X-ray surgical specimen at Virginia Mason Medical Center
1100 9th Ave., Seattle, WA · Vmfh · · NPI 1801851258
$933.81
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.
?
What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$1,831.00
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.
?
The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$1.23 with first choice vs $1,352.01 with cigna — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
?
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 →
?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| first choice | commercial | $1.23 | ↓ -100% |
| aetna | medicare advantage ppo | $8.53 | ↓ -99% |
| united healthcare | commercial | $47.13 | ↓ -95% |
| optum care network | medicare advantage | $48.78 | ↓ -95% |
| united healthcare | medicare advantage | $48.78 | ↓ -95% |
| kaiser foundation | hp medicare | $48.78 | ↓ -95% |
| humana | choicecare medicare advantage | $48.78 | ↓ -95% |
| humana | medicare advantage | $48.78 | ↓ -95% |
| signal health | medicare advantage | $49.79 | ↓ -95% |
| multiplan | medicare advantage | $49.79 | ↓ -95% |
| premera | medicare advantage hmo/ppo | $49.79 | ↓ -95% |
| regence | medicare advantage | $50.85 | ↓ -95% |
| coventry - first health | commercial | $52.83 | ↓ -94% |
| kaiser health plan | commercial | $64.51 | ↓ -93% |
| regence | uniform medical plan | $78.80 | ↓ -92% |
| premera | commercial | $93.25 | ↓ -90% |
| confluence health | medicare advantage | $94.45 | ↓ -90% |
| regence | commercial | $104.58 | ↓ -89% |
| cigna | commercial | $155.61 | ↓ -83% |
| aetna | commercial | $234.92 | ↓ -75% |
| aetna | medicare advantage hmo | $627.12 | ↓ -33% |
| aetna | medicare advantage | $1,109.07 | ↑ +19% |
| cigna | local plus | $1,352.01 | ↑ +45% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
X-ray surgical specimen at other Washington hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish Medical Center - First Hill Campus | Seattle | $197.76 | $632.74 – $2,263.43 |
| Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill | Seattle | $197.76 | $632.74 – $2,191.19 |
| Central Medical Center | Seattle | $1,920.00 | $549.00 – $549.00 |
| Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children's Hospital | Spokane | $1,059.10 | $288.09 – $1,733.69 |
| Swedish Issaquah | Issaquah | $197.76 | $116.27 – $2,263.43 |
| Providence Centralia Hospital | Centralia | $1,292.72 | $329.67 – $3,000.24 |
| Providence Mount Carmel Hospital | Colville | $1,518.30 | not published |
| Providence St Mary Medical Center | Walla Walla | $1,989.40 | $153.12 – $1,126.45 |