CMS Hospital Price Transparency

Price transparency. Handled.

One email to get started. We do the rest.

We keep your hospital's machine-readable file passing CMS's own validator — built from your own payment data, on your own computers. Under an hour of your staff's time, ever.

Check my hospital's file — free

No login. No PHI. We check the file your hospital already publishes.

Prefer to talk first? Book 30 minutes →
CMS hpt-validator v2.5.0 · dictionary v3.0 Example — sample data
sample-community-hospital_standardcharges.csv
11 errors — does not pass
  • must have required property 'attestation'
  • must have required property 'type_2_npi'
  • payer-specific: median / 10th / 90th percentile allowed amounts missing
after AttestWell
0 errors — passes the v3.0 format check
Built on CMS's official validator · Free check: no login, nothing to install · The full product runs inside your building — your data never leaves.

Most rural hospitals have compliance gaps. We checked.

726
rural hospital price files scanned so far
15
states covered — and counting, state by state
93%
have compliance gaps CMS's own tooling can flag

The validator checks the format. AttestWell checks the numbers.

We're running every rural hospital's public price file through CMS's own validator, state by state — the same check CMS can run on yours. And format is only the easy half: on CMS's published enforcement list, roughly 7 in 10 hospitals pass the format check — and are under enforcement anyway. The rule also requires the posted prices — the median, 10th- and 90th-percentile allowed amounts — to be correctly calculated from your hospital's own payment data (the 835 remittance files your billing office already receives). The format validator can't see any of that. So hospitals fix the format, believe they're done, and stay in enforcement.

What CMS enforcement actually looks like

$342
per day for hospitals of 30 beds or fewer
~$125K
a year of exposure for even the smallest hospital
$2.29M
a year for larger hospitals — per bed, per day

Since January 1, 2026, every hospital's machine-readable file must follow CMS's v3.0 format — including the median, 10th- and 90th-percentile allowed amounts calculated from your own remittance data, and a named attestation of accuracy (45 CFR § 180.50). Enforcement began April 1, 2026 under 45 CFR § 180.90; CMS adjusts penalties annually for inflation and publishes its enforcement actions publicly — hundreds of hospitals are already under warning notices or corrective-action plans.

Every attestation is signed by a senior official — usually the CEO. Your name goes on it.

Already received a CMS warning notice?

You're on CMS's 90-day cure clock. We offer fixed-fee remediation to get your published file passing before that window closes — no long project, no software to install.

Ask about remediation →
Check my hospital's file — free

How the free check works

1

Tell us your hospital

We locate your public machine-readable file the same way CMS does — from your own website.

2

We run CMS's official validator

The same open-source tool CMS publishes — not our interpretation of the rule.

3

You get the report within one business day

Every error, what it means in plain English, and what fixing it takes. Yours to keep either way.

Submitting opens a pre-filled email — just hit Send. Or email michael@attestwell.com directly. One report, one follow-up, no spam.

If a pre-filled email opened, just hit Send — your report arrives within one business day.

If nothing opened (common on webmail), copy this into a new email to michael@attestwell.com:


Your file-check report what you'll get
your-hospital_standardcharges.csv
  • Every error CMS's validator finds in your published file
  • What each one means, in plain English — no jargon
  • What fixing it takes — and whether you can do it yourself
  • If your file passes, we'll tell you that too
Delivered within one business day. Yours to keep either way.

Now onboarding founding hospitals

Install it once. Then it's handled.

AttestWell isn't a portal to log into or a system for your staff to learn. It's software your hospital installs once, on your own computers, with one setup step: show it where your 835 remittance files live — the billing files your office already receives. From there it calculates the required median, 10th- and 90th-percentile allowed amounts and keeps a validator-passing file ready — quietly, in the background.

1

Install it once

One setup question: where do your billing files live? Your IT team approves it once. No EHR integration, no network access, no new logins.

2

It does the work in the background

It watches your 835 folder and keeps your machine-readable file current and passing — the percentile math, the required fields, the attestation packaging. Nobody has to remember to run anything.

3

You review and sign

The one thing that ever reaches your desk: a finished, validator-passing file, ready for the CEO's attestation — the single step the law requires a named human to do.

Your patient data never leaves the building. Nothing is sent to AttestWell.

Book 30 minutes with the founder →

Built for the people who sign

For the CFO

Non-compliance is up to ~$125,000 a year of penalty exposure for a critical-access hospital — against a fix priced to fit inside the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) grant many rural hospitals already receive. No new FTE, no IT project, no system-sized platform contract.

See your exposure — check my file, free →

For the CEO

Before you sign this year's attestation, know what CMS's validator sees on your website today. We make sure the numbers under your signature are right — because it's your name on the attestation.

Know what you're attesting to →

For the HIM / IT lead

The free check touches nothing — it reads the file your hospital already publishes. The full product installs once on a machine you choose, needs no EHR access and no outside network access, and your data never leaves your environment. One approval, then nothing to maintain.

Read the security details →

Who's behind AttestWell

Michael O'Connor founded AttestWell after a career in enterprise software, to give small and rural hospitals a straight answer on price-transparency compliance. The product is built on CMS's own open-source validator — so you can verify everything we tell you against CMS's published tooling.

AttestWell is a small, focused company. When you email us, the founder answers.

Michael O'Connor

Founder, AttestWell

Talk to Michael — 30 minutes, no slides

Pricing

File check
Free, always
  • Your public file, run through CMS's own validator
  • Full report in plain English — yours to keep
  • No login, no card, no obligation
  • If your file passes, we'll tell you that too

Any hospital, any state.

Warning-letter remediation
$5,000–8,000 one-time
  • For hospitals under a CMS warning notice or corrective-action request
  • Your published file fixed to pass the v3.0 format and completeness checks — inside your cure window
  • Schema, required fields, discoverability, attestation packaging
  • Applies toward your first year if you move to ongoing compliance

Priced by file complexity.

For scale: penalty exposure for even the smallest hospital runs ~$125,000 a year — and price-transparency software is an allowable use of SHIP grant funds. Our published price list is maintained for procurement reference.

Security & data

There's no data-sharing to review, because no data is shared.

  • No PHI, ever. The free check reads only the machine-readable file your hospital already publishes to the public internet under 45 CFR § 180 — we never access PHI, your EHR, or your network.
  • Built the opposite of cloud software. The full product installs on your hospital's own computers. Your patient and payment data never leaves your environment — nothing is uploaded, transmitted, or shared with AttestWell.
  • This site tracks nothing. Served over HTTPS, loads nothing from third parties, no analytics scripts watching you read.
  • Your email does one job. The only thing you submit here is your email address, and we use it for exactly one thing: sending your report.

Common questions

What do you do with our file?

We validate it, write your report, and that's it. It's already public data; we don't sell, share, or republish it. Your email address is used only to send the report and one follow-up.

Does passing the validator mean we're fully compliant?

It means your file meets the v3.0 format and completeness checks CMS's tool enforces — the layer where most files fail today. Full compliance also covers the accuracy of the underlying data and your consumer display requirements, which is exactly what our paid service takes on.

Does our patient data ever leave the hospital?

No. The full product runs entirely on your own computers. Your 835 remittance files — and everything computed from them — stay inside your building. Nothing is uploaded or sent to AttestWell. The free check is even simpler: it only reads the file your hospital already publishes to the public internet.

Do our staff have to learn new software?

No. After a one-time install, it runs in the background — there's no dashboard to monitor and nothing to remember to run. The only thing anyone ever sees is a plain-English notice that the file is ready to review, and the one step the law requires a human to do: the CEO's signature on the attestation.

Do we need IT involved?

Barely. The free check uses your public website — no IT at all. The full product is a one-time install on a machine you choose: no EHR integration, no outside network access, nothing to maintain after the first approval.

What does the free check cost later?

Nothing, ever. It's how we show our work. If your file passes, we'll tell you that too.

We already have a vendor — why check?

A posted file isn't the same as a passing one. As of mid-2026, we've run hundreds of hospitals' public files through the validator — including many from hospitals on CMS's published enforcement list — and most fail at least one current check. If your vendor's file passes, you've lost nothing and gained proof.

You're new — will you be around?

Fair question. The check runs on CMS's own open-source validator, not our black box — and the report is yours to keep either way. You can verify everything we tell you against CMS's published tooling.

Is this legal advice?

No. AttestWell provides compliance tooling and reporting, not legal advice.

Know what CMS's validator sees — before CMS does.

Check my hospital's file — free

No login. No PHI. We check the file your hospital already publishes.

Or book 30 minutes with the founder →