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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (without contrast) at Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center
2905 3rd Ave SE, Aberdeen, SD · Sanford Health · · NPI 1235406455
$2,472.00
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.
$3,090.00
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.
$101.02 with Sanford Health Plan Align vs $2,839.71 with Medica — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $101.02 | ↓ -96% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $108.47 | ↓ -96% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $109.53 | ↓ -96% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | Medicare Replacement | $109.53 | ↓ -96% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $109.53 | ↓ -96% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $109.53 | ↓ -96% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $109.53 | ↓ -96% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $111.66 | ↓ -95% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $1,370.42 | ↓ -45% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $1,562.61 | ↓ -37% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $1,612.05 | ↓ -35% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $1,699.50 | ↓ -31% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $1,711.86 | ↓ -31% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial | $1,838.24 | ↓ -26% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $1,946.70 | ↓ -21% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $2,413.29 | ↓ -2% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $2,533.80 | ↑ +3% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $2,580.15 | ↑ +4% |
| Medica | Choice | $2,654.31 | ↑ +7% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $2,781.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $2,781.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $2,781.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Medica | Elect | $2,839.71 | ↑ +15% |
| Wellmark | HMO | not published by hospital | — |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (without contrast) at other South-dakota hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Clear Lake Medical Center | Clear Lake | $2,539.20 | $705.10 – $2,856.60 |
| Sanford Hospital Webster | Webster | $2,376.00 | $932.58 – $2,673.00 |
| Sanford USD Medical Center | Sioux Falls | $2,652.00 | $48.73 – $2,983.50 |
| Sanford Chamberlain Medical Center | Chamberlain | $2,344.80 | $1,002.40 – $2,637.90 |
| Sanford Canton Inwood Medical Center | Canton | $1,950.40 | $833.80 – $2,194.20 |
| Sanford Vermillion Hospital | Vermillion | $2,018.40 | $744.29 – $2,270.70 |