medcostcompare

About

MedCostCompare helps people see how Medicare-approved amounts for exact billed services vary across providers and regions.

Who runs MedCostCompare

Independent public-data project

MedCostCompare is operated by ClayWare, LLC. The site is not a medical provider, insurer, broker, hospital, or government agency.

Why the site exists

Medical billing amounts are hard to compare

People often have little visibility into the separate services that may appear on a medical bill before they choose where to get care. Medicare-approved amounts for the same billed service can vary even inside one metro area, and those differences are usually difficult to inspect in one place.

MedCostCompare exists to make those differences easier to inspect using public Medicare billing data. The goal is to give people a starting point for better questions, not to replace advice from a doctor, insurer, or billing office.

What it solves

A simpler local comparison

The site keeps separately billed components distinct, filters to pages with enough local data, and shows providers in the same region using one consistent Medicare-approved-amount metric. This makes it easier to inspect differences for the same billed service; it does not identify a provider's complete procedure price.

Data

High-level data source

Displayed amount information comes from the CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners provider-and-service release published in 2026, covering services delivered in calendar year 2024. The figures are Medicare-approved amounts for provider-service records, not private insurance rates or cash-pay quotes.

The methodology page explains how procedures are grouped, how pages qualify for publication, and how provider medians and middle-half ranges are calculated.

Limitations

What the site does not know

MedCostCompare does not know your insurance plan, deductible, network status, coinsurance, facility fees, anesthesia costs, bundled services, or complications that may change a bill. Medicare data can also lag current market prices and may not reflect how a provider bills private insurance or self-pay patients.

Use the information as a directional comparison. Our guide to Medicare price terms explains what the displayed amount means, and the complete-estimate checklist shows what to confirm with an insurer, clinician, and facility.

Corrections

Contact and corrections

If you find a page that looks wrong, outdated, or confusing, report a MedCostCompare data issue or use the contact page. Please include the page URL and a short description of the issue so we can review it.