Buzz
The true cost of services at a hospital can be a complete mystery until the bill arrives. However, starting from January 1, 2019, hospitals are required to post a comprehensive list of all their prices online. While these lists can be difficult to read, confusing, and tough to find, they do exist—somewhere.
Quartzy conducted a search for these lists on hospital websites and has shared direct links to 115 of them. The quickest method they discovered was to search on Google.
We used a combination of the hospital’s name and terms like 'price list,' 'standard charges,' 'standard prices,' or 'chargemaster.' We also considered alternative spellings such as 'charge master' or 'charge description master.'
Some hospitals did not provide these lists, and reaching out via phone or email didn’t seem to help. While this system isn't functioning smoothly yet, it's a step in the right direction.
There's an additional issue: these lists must be 'machine readable,' allowing someone to eventually develop an app to help you search for and compare prices. However, in their current form, they are quite difficult for humans to interpret.
Another important note: the prices listed may not necessarily be the amount you (or your insurance) will end up paying. Hospitals negotiate their rates with each insurance provider, and they are not always required to disclose the 'negotiated' prices, which can be much lower than the prices listed on the 'chargemaster.' Nevertheless, these lists provide a starting point, and we hope someone is working on a more user-friendly version of this data.
