Using Pharos

The rates Pharos shows are negotiated amounts drawn from the price files that hospitals and insurers are federally required to publish. They reflect what a plan and a facility have agreed a procedure costs, but they are not a bill and not a promise of what you will pay.

Your actual cost depends on your deductible, coinsurance, and remaining benefits, on the exact services performed on the day, and on details of your specific plan that the published files do not capture. The files are also a snapshot and can lag changes. Always confirm the price with the facility and your insurer before you schedule.

Pharos does not recommend a facility, a provider, or a course of care, and it cannot tell you what is right for your health or your finances. Decisions about where and whether to seek care belong with you, your referring provider, and your insurer. Price is one consideration among many, and the lowest number is not always the right choice.

Negotiated rates are assembled from federal hospital and insurer price-transparency filings, with rate data provided by Turquoise Health. Procedure and facility information draws on public federal datasets. We work to keep this accurate, but the underlying files contain errors and gaps we cannot fully resolve, so some facilities may be missing or carry no published price.

Pharos is a nonprofit research project offered free of charge and provided “as is,” without warranty. We make no guarantee that it is complete, current, or error-free, and we are not liable for decisions made in reliance on it. Use of Pharos is subject to these terms and to our privacy practices.