Trust
How HospitalPricer verifies hospital price data
Every number here is parsed from a hospital's own published file — never estimated, inferred, or invented. Here is exactly how the pipeline works, and what we refuse to do.
1. We start from the hospital’s own file
U.S. price-transparency rules require hospitals to publish a machine-readable file of their standard charges. We discover these files from each hospital’s published location — not from third-party estimates or crowd-sourced figures. If we cannot locate a real file for a hospital, that hospital does not get a priced page.
2. We parse only what the file actually contains
We read the file directly and keep the values it discloses: list (gross) charges, cash / self-pay prices, insurance-negotiated rates, and — where present — historical allowed amounts. We map billing codes so the same service can be compared across hospitals. We do not translate, average, or “clean up” prices into something the hospital never published.
3. We label completeness honestly
If we parsed the whole file, the page is marked Full price list. If the file is too large to show in full, the page is marked Selected prices and says so plainly. We never present a partial view as complete — see what “selected prices” means.
4. We keep the provenance visible
Each hospital page shows the source file’s date (when the hospital provides it), the date we last verified it, and a direct link to the hospital’s original file. Nothing is hidden behind our own say-so — you can open the source and check.
5. We keep thin and unverified pages out of search
A page with no usable data, or a page too thin to be a real comparison, is kept out of the index rather than published as filler. We would rather show fewer, stronger pages than a large number of weak ones.
What we deliberately never do
- Never show a missing price as $0.
- Never estimate, predict, or invent a price a hospital did not publish.
- Never call a partial view a complete one.
- Never claim a hospital is “cheapest,” “best,” or a “good deal” — we present the published figures and let you compare.
- Never present this data as a bill, a quote, or medical advice.
For the full technical detail, see our methodology and data limitations.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you ever estimate or fill in a missing price?
- Never. If a hospital does not publish a value, we show a blank — not an estimate, not a $0, and not a number carried over from another hospital. A blank always means missing data.
- How do I know a price is real?
- Each hospital page links to the hospital's own original published file and shows the file's date and the date we last verified it. You can open the source and check any figure yourself.
- How current is the data?
- Hospitals update their files periodically — often annually, or when rates change. Each page shows the source file's date where the hospital provides it and the date we ingested it, so you can judge how recent it is. Always confirm current pricing with the hospital and your insurer before care.
- What if you find an error?
- We regenerate the affected pages directly from the hospital's file. If you believe a figure is wrong, use the corrections pathway on our contact page and we will re-check it against the source.