How do you handle missing prices?

When a hospital does not report a price for a specific procedure, we leave the field blank rather than estimating or imputing a value. We never fabricate pricing data. If a hospital reports incomplete data, this is reflected in a lower confidence score. Missing data also affects the hospital's overall transparency score.

Can I verify the data myself?

Yes. Every price on ProcedureRadar includes a "View Source" link to the hospital's original Machine-Readable File. You can download the raw file and verify any data point independently. We believe in full traceability: if you cannot verify a number back to its source, it should not be published.

Why don't you show CPT codes?

CPT codes are copyrighted by the American Medical Association (AMA) and require a paid redistribution license. ProcedureRadar uses plain-English procedure names and public-domain HCPCS Level II and DRG codes instead. We map billing codes to consumer-friendly names so you can understand what you are searching for without needing medical billing expertise. Our B2B API includes HCPCS and DRG codes where applicable.

How do you calculate the median price?

The median is the middle value when all reported prices for a procedure in a metro area are sorted from lowest to highest. We use the median rather than the mean (average) because healthcare pricing distributions are heavily skewed by outliers. A single $50,000 charge would distort an average but does not affect the median. This gives you a more representative picture of typical pricing.

What happens when a hospital's file has errors?

Our pipeline includes automated quality checks that flag $0 prices, $999,999 placeholders, duplicate entries, and values outside expected ranges for a given procedure. Flagged records are quarantined and excluded from published data. Hospitals with significant data issues receive a lower transparency score. We log all errors for review and track data quality trends over time.

Methodology

How ProcedureRadar Works

From raw hospital files to the prices you see. Every step, explained.

By Kevin Monangai, Founder
Last updated March 2026

6 min read

Federal Transparency Data3,500+ Hospitals, 100 MetrosPatent PendingUpdated Monthly

ProcedureRadar aggregates pricing data from 3,500+ hospital Machine-Readable Files (MRFs) mandated by federal law under 45 CFR Part 180. We download, parse, normalize, quality-score, and publish this data monthly across 100 US metros. Every price on our site traces back to a specific hospital's published file. This page explains exactly how we turn thousands of inconsistently formatted hospital files into the clean, comparable pricing data you see on ProcedureRadar.

Explore Our Pricing Data

Our Pipeline

Every price on ProcedureRadar passes through a six-step pipeline. Each step is automated, logged, and auditable.

Source

Hospitals publish Machine-Readable Files (MRFs) as required by the CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule (45 CFR Part 180). These files contain every price the hospital has negotiated with every insurer, plus cash and self-pay rates. The rule took effect January 1, 2021, with enforcement penalties increasing through 2026.

Discover

We maintain a registry of MRF URLs for 3,500+ hospitals across 100 metros. URLs are refreshed monthly using automated scrapers, the CMS hospital registry, and a CCN-EIN bridge that cross-references hospital identifiers across federal databases. When a hospital changes its file location, our discovery system adapts.

Download and Parse

MRF files arrive in three formats, each requiring a dedicated parser. We handle encoding issues, malformed rows, schema variations, and format inconsistencies automatically. Files range from a few kilobytes to multiple gigabytes.

CSV TallOne row per price. Most common format. Column layouts vary by hospital.

CSV WidePayers as columns, procedures as rows. Requires pivot transformation.

JSONCMS-defined schema. Nested objects for payer-specific negotiated rates.

Normalize

Raw billing codes (CPT, HCPCS, DRG) are mapped to plain-English procedure names using CMS crosswalk files. "CPT 70553" becomes "MRI of the Brain." Payer names are normalized across hospitals: "UNITED HEALTH CARE," "UHC," and "United Healthcare" all resolve to the same entity. This normalization is what makes cross-hospital comparison possible.

Quality Score

Every pricing record is validated against expected ranges. $0 prices, $999,999 placeholders, and duplicate entries are flagged and quarantined. Each hospital receives a transparency score based on data completeness, freshness, and consistency. Records that pass validation receive a confidence rating visible on every pricing page.

See confidence badges in action

Publish

Validated, normalized pricing data is loaded into our database and published to procedureradar.com. Pages regenerate weekly via Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR). The raw source file URL is preserved on every record so you can verify any data point by downloading the original hospital file yourself.

See a live example: MRI of the Brain in New York

Data Sources

Every price on ProcedureRadar originates from a single, authoritative source: hospital Machine-Readable Files published under federal law.

Federal Mandate: 45 CFR Part 180

The Hospital Price Transparency Rule requires all hospitals operating in the United States to publish their standard charges for all items and services in a machine-readable format. This includes gross charges, discounted cash prices, payer-specific negotiated rates, and de-identified minimum and maximum negotiated charges. Non-compliant hospitals face penalties of up to $2 million per year as of 2024.

What's in an MRF File

Gross ChargesThe hospital's list price before any negotiation or discount.

Negotiated RatesPayer-specific prices for each insurer the hospital contracts with.

Cash / Self-Pay PricesDiscounted rate available to patients paying out of pocket.

De-identified Min/MaxRange of negotiated rates without identifying specific payers.

File Formats Vary

CMS does not mandate a single file format. Hospitals publish in CSV (tall or wide layout) or JSON. Each format requires a dedicated parser, and column naming conventions vary across hospitals. Our pipeline handles all three.

Example: CSV tall format (simplified, hospital name redacted)

// Actual MRF data rows, simplified for illustration
billing_code,description,payer,charge_type,price
"70553","MRI BRAIN W/O & W CONTRAST","CASH","cash_discount",1050.00
"70553","MRI BRAIN W/O & W CONTRAST","AETNA PPO","negotiated",2340.00
"70553","MRI BRAIN W/O & W CONTRAST","UNITED HC","negotiated",1875.00
"27447","TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT","CASH","cash_discount",28500.00

Coverage

3,500+

Hospitals

Actively tracked

100

Metros

Top US markets

140+

Procedures

Shoppable services

Monthly

Refresh Cadence

Automated pipeline

Our coverage spans the top 100 US metros by population, representing approximately 85% of US hospitals, 90% of consumer healthcare search volume, and 95% of the addressable B2B market. We prioritize CMS-designated shoppable services: procedures that consumers can schedule in advance and compare prices for. This includes imaging (MRI, CT, X-ray), common surgeries (knee replacement, cataract surgery, hernia repair), diagnostic procedures (colonoscopy, cardiac catheterization), and preventive screenings.

Expansion continues to additional procedures (500+ target) and deeper payer-specific rate coverage as hospitals improve their MRF compliance.

Last pipeline scan: March 15, 2026. Next scheduled refresh: April 1, 2026.

Quality Scoring

Not all hospital data is equally reliable. Every pricing record on ProcedureRadar carries a confidence rating so you know how much weight to give it. We never hide data quality issues. We surface them.

High Confidence

5+ payers reporting rates
File updated within 90 days
Prices consistent with expected ranges
Multiple charge types present

Moderate Confidence

2 to 4 payers reporting
File date 90 to 180 days old
Minor data gaps present
Some charge types missing

Low Confidence

Single payer or cash only
File older than 6 months
Significant data gaps
Potential outlier values

Limitations

We believe in being upfront about what our data does and does not include. No healthcare pricing tool can capture every variable that affects your final bill. Here is what falls outside our data.

Surgeon and anesthesiologist fees. These professionals often bill separately from the hospital facility fee. The MRF price may not include their charges. Ask your provider whether the quoted price is all-inclusive.
Procedure complexity variants. A "knee replacement" could be total or partial. An "MRI" could be with or without contrast. The same procedure name can encompass different scopes of work at different price points.
Real-time pricing. Our pipeline scans monthly. Hospital prices can change between scans. The prices you see reflect the most recent monthly snapshot, not a live feed.
Non-shoppable emergency services. Emergency room visits and unplanned urgent procedures are not typically shoppable. Pricing data for these services exists in MRF files but is less meaningful for pre-visit comparison.
Non-compliant hospitals. Some hospitals still do not publish MRF files or publish incomplete data despite the federal mandate. We can only show prices for hospitals that publish their data. Non-compliant hospitals are absent from our results.

Common Data Questions

ProcedureRadar refreshes pricing data monthly. Our automated pipeline downloads the latest hospital Machine-Readable Files on the 1st of each month, with processing typically completed within 3 to 5 business days. Published pages regenerate weekly via Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR). If a hospital updates its MRF file mid-month, the update will appear after the next monthly scan.

Explore the Data

Now that you know how we collect and validate it, put it to work.

Search Prices Access via API