Terms of use

What this site is

CostGrade publishes information about what hospitals charge, derived from public federal data, together with a composite grade we calculate. It is an information service.

What it is not

Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice, and no page creates a professional relationship. Do not make a medical, financial or legal decision on the basis of this site alone. In particular, the figures here are what hospitals billed Medicare and what Medicare paid — they are not an estimate of your bill, which depends on your insurance, your plan's negotiated rate and your own case. Verify anything that matters with the hospital, its published price file, your insurer and a qualified professional.

Accuracy

We publish federal data faithfully but cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error. CMS republishes annually, hospitals merge and change ownership, and a hospital's charges can change before the data does. Grades are our own calculation and are opinions formed from that data, offered in good faith. A grade is a relative position among U.S. hospitals, not a finding that any hospital did anything wrong.

No endorsement, no referral

A high grade is not a recommendation and a low grade is not an accusation. We take no payment from any hospital, insurer or billing company, and we do not refer anyone to any provider.

Facilities

If you operate a facility and believe your federal record is inaccurate, the correction must be made with CMS and your state survey agency. We reproduce the public file and will reflect corrections once CMS publishes them. If we have made a processing error, tell us and we will correct it.

Acceptable use

You may read, link to and quote this site with attribution. Systematic scraping, bulk redistribution of the derived data, or reproduction of substantial portions without permission is not permitted.

Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss arising from use of, or reliance on, this site.

Changes

We may update these terms. Continued use after a change means acceptance of the revised terms.