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Upper Back (Thoracic Spine) MRI (with and without contrast) at Sanford Clear Lake Medical Center
701 3rd Ave S, Clear Lake, SD · Sanford Health · · NPI 1851305296
$4,424.00
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.
$5,530.00
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.
$1,215.50 with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota vs $5,142.35 with Sanford Health Plan — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | Commercial/Federal | $1,215.50 | ↓ -73% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | State Employees | $1,215.50 | ↓ -73% |
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $2,836.89 | ↓ -36% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $3,041.50 | ↓ -31% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $3,047.03 | ↓ -31% |
| Wellmark SD | Medicare Replacement | $3,047.03 | ↓ -31% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $3,074.68 | ↓ -31% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $3,074.68 | ↓ -31% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $3,074.68 | ↓ -31% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $3,074.68 | ↓ -31% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $3,135.51 | ↓ -29% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $3,577.91 | ↓ -19% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $3,833.40 | ↓ -13% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $4,147.50 | ↓ -6% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $4,370.91 | ↓ -1% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $4,509.72 | ↑ +2% |
| Medica | Choice | $4,562.25 | ↑ +3% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $4,617.55 | ↑ +4% |
| Wellmark | PPO | $4,755.80 | ↑ +8% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $4,805.57 | ↑ +9% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $4,858.66 | ↑ +10% |
| Medica | Elect | $4,877.46 | ↑ +10% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $4,977.00 | ↑ +13% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $4,977.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $4,977.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $4,977.00 | ↑ +13% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial/ND Pers | $5,142.35 | ↑ +16% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Upper Back (Thoracic Spine) MRI (with and without contrast) at other South-dakota hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford USD Medical Center | Sioux Falls | $5,039.20 | $170.46 – $5,669.10 |
| Sanford Hospital Webster | Webster | $4,324.80 | $1,697.48 – $4,865.40 |
| Sanford Chamberlain Medical Center | Chamberlain | $4,165.60 | $1,780.79 – $4,686.30 |
| Sanford Canton Inwood Medical Center | Canton | $4,056.00 | $1,733.94 – $4,563.00 |
| Sanford Vermillion Hospital | Vermillion | $3,919.20 | $1,445.21 – $4,409.10 |
| Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center | Aberdeen | $4,230.40 | $339.27 – $4,759.20 |