CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper

Scrapes hospital standard charges from machine-readable files mandated by the CMS Hospital Price Transparency rule. Parses CMS JSON schemas (v1, v2, v3) into structured rows by billing code — CPT, HCPCS, MS-DRG, Revenue Code, NDC — payer, and plan. Also retrieves hospital identity data for ~6,000 US hospitals from the CMS enrollment dataset.

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CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper Features

• Parses CMS JSON MRF files (v1/v2 flat schema and v3 nested schema) from any user-supplied URL
• Auto-detects schema version — no configuration needed
• Returns negotiated rates by payer and plan: dollar amounts, percentages, and algorithm descriptions
• Returns gross charges, cash/self-pay prices, and de-identified min/max rates
• Fetches hospital identity records (CCN, NPI, address) from the CMS enrollment dataset
• Filters by billing code type (CPT, HCPCS, MS-DRG, RC, NDC), specific billing code, payer name substring, or state
• Three modes: mrf_parse for a single file URL, hospital_list for enrollment data, discover_and_parse for the combined pipeline
• No proxy required — CMS and GitHub are open public APIs

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Who Uses CMS Hospital Price Transparency Data?

• Healthcare price-comparison startups — Build comparison tools on top of actual negotiated rates across hospitals and payers
• Employers and self-funded health plans — Compare in-network rates to negotiate better contracts or choose preferred networks
• Benefits consultants and brokers — Analyze payer/plan rate variation for clients by procedure code
• Journalists and researchers — Track compliance, investigate pricing disparities, publish hospital cost analyses
• Healthcare data vendors — Supplement CMS enrollment records with charge data to build comprehensive hospital intelligence datasets
• Academic institutions — Study pricing patterns across regions, facility types, and payer mixes

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How CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper Works

1. Pick a mode. mrf_parse takes a single MRF URL and parses it. hospital_list pages through the CMS enrollment dataset and returns hospital identity records. discover_and_parse does both.
2. For MRF parsing, the scraper fetches the JSON file and auto-detects whether it uses the v3 nested schema (with standard_charges[] and payers_information[]) or the v1/v2 flat schema. It handles both without any configuration.
3. Apply optional filters — billing code type, specific code, payer name substring — and the scraper applies them during parsing so only matching rows reach the output.
4. Results land in the Apify dataset as structured JSON. One row per payer/plan combination per billing code per service setting, which is as granular as the CMS standard requires.

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Input

{
  "mode": "mrf_parse",
  "mrfUrl": "https://example-hospital.com/standard-charges.json",
  "billingCodeType": "CPT",
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "sp_intended_usage": "Rate comparison for employer health plan negotiation",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "None"
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	mrf_parse	mrf_parse parses a single MRF URL. hospital_list returns CMS enrollment records. discover_and_parse combines both.
mrfUrl	string	—	MRF JSON URL to fetch and parse. Required for mrf_parse mode.
stateFilter	string	—	Two-letter state code (e.g. CA, TX). Filters hospital list results.
hospitalCcn	string	—	CMS Certification Number to filter to a single hospital.
billingCodeType	string	—	Filter by code system: CPT, HCPCS, MS-DRG, APR-DRG, RC, NDC, or Internal. Leave blank for all.
billingCode	string	—	Specific billing code to filter (e.g. 70551). Leave blank for all.
payerFilter	string	—	Case-insensitive payer name substring filter.
maxItems	integer	15	Maximum records to return. 0 = unlimited.

Hospital List Mode Input

{
  "mode": "hospital_list",
  "stateFilter": "TX",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "sp_intended_usage": "Building a hospital database for Texas",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "None"
}

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CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper Output Fields

MRF Parse Mode

Returns one row per payer/plan/billing code combination.

{
  "hospital_name": "EXAMPLE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER",
  "hospital_ccn": "",
  "hospital_npi": "",
  "hospital_address": "",
  "hospital_city": "",
  "hospital_state": "",
  "hospital_zip": "",
  "mrf_url": "https://example-hospital.com/standard-charges.json",
  "mrf_version": "3.0.0",
  "mrf_last_updated": "2025-01-15",
  "billing_code": "70551",
  "billing_code_type": "CPT",
  "description": "MRI Brain without contrast",
  "payer_name": "Aetna",
  "plan_name": "Aetna PPO Standard",
  "setting": "outpatient",
  "methodology": "fee schedule",
  "standard_charge_gross": 4200,
  "standard_charge_discounted_cash": 1890,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_dollar": 1240,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_percentage": null,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_algorithm": "",
  "standard_charge_min": 980,
  "standard_charge_max": 1600,
  "estimated_amount": 1240,
  "additional_payer_notes": "",
  "record_type": "charge_row"
}

Field	Type	Description
hospital_name	string	Hospital name from MRF header
hospital_ccn	string	CMS Certification Number (populated in hospital_list mode)
hospital_npi	string	National Provider Identifier
hospital_address	string	Street address
hospital_city	string	City
hospital_state	string	State abbreviation
hospital_zip	string	ZIP code
mrf_url	string	Source MRF file URL
mrf_version	string	CMS schema version (e.g. 3.0.0)
mrf_last_updated	string	Date the MRF was last updated
billing_code	string	Billing code (e.g. 70551)
billing_code_type	string	Code system: CPT, HCPCS, MS-DRG, RC, NDC, Internal
description	string	Service or item description
payer_name	string	Payer name
plan_name	string	Plan name
setting	string	Service setting: inpatient, outpatient, or both
methodology	string	Rate methodology (fee schedule, percent of total billed charges, etc.)
standard_charge_gross	number	Gross / chargemaster price
standard_charge_discounted_cash	number	Cash / self-pay discount price
standard_charge_negotiated_dollar	number	Negotiated dollar amount
standard_charge_negotiated_percentage	number	Negotiated percentage of gross charge
standard_charge_negotiated_algorithm	string	Algorithm description when rate is formula-based
standard_charge_min	number	De-identified minimum negotiated charge
standard_charge_max	number	De-identified maximum negotiated charge
estimated_amount	number	Estimated allowed amount
additional_payer_notes	string	Additional payer or plan notes
record_type	string	charge_row for MRF data, hospital_info for enrollment data

Hospital List Mode

Returns one row per hospital from the CMS enrollment dataset.

{
  "hospital_name": "MEMORIAL HOSPITAL OF LARAMIE COUNTY",
  "hospital_ccn": "530012",
  "hospital_npi": "1568469223",
  "hospital_address": "214 E 23RD ST",
  "hospital_city": "CHEYENNE",
  "hospital_state": "WY",
  "hospital_zip": "82001",
  "mrf_url": "",
  "mrf_version": "",
  "mrf_last_updated": "",
  "billing_code": "",
  "billing_code_type": "",
  "description": "",
  "payer_name": "",
  "plan_name": "",
  "setting": "",
  "methodology": "",
  "standard_charge_gross": null,
  "standard_charge_discounted_cash": null,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_dollar": null,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_percentage": null,
  "standard_charge_negotiated_algorithm": "",
  "standard_charge_min": null,
  "standard_charge_max": null,
  "estimated_amount": null,
  "additional_payer_notes": "",
  "record_type": "hospital_info"
}

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🔍 FAQ

How do I scrape hospital prices from CMS machine-readable files?

CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper handles this in mrf_parse mode. Supply the MRF URL in the mrfUrl field, set optional filters, and run. The scraper fetches the file, auto-detects whether it uses CMS v1/v2 or v3 schema, and outputs one structured row per payer/plan/billing code combination.

Where do I find hospital MRF URLs?

CMS does not publish a single comprehensive directory of MRF URLs. Individual hospitals publish their own files on their websites, typically in a "price transparency" or "standard charges" section. The CMS Hospital Price Transparency enforcement dataset tracks compliance but does not always include direct file links. Third-party aggregators like Turquoise Health and Dolthub's hospital-price-transparency project maintain compiled URL lists.

What billing code types does this scraper support?

CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper supports all billing code types defined in the CMS standard: CPT, HCPCS, MS-DRG, APR-DRG, Revenue Code (RC), NDC (drug codes), and Internal. Filter using the billingCodeType input field.

How much does this scraper cost to run?

CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.10 per run start plus $0.001 per record. A run parsing 10,000 charge rows from a single MRF file costs about $10.10. Use maxItems to control scope on large hospital chargemasters.

Does this scraper need proxies?

No. CMS data APIs and GitHub-hosted example files are public and don't require proxies. The proxyConfiguration input field is available if your target MRF is hosted somewhere that rate-limits, but for standard CMS data sources it isn't necessary.

Can I filter to a single hospital?

Yes. Use hospitalCcn with the hospital's CMS Certification Number to filter hospital_list mode. For MRF parsing, supply the specific hospital's MRF URL in mrfUrl.

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Need More Features?

Need support for CSV MRF format, streaming parsing for 1GB+ files, or a different data source? File an issue or get in touch.

Why Use CMS Hospital Price Transparency Scraper?

• CMS schema coverage — Handles CMS v1, v2, and v3 JSON schemas with auto-detection. Most hospital-built parsers handle only one version.
• Dual-mode output — Returns charge rows from MRF files and hospital identity data from the CMS enrollment API in the same output schema, so you can join the two datasets without additional ETL.
• Affordable at scale — At $0.001 per record, parsing 100,000 charge rows costs $100, which is less than most healthcare data subscriptions charge per hospital.