healthcosts.net
Sodium chloride 0.9 % IV bolus at UPMC St. Margaret
815 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1790795359
$78.80
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.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$98.50
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.
$0.03 with United Healthcare Community Plan for Families vs $56.01 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $0.03 | ↓ -100% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | $0.41 | ↓ -99% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Community HealthChoices (CHC)/Medicaid | $0.65 | ↓ -99% |
| PA Health & Wellness | PA Medicaid HMO | $0.65 | ↓ -99% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $0.80 | ↓ -99% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $6.50 | ↓ -92% |
| Aetna | Neighborhood Network | $6.55 | ↓ -92% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $6.72 | ↓ -91% |
| Aetna | Home Depot Employer Group | $7.12 | ↓ -91% |
| Aetna | NBR ASO/FI | $7.28 | ↓ -91% |
| Cigna | New Business ASO | $7.28 | ↓ -91% |
| Aetna | EBR FI | $9.88 | ↓ -87% |
| Aetna | EBR ASO | $10.40 | ↓ -87% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $10.40 | ↓ -87% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $13.00 | ↓ -84% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Complete Blue Medicare Advantage/Freedom Blue Medicare Advantage/Security Blue Medicare Advantage | $13.29 | ↓ -83% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $18.20 | ↓ -77% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $20.80 | ↓ -74% |
| SelectCare | Commercial | $20.80 | ↓ -74% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $20.91 | ↓ -73% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $21.02 | ↓ -73% |
| Humana | Commercial | $22.10 | ↓ -72% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $28.00 | ↓ -64% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $28.15 | ↓ -64% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $56.01 | ↓ -29% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sodium chloride 0.9 % IV bolus at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Mercy | Pittsburgh | $29.80 | $0.03 – $32.40 |
| UPMC Passavant-McCandless | Pittsburgh | $76.20 | $0.03 – $38.25 |
| UPMC Presbyterian | Pittsburgh | $76.20 | $0.03 – $13.29 |
| UPMC Western Psychiatric | Pittsburgh | $76.20 | $0.65 – $102.00 |
| UPMC Muncy | Muncy | $32.40 | $0.65 – $13.50 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $52.20 | $0.41 – $30.60 |
| UPMC Wellsboro | Wellsboro | $32.40 | $0.65 – $13.50 |
| UPMC Williamsport | Williamsport | $32.40 | $0.65 – $13.50 |