Same procedure. Same insurance. Wildly different prices — across 20 cities.
These are real, negotiated prices from federally mandated hospital price transparency files at 120+ hospitals nationwide. The cheapest hospital in one city can be 3–5x less than the most expensive in another. And it's 100% legal.
In January 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated that all hospitals publish their negotiated rates with insurance companies. This data was supposed to help patients shop for care.
What it revealed instead: Healthcare pricing has no rhyme or reason. Hospitals in the same city charge wildly different prices for the same procedure, often with no quality difference.
Each insurance company negotiates different rates at each hospital. There's no standard pricing. A procedure that costs $890 at one hospital might cost $2,250 at another—for the same insured patient.
These prices are "real" in the sense that someone, somewhere, is paying them. But most patients have no way to access this information before care.
The data exists, but it's buried in JSON files on hospital websites. No patient goes to the hospital with a spreadsheet. And the price differences aren't just across town — they're across the country.
A Brain MRI that costs $958 in Dallas costs $3,200 in NYC with the same insurance. For major procedures like joint replacements, the savings from traveling to another city can be tens of thousands of dollars.
Every price on CompMD comes directly from federally mandated hospital pricing files. Armed with this data, you can choose a lower-cost hospital before scheduling — or ask your current hospital to match a competitor's rate.
The difference can be hundreds or thousands of dollars. Knowing the price is the first step to not overpaying.
CompMD translates hospital price files into human-readable comparisons. Search for your procedure, your city, and your insurance. See what different hospitals actually charge.
Make an informed decision. Because the healthcare system won't.
Share these numbers. Tweet them. Tell your friends. The pricing disparity only exists because it's invisible.
Transparency alone won't fix healthcare, but it's the first step. And someone needs to know: the price you're paying for your procedure is likely not based on quality. It's based on which network your hospital happens to be in.
CompMD makes hospital pricing transparent so you can make informed decisions about your care.
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