Editorial Policy
How the information on MedCostCheck is produced, checked, and kept honest.
Where our numbers come from
Every price on this site is computed from the official data files of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): the relative value unit (RVU) files, the geographic practice cost index (GPCI) files, and the ZIP-code-to-locality crosswalk. We apply the published Medicare payment formula with the current conversion factor. We do not estimate, average, or adjust these figures editorially, and we do not accept pricing submissions from providers.
Where we show private insurance and self-pay ranges, they are clearly labeled as estimates based on widely reported multiples of Medicare rates, not as quoted prices. The full methodology is explained on our About page and in our guide to why Medicare rates are the benchmark.
How our guides are written
Our billing and cost guides are written and maintained by the MedCostCheck team. They explain how United States medical billing, insurance, and consumer protection rules work in plain English. They are based on public sources: federal rules and statutes (such as the No Surprises Act and the hospital price transparency rule), CMS documentation, and established consumer billing practice.
We do not publish medical advice. Nothing on this site recommends a treatment, a diagnosis, or a provider, and our guides tell readers to confirm clinical questions with their doctor and coverage questions with their insurer. Cost and billing education is the entire scope of this site.
Review and updates
Pricing data is refreshed when CMS publishes fee schedule updates, which happens at least annually with revisions during the year. Each pricing page states the exact CMS file release it is built from. Guides carry a visible "Updated" date and are revised when the rules they describe change.
Corrections
When a reader reports an error via the contact page, we check the claim against the original CMS files or the primary legal source. Confirmed errors are corrected on the live site as soon as they are verified. We would rather show less information than wrong information.
Advertising and affiliate independence
MedCostCheck is free to use and is supported by advertising and a small number of affiliate links. Two rules keep that funding separate from our content:
- Ads are served by third-party networks and are visually distinct from our content. Advertisers have no input into any price, guide, or page on this site.
- Affiliate links are disclosed on the pages where they appear. Whether a partner pays us has no effect on the data we display, which comes only from public CMS files.
Who is behind MedCostCheck
MedCostCheck is built and maintained by a small independent team that specializes in making public government datasets usable by ordinary people. We are not clinicians, and we do not present ourselves as such; we are data people. Everything we publish can be traced back to a public primary source, and we link to those sources so you can check our work.