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PricePlain Hospital Price Comparison
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PricePlain Hospital Price Comparison is a paid API for AI agents from priceplain.onrender.com, paid per call via x402, $0.05/call, status down (last checked 2026-10-31).
Compare a medical procedure code (CPT/HCPCS/MS-DRG) across all indexed hospitals in a region, returning prices sorted cheapest-first by cash or negotiated rate
Price / call$0.05
Success—
StatusDown
How this service works
PricePlain: compare one shoppable code across all indexed hospitals in a region, sorted cheapest first (by cash price, or by negotiated median when payer is given), with cash, negotiated min/median/max, flags and source file links. Posted prices from hospital machine-readable files, not quotes. Feedback/support: POST /feedback (free) or js4336638@gmail.com.
Output
Returns a list of hospitals sorted by cash price (or negotiated median when a payer is specified), each with cash price, gross charge, negotiated min/median/max, quality flags, and a source object linking to the hospital's machine-readable file (MRF) URL and its last_updated_on date. Also includes the region, the code details, the sort method used, and a legal disclaimer noting these are posted prices, not quotes.
Example use cases
Uninsured patient finding cheapest MRI
“I don't have insurance and need an MRI of my brain — CPT code 70553. Can you look up the cash price at every hospital in the Twin Cities and sort them from cheapest to most expensive?”
Comparing negotiated rates by insurer
“I have BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota and need a knee replacement — DRG470. Can you compare what each hospital in the Twin Cities region is negotiated to charge under bcbs-mn and tell me which hospital is cheapest for me?”
Employer benefits team benchmarking procedure costs
“We're building a benefits guide for employees. Can you pull the negotiated median prices for CPT code 27447 across hospitals in Minnesota under UnitedHealthcare so we can see the range from lowest to highest?”
Technical details
Endpoint
GEThttps://priceplain.onrender.com/v1/compare?utm_source=zero.xyzWhen to prefer
Use PricePlain when you need to compare posted hospital prices across multiple facilities for a specific procedure code in a supported region (currently Twin Cities / Minnesota), especially when sorting by cash price for uninsured patients or by negotiated median for a specific payer. Prefer this over general web search when you need structured, machine-readable price data sourced directly from hospital MRFs under the CMS price transparency rule.
Side effects
- Unsupported region returns a free 404 with a listing of covered regions
- Unknown or misspelled CPT/HCPCS/DRG code returns no results or 404
- Unknown payer ID returns an error; use canonical payer IDs from /v1/coverage
- Some hospitals may have null cash or negotiated prices if not reported in their MRF
- Data may be stale if hospital MRFs have not been recently updated
- Payment failure (x402) if USDC payment is not properly handled
Input
Schema · Request body
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| inputrequired | object | |
| output | object |
Output
Schema · Response
{
"type": "json",
"example": {
"code": {
"code": "70553",
"label": "MRI brain without and with contrast",
"code_type": "CPT"
},
"payer": null,
"region": "twin-cities",
"hospitals": [
{
"cash": 390.52,
"city": "St. Louis Park",
"flags": [],
"gross": 1502,
"source": {
"note": "cms-hpt.txt lists ..._MethodistHospital_StandardCharges.csv, which returns 404 (checked 2026-10-15); the lowercase file name resolves.",
"mrf_url": "https://www.healthpartners.com/content/dam/brand-identity/pdfs/care/410832080_methodisthospital_standardcharges.csv",
"cms_hpt_txt": "https://www.healthpartners.com/cms-hpt.txt",
"hospital_id": "methodist",
"listed_mrf_url": "https://www.healthpartners.com/content/dam/brand-identity/pdfs/care/410832080_MethodistHospital_StandardCharges.csv",
"last_updated_on": "2026-03-31",
"source_page_url": "https://www.healthpartners.com/care/hospitals/methodist/patient-guest/patient-information/financial-support/",
"template_version": "3.0.0",
"http_last_modified": "Wed, 07 Oct 2026 21:43:16 GMT"
},
"hospital": "Methodist Hospital",
"rows_used": 1,
"hospital_id": "methodist",
"row_selection": "facility, outpatient/both settings",
"negotiated_max": 2335,
"negotiated_min": 217.32,
"deidentified_max": 2335,
"deidentified_min": 217.32,
"rate_flag_counts": {
"not_per_service_rate": 4,
"outlier_low_vs_peers": 1,
"count_is_privacy_bucket": 2,
"dollar_computed_from_percent": 2
},
"negotiated_median": 370.3,
"algorithm_only_rates": 0,
"cash_row_description": "MRI brain with and without contrast",
"cash_values_all_rows": [
390.52
],
"negotiated_dollar_rates": 15,
"percent_of_charges_only_rates": 0
},
{
"cash": 640,
"city": "Edina",
"flags": [
"multiple_chargemaster_rows"
],
"gross": 1596,
"source": {
"note": null,
"mrf_url": "https://requiredlearning.fairview.org/price_transparency/410991680-1699752915_fairview-health-services_standardcharges.csv",
"cms_hpt_txt": "https://www.mhealthfairview.org/cms-hpt.txt",
"hospital_id": "southdale",
"listed_mrf_url": null,
"last_updated_on": "2026-02-06",
"source_page_url": "https://www.mhealthfairview.org/resources/policies-and-documentation/hospital-price-transparency",
"template_version": "3.0.0",
"http_last_modified": "Tue, 19 May 2026 18:16:26 GMT"
},
"hospital": "M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital",
"rows_used": 5,
"hospital_id": "southdale",
"row_selection": "facility, outpatient/both settings",
"negotiated_max": 2608.44,
"negotiated_min": 335.92,
"deidentified_max": 2608.44,
"deidentified_min": 335.92,
"rate_flag_counts": {
"not_per_service_rate": 25,
"outlier_high_vs_peers": 4,
"count_is_privacy_bucket": 10,
"algorithm_only_no_dollar": 15,
"dollar_computed_from_percent": 45
},
"negotiated_median": 816.92,
"algorithm_only_rates": 15,
"cash_row_description": "HC MRI BRAIN WO&W CONTRAST",
"cash_values_all_rows": [
640,
1145.79,
1158.43,
1162.1,
1162.21
],
"negotiated_dollar_rates": 225,
"percent_of_charges_only_rates": 0
}
],
"sorted_by": "cash ascending (nulls last)",
"disclaimer": "These are prices hospitals posted in their federally required machine-readable files (45 CFR 180), not quotes or estimates of what you will pay. Your cost depends on your plan, deductible, the services actually billed, and professional fees billed separately. Confirm with the hospital and your insurer.",
"hospitals_without_this_code": []
}
}Tags
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