Help the patients you serve find answers faster
Social workers, financial counselors, patient assistance programs, community health centers — the people already helping patients one by one. We give you a shared reference tool so every call starts from the same data.
The people doing the most valuable work in American healthcare are often doing it one phone call at a time. A patient calls a community health center in a panic about a bill. A social worker at a non-profit helps someone pick between two hospitals. A financial counselor walks a patient through the cost of a procedure they were told they need. All of these conversations rely on the counselor knowing what hospitals actually charge, which ones have financial assistance, and what the quality data says — and those answers were locked in files nobody had time to read.
HospitalCost turns those files into a tool you can open in a browser and reference live while the patient is on the phone. Every hospital's published cash price, every insurance plan's negotiated rate, every CMS quality rating, every charity care threshold — in one place, free, no login.
How advocacy groups use it
Reference during client calls
When a client asks "how much will this cost at Hospital X?", pull up the hospital's page in seconds. Compare it to nearby alternatives. Read off the cash price, the insurance rate for their plan, and whether the hospital offers financial assistance.
Financial assistance screening
Every non-profit hospital has a financial assistance policy, but patients almost never know the thresholds. We list them — "Inova covers 100% below 400% FPL ($124,800 for a family of four)" — so you can tell your client on the spot whether they likely qualify.
Include in patient resource guides
Drop a link in your intake packets, printed guides, email signatures, or website resource lists. No agreement or setup required — the tool is free, public, and ready.
Surface insurance-vs-cash gaps
In about 4 in 10 cases, a hospital's cash price is lower than what insurance has negotiated. For a high-deductible patient who hasn't met their deductible, paying cash is cheaper. We flag these gaps so you can catch them for clients who might not think to ask.
Who this is for
Patient advocacy organizations
National and state-level groups helping patients navigate bills, coverage, and care decisions. PAF, Dollar For, Community Catalyst, RIP Medical Debt, state-specific advocacy coalitions.
Community health centers + FQHCs
Counselors and intake staff who help patients make decisions about where to go for specialty care outside the center. We give you a quick reference when the conversation turns to cost.
Hospital financial counselors
(Yes, even though you work at a hospital.) You spend most of your time helping patients apply for charity care, payment plans, or Medicaid. HospitalCost gives you a comparison view when a patient is weighing whether to transfer care or seek treatment elsewhere.
Faith-based + mutual aid networks
Groups paying medical bills for members or neighbors. We help you stretch limited funds by showing where the same procedure costs less.
Legal aid + consumer protection
Attorneys helping clients dispute surprise bills, surprise out-of-network charges, or unfair billing practices. Our data gives you a citable reference for what a fair price looks like for a specific procedure at a specific facility.
No cost, no integration, no catch
HospitalCost is free for anyone to use. There's no login, no signup, no data collection beyond standard analytics. Your clients can use it directly, or you can pull it up during a call. We don't need a partnership agreement for you to start referencing it — but if you want to be on our short list for early access to new features, data releases, or state expansions, email us.
What makes the data trustworthy
Every price is from the hospital itself
Under the CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule (45 CFR Part 180), every U.S. hospital is required to publish a machine-readable file with every price it charges. We download those files directly and parse them. We don't estimate, model, or extrapolate.
Quality data is from CMS
Star ratings, patient satisfaction, mortality, readmission, and safety data are all from CMS Hospital Compare and HCAHPS — the same source hospitals and policy researchers use.
Financial assistance thresholds are verified
We read the actual Financial Assistance Policies (FAPs) hospitals are required to publish under ACA Section 501(r) and report the income thresholds directly. Every hospital we cite has a link to their policy document on our site.
Independent
We're not paid by any hospital, insurance company, drug manufacturer, or healthcare provider. No sponsored listings. No pay-for-placement. Our independence statement is in the footer of every page.
Let's talk
If you want to be listed as a partner, receive updates when we add new states or features, or discuss ways we could support your specific workflow, email us. We respond same business day and say yes to most partnerships that help patients make better decisions.
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