Hospital Price Comparison — Frequently Asked Questions

MyCareCost helps you compare hospital prices for medical procedures in your area. We aggregate publicly available price transparency data that hospitals are required to publish, making it easier to understand and compare healthcare costs before you receive care.

Our data comes from machine-readable files (MRFs) that hospitals are legally required to publish under the Hospital Price Transparency Rule. We collect, parse, and organize this data to make it searchable and comparable. Each price listing shows when the data was last updated.

Hospital prices vary due to many factors: location, facility type (academic vs community), operating costs, negotiated rates with different insurers, and the specific services included in each price. The same procedure can cost 2-10x more at one hospital compared to another nearby.

No. The prices shown are what hospitals charge, not necessarily what you'll pay. Your actual cost depends on your insurance plan, deductible status, in-network status, and any copays or coinsurance. Use these prices as a starting point for comparison, then verify with your insurer and the hospital.

Standard (Std) prices are the hospital's gross charges - the full list price before any discounts. Cash prices are discounted rates offered to self-pay patients who pay without insurance. Cash prices are typically lower, but may not include all services.

Some hospitals haven't published compliant price files, or their files may be in formats we can't yet parse. Some procedures may use different billing codes than you searched for. Try searching with different terms or check back later as we continuously add more data.

Absolutely. Health share members are essentially self-pay patients who negotiate directly with providers. MyCareCost shows you the cash and self-pay prices that hospitals are required to publish, so you can compare options before scheduling care. Our negotiation tools (available with Total Care Cost Ultra) include call scripts, price challenge letter templates, and fair-price benchmarks based on what other hospitals in your area charge for the same procedure. Many health shares encourage or require members to price-shop before care — MyCareCost makes that easy. Learn more about how health share members use MyCareCost.

Yes. We offer partnership options for health sharing ministries and networks, including co-branded member tools, bulk member access, market benchmark data for negotiation teams, and API integration with member portals. If you run or manage a health share network, reach out to discuss partnership options or visit our health share partnership page.

Yes. Free users can run up to 5 searches per day and see the top 3 hospitals per procedure. This resets at midnight UTC each day. If you need more searches or want to see all hospitals, you can purchase a Total Care Cost search ($10/search) which also unlocks deeper cost breakdowns across all hospitals, or view all plan options. Total Care Cost searches are not subject to the daily limit.

Free users get 5 searches per day. Each search shows the top 3 hospital prices. Need more? Total Care Cost pay-per-search unlocks all hospitals and deeper cost breakdowns.

No. You can search without an account. Creating a free account lets you save searches and track your daily usage.

We offer three tiers: Premium ($10/search) gives you a phase-by-phase cost breakdown. Medicare ($14/search) adds CMS fee schedule benchmarks and hospital-to-Medicare multiples. Ultra ($18/search) adds negotiation tools, call scripts, and dispute guidance. Multi-packs and bulk pricing are available.

Each hospital listing shows a freshness badge (Fresh, 3mo, >1yr) based on when the hospital last updated their price file. Hospitals are required to update annually, but many update more frequently. We check for updates regularly.

The compliance grade reflects how well a hospital's published data meets federal transparency requirements - including file format, required data fields, and accessibility. It does not reflect care quality or price fairness.

If you find incorrect information, please submit a correction request. We review all submissions and update our data accordingly.

Medicare rates are sourced directly from CMS fee schedules: OPPS (outpatient), IPPS (inpatient DRG), PFS (physician), and CLFS (clinical lab). We update quarterly when CMS publishes new files.

A Medicare multiple shows how many times higher a hospital's price is compared to what Medicare pays for the same procedure. A hospital charging 3.2× Medicare means their price is 3.2 times the Medicare national rate. Most community hospitals fall between 1.5× and 3.0×.

MyCareCost is pay-per-search — you pay only when you need deeper tools, not a monthly fee. Premium ($10/search) unlocks saved care plans, full search history, data exports (CSV, PDF, JSON), shareable comparison links, price change alerts, market analytics & percentiles, CMS quality ratings, personalized cost calculator, insurance profile & deductible tracking, and “what if” scenario comparisons. Medicare ($14/search) adds everything in Premium plus Medicare national rate benchmarks, hospital-to-Medicare multiples, and fair price range (1–2.5× Medicare). Ultra ($18/search) adds everything in Medicare plus episode-of-care cost estimates, procedure bundle breakdowns, bill comparison & overcharge detection, dispute guidance & letter templates, negotiation leverage scores, personalized call scripts, and employer-friendly savings reports. You can search and compare prices free without buying a search. See our pricing page or buy a search.

When you purchase Total Care Cost for a search, you can set alerts for specific procedures at specific hospitals. We'll notify you when prices change, when they drop below a target, or when new cheaper options appear in your area. Alerts are checked periodically.

No. Total Care Cost is pay-per-search — you are not charged monthly for these tools. For receipts and purchase history, visit Account > Pay-per-search billing. If you have legacy subscription billing, you can still manage it from Account > Billing.

No. MyCareCost provides pricing information only. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers for medical decisions.

We don't collect or store personal health information. Your searches are not linked to health conditions. We use standard security practices including encryption and don't sell personal data. See our Privacy Policy for details.

We use a small number of cookies for analytics and session management. Declining analytics cookies simply means we won't track page views with Google Analytics. Core site functionality is unaffected.

No. We do not collect, store, or process Protected Health Information (PHI). We are not a covered entity or business associate under HIPAA. Your search queries are not linked to any diagnosis or treatment.

We work with employers, health share networks, insurance brokers/TPAs, and patient advocates. Each partner type gets tools tailored to their needs — from variance reports and dispute analysis to member pricing access.

Brokers can submit individual claims or batch multi-line bills for analysis. We compare each billed amount against hospital-published prices and market data, flag potential overcharges, estimate dispute strength, and generate dispute packets with supporting evidence.

Yes. All partner accounts start with a 14-day free trial. You get full access to tools for your partner type during the trial. Your card is collected at signup but not charged until the trial ends.

API access is available for enterprise partners. Contact our team to discuss your integration needs and pricing.