Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at Baylor St Luke's Medical Center
1101 Bates Avenue, Houston, TX · CommonSpirit Health · · NPI 1184622847
$4,547.90
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.
$12,994.00
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.
$173.75 with Wellpoint vs $12,994.00 with MHealth Network — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $173.75 | ↓ -96% |
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|CHIP | $175.43 | ↓ -96% |
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|STARKIDS | $175.43 | ↓ -96% |
| UHC | Medicaid|STARKIDS | $177.22 | ↓ -96% |
| UHC | Medicaid|CHIP | $177.22 | ↓ -96% |
| UNITED | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $178.94 | ↓ -96% |
| BCBS | Medicaid|All Plans | $182.44 | ↓ -96% |
| CHC | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $201.74 | ↓ -96% |
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|STAR | $235.08 | ↓ -95% |
| UNITED | Medicaid|STAR | $240.34 | ↓ -95% |
| Renaissance | Commercial|All Plans | $257.55 | ↓ -94% |
| CHC | Medicaid|STAR | $270.16 | ↓ -94% |
| AETNA | Medicare|TRANSPLANT | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| KELSEY | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| Humana | Medicare|All Other Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| Humana | Medicare|TRANSPLANT | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| BCBS | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| CIGNA HEALTHSPRING | Medicare|HMO | $357.71 | ↓ -92% |
| CIGNA HEALTHSPRING | Medicare|PPO | $361.29 | ↓ -92% |
| AETNA | Medicare|All Other Plans | $364.86 | ↓ -92% |
| UHC-SecureHorizons | Medicare|All Plans | $364.86 | ↓ -92% |
| Amerivantage | Medicare|All Plans | $368.44 | ↓ -92% |
| SELECTCARE | Medicare|All Plans | $375.60 | ↓ -92% |
| SCANHealth | Medicare|All Plans | $382.75 | ↓ -92% |
| DEVOTED | Medicare|All Plans | $382.75 | ↓ -92% |
| KINDRED | Medicare|All Plans | $429.25 | ↓ -91% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|MyBlue Health Exchange | $458.22 | ↓ -90% |
| KelseyCare | Commercial|Exchange | $482.91 | ↓ -89% |
| Employer Direct | Commercial|PPO | $500.79 | ↓ -89% |
| Cigna | Commercial|Surefit | $507.00 | ↓ -89% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|Blue Advantage Exchange | $511.68 | ↓ -89% |
| Community Health Choice | Commercial|All Other Plans | $536.57 | ↓ -88% |
| Harris Health | Commercial|ERS | $536.57 | ↓ -88% |
| Superior Health Plan | Commercial|All Plans | $536.57 | ↓ -88% |
| Community Health Choice | Commercial|Exchange | $536.57 | ↓ -88% |
| Wellpoint | Commercial|Exchange | $536.57 | ↓ -88% |
| UHC | Medicaid|STARPLUS | $547.34 | ↓ -88% |
| UNITED | Medicaid|STARPLUS | $547.34 | ↓ -88% |
| Aetna | Commercial|Exchange | $550.87 | ↓ -88% |
| Cigna | Commercial|HMO | $559.00 | ↓ -88% |
| Aetna | Commercial|Transplant | $590.00 | ↓ -87% |
| Bright Health | Commercial|All Plans | $615.81 | ↓ -86% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|Transplant | $707.94 | ↓ -84% |
| Aetna | Commercial|PPO | $761.00 | ↓ -83% |
| Humana | Commercial|HMO | $800.00 | ↓ -82% |
| Humana | Commercial|PPO | $800.00 | ↓ -82% |
| Healthsmart | Commercial|AP3 | $900.00 | ↓ -80% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|Premier | $1,023.36 | ↓ -77% |
| KelseyCare | Commercial|All Other Plans | $1,154.70 | ↓ -75% |
| NX Health | Commercial|PPO | $1,162.56 | ↓ -74% |
| United | Commercial|Exchange | $1,264.00 | ↓ -72% |
| Cigna | Commercial|PPO | $1,405.00 | ↓ -69% |
| TCHP | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $1,429.34 | ↓ -69% |
| TCHP | Medicaid|STARKIDS | $1,429.34 | ↓ -69% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|HMO | $1,573.22 | ↓ -65% |
| BCBS - TX | Commercial|PPO Trad | $1,664.87 | ↓ -63% |
| United | Commercial|Charter | $1,703.00 | ↓ -63% |
| United | Commercial|HMO | $1,891.00 | ↓ -58% |
| United | Commercial|PPO | $1,891.00 | ↓ -58% |
| TCHP | Medicaid|STAR | $1,915.32 | ↓ -58% |
| OPTUM | Medicare|All Plans | $3,508.38 | ↓ -23% |
| OPTUM | Medicaid|STAR | $4,701.23 | ↑ +3% |
| TCHPCHIP | Medicaid|HMO | $5,327.54 | ↑ +17% |
| TCH | Commercial|Transplant | $5,847.30 | ↑ +29% |
| United | Commercial|Optum | $6,107.18 | ↑ +34% |
| Shell | Commercial|All Plans | $6,497.00 | ↑ +43% |
| CHC | Medicaid|HMO | $7,146.70 | ↑ +57% |
| CHC | Medicaid|CHIP | $7,146.70 | ↑ +57% |
| TEXASTRUECHOICE | Medicaid|CHIP | $7,146.70 | ↑ +57% |
| Cigna Lifesource | Commercial|Transplant | $7,796.40 | ↑ +71% |
| Aetna | Commercial|KelseyCare | $7,926.34 | ↑ +74% |
| Coventry | Commercial|PPO | $8,446.10 | ↑ +86% |
| Humana | Commercial|Transplant | $8,446.10 | ↑ +86% |
| First Health | Commercial|All Plans | $8,446.10 | ↑ +86% |
| Aetna | Commercial|HMO | $9,095.80 | ↑ +100% |
| Healthsmart | Commercial|PPO | $9,095.80 | ↑ +100% |
| Interlink | Commercial|Transplant | $9,095.80 | ↑ +100% |
| Cigna | Commercial|Transplant | $9,095.80 | ↑ +100% |
| MultiPlan | Commercial|All Plans | $9,745.50 | ↑ +114% |
| OPTUM | Medicaid|STARPLUS | $10,735.65 | ↑ +136% |
| USA Health Network | Commercial|All Plans | $11,044.90 | ↑ +143% |
| MHealth Network | Commercial|PPO | $12,994.00 | ↑ +186% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at other Texas hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Luke's Health - The Vintage Hospital | Houston | $4,547.90 | $173.75 – $12,994.00 |
| HCA HOUSTON MEDICAL CENTER | Houston | not published | $175.43 – $820.98 |
| HCA HOUSTON WEST | HOUSTON | not published | $170.28 – $763.70 |
| HCA HOUSTON TOMBALL | HOUSTON | not published | $173.75 – $820.98 |
| Adventhealth Rollins Brook | Lampasas | $4,302.62 | $1,779.42 – $1,779.42 |
| BAYLOR UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER | Dallas | $2,381.40 | $173.75 – $2,976.75 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - BRENHAM | Brenham | $2,041.20 | $420.15 – $3,061.80 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - BUDA | Suite 110 | $2,381.40 | $173.75 – $2,976.75 |