11 | ↓ -76% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $808.31 | ↓ -72% |
| Multiplan | Worker's Compensation | $829.20 | ↓ -72% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $1,082.43 | ↓ -63% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $1,524.59 | ↓ -48% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $2,041.80 | ↓ -30% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $2,164.86 | ↓ -26% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $2,295.27 | ↓ -22% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $3,181.75 | ↑ +8% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $3,426.50 | ↑ +17% |
| Fidelis | Medicare | $3,671.25 | ↑ +25% |
| InterGroup | InterGroup Services Corporation | $3,671.25 | ↑ +25% |
| Health Coalition Partners | Intergroup | $3,916.00 | ↑ +33% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $3,916.00 | ↑ +33% |
| SelectCare | Commercial | $3,916.00 | ↑ +33% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $3,916.00 | ↑ +33% |
| InterGroup | Approved National Affiliated PPO Business | $4,160.75 | ↑ +42% |
| Health Payors Organization | Commercial | $4,160.75 | ↑ +42% |
| Humana | Commercial | $4,160.75 | ↑ +42% |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (without contrast) at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $1,795.80 | $94.21 – $2,544.05 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $2,020.20 | $94.88 – $3,097.64 |
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $1,950.00 | $84.51 – $2,925.00 |
| UPMC St. Margaret | Pittsburgh | $1,740.00 | $87.53 – $2,465.00 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $1,863.00 | $101.65 – $2,484.00 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $1,906.80 | $115.76 – $2,224.60 |
| UPMC Carlisle | Carlisle | $876.00 | $100.71 – $1,241.00 |
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $1,405.80 | $88.10 – $1,874.40 |