New tool to compare CT healthcare prices

Medcompare collects publicly available hospital price transparency data and converts it into a searchable format. The site compares US cash/self-pay hospital prices for 8,967 procedures in 31 categories across 29 hospitals in Connecticut.

Prices for the same service vary significantly between Connecticut hospitals. Uninsured and self-pay patients can save hundreds to thousands of dollars by comparison shopping before scheduling services.

For this database, Medscape uses the prices hospitals must report under the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule. There is no cost or registration to use Medcompare, and no insurance is required to search the database. Data is collected regularly; the latest is from this month.  Not all prices are available for all hospitals; Medcompare includes only what hospitals report.

Important: In healthcare, prices do not correlate with the quality of care. To find the best value, go to the federal Care Compare site for individual hospital quality scores across 46 measures.