What we track
- What each hospital charges Medicare, and what Medicare pays, for the same kind of hospital stay.
- How that compares from one hospital to the next.
- Penalties issued to hospitals that didn't post their prices as federal rules require.
- Findings are about hospitals, not patients or other private people.
Where it comes from
- CMS Hospital General Information: the federal list of hospitals, with each hospital's type, ownership and location.
- Medicare Inpatient Hospitals by Provider and Service: from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): what each hospital charged and what Medicare paid, by type of stay.
- CMS hospital price transparency enforcement actions (source): the penalty notices CMS has issued to hospitals under its price transparency rules.
We use only data anyone can open without an account. How we check our sources.
How often it updates
CMS releases the Medicare inpatient data once a year. The other two CMS sources don't state a schedule. Our own update schedule for this area is being set.
Findings coming soon. When we publish findings in this area, they'll be in the Journal.
Know something in this area we should look at? Tell us.