`hospital_price_compare`

Pack: hospital-prices · Connect: https://pipeworx.io/mcp (see Connect below for a single-pack URL)

No MCP client? Call it directly: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/hospital_price_compare for the schema, then POST the same URL with its arguments for the data.

Compare one service’s prices across up to 10 hospitals by CCN, with absence reasons.

Tool description as the model sees it

Side-by-side prices for one service at up to 10 named hospitals (by CMS Certification Number, CCN, from hospital_price_search or hospital_price_coverage). Same fields and same labelling as hospital_price_search: gross charge vs self-pay cash vs payer-negotiated rates, dollar_available on every negotiated rate, and for each hospital that has no price a stated reason (not held and why / code absent / payer not listed). Use for “compare MS-DRG 470 at these three hospitals for Blue Cross”.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`ccns`	array	yes	CMS Certification Numbers (6 characters, e.g. “330101”), 1-10.
`items`	string	no
`payer`	string	no	Case-insensitive substring of the payer name.
`plan`	string	no	Case-insensitive substring of the plan name.
`setting`	string	no	Restrict to inpatient or outpatient pricing.
`rates_per_hospital`	number	no	Negotiated rows per hospital (1-25, default 25).

Example call

Arguments

{
  "code": "90853",
  "ccns": [
    "140208",
    "140179",
    "140054"
  ],
  "payer": "blue cross",
  "rates_per_hospital": 2
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/hospital-prices/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"hospital_price_compare","arguments":{"code":"90853","ccns":["140208","140179","140054"],"payer":"blue cross","rates_per_hospital":2}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('hospital_price_compare', {
  "code": "90853",
  "ccns": [
    "140208",
    "140179",
    "140054"
  ],
  "payer": "blue cross",
  "rates_per_hospital": 2
});

Response shape

Field	Type	Description
`found`	boolean	Whether at least one priced result was found
`reason`	string	Machine-readable reason when found is false
`message`	string	Plain-language explanation of the reason
`hint`	string	How to narrow or fix the request
`data_as_of`	string \| null	File last-updated date, or the store cycle
`source`	string	Publisher and dataset
`licence_note`	string	Reuse-licence caveat
`coverage`	object	Which states and how many hospitals the store holds
`code`	string	Code
`code_type`	string	MS-DRG or CPT/HCPCS
`requested`	number	CCNs requested
`priced`	number	Hospitals with a price
`hospitals`	array	Hospitals with their prices or absence reasons

Full JSON Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "additionalProperties": true,
  "properties": {
    "found": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "Whether at least one priced result was found"
    },
    "reason": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Machine-readable reason when found is false"
    },
    "message": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Plain-language explanation of the reason"
    },
    "hint": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "How to narrow or fix the request"
    },
    "data_as_of": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "File last-updated date, or the store cycle"
    },
    "source": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Publisher and dataset"
    },
    "licence_note": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Reuse-licence caveat"
    },
    "coverage": {
      "type": "object",
      "description": "Which states and how many hospitals the store holds",
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "code": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Code"
    },
    "code_type": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "MS-DRG or CPT/HCPCS"
    },
    "requested": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "CCNs requested"
    },
    "priced": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Hospitals with a price"
    },
    "hospitals": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Hospitals with their prices or absence reasons",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "additionalProperties": true,
        "properties": {
          "ccn": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "CMS Certification Number"
          },
          "name": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Hospital name"
          },
          "data_as_of": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The hospital file's last_updated_on"
          },
          "prices": {
            "type": "array",
            "description": "Gross, cash and negotiated summary per setting",
            "items": {
              "type": "object",
              "additionalProperties": true
            }
          },
          "negotiated_rates": {
            "type": "array",
            "description": "Payer rows; dollar_available false carries methodology text",
            "items": {
              "type": "object",
              "additionalProperties": true,
              "properties": {
                "dollar_available": {
                  "type": "boolean",
                  "description": "False when the hospital published a percentage or formula, not a dollar figure"
                },
                "negotiated_dollar": {
                  "type": [
                    "number",
                    "null"
                  ],
                  "description": "Negotiated dollar amount"
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config — every tool in the catalog, including this one — or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Connect to just the hospital-prices pack

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hospital-prices": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/hospital-prices/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

hospital_price_compare