# Trace a price to the hospital's file

Lesson 1 of [Check hospital MRI price data and credentials](https://mriprices.fyi/academy/check-mri-price-data-and-credentials.md), 18 minutes.

The site reads published prices from each hospital's own machine-readable file. It does not invent prices. You can check each price yourself.

## Steps

1. On the hospital page, note the scan price, the price file link and the 'Prices read on' date.
2. Open the file link. Price files are often large CSV or JSON files. Use a program that can search a large file.
3. Search for the CPT code, for example 73721 for the knee. Also search for the other codes in its family, for example 73722 and 73723.
4. Read the columns for the discounted cash price and the gross charge. A code can appear in more than one row, for example for inpatient and outpatient settings. The site takes the lowest value for one code. It tries the code without contrast first, then the code with contrast, then the code without and with contrast.
5. Compare that value with the hospital page.

## Why a value may not match

- The hospital published a new file after the date that the site read it.
- The link now opens a different file.
- The row you read is for a different code or setting.
- The file had no cash price for the code without contrast, so the site used a code with contrast.
- Hospital staff who claimed the page edited the value.

## How the site filters prices

The site skips a price that is outside a fixed plausible range. It does not use a file that is listed for several hospitals that are not clearly one system. When the site skips a value or a file, the page does not show that value. The source note often says why a price is unavailable.

## A file the site has not read

The hospital's file is public whether the site has read it or not. Look on the hospital's own website for a page about price transparency or standard charges.

## Sources

- MRIPrices data sources: Hospital machine-readable files, read by the site's crawler (directory configuration)
- CMS Hospital Price Transparency Tracker (github.com/anthonyisnotadev/cms-hpt-tracker)
- 45 CFR Part 180, Hospital Price Transparency (ecfr.gov)

This course is general information, not medical, legal or financial advice.

Also on the [web page](https://mriprices.fyi/academy/check-mri-price-data-and-credentials/trace-a-price-to-the-file).