Search for medical procedure prices by code or description.
Use this for direct lookups when you know a CPT/HCPCS code (e.g. "70551")
or want to search by keyword (e.g. "MRI", "knee replacement").
For code-like queries → exact match on procedure code.
For text queries → searches code, description, and code_type fields.
Supports filtering by insurance payer, clinical setting, and location
(via zip code or lat/lng coordinates with a radius).
NOTE: Results are from US HOSPITALS only — not non-US providers, independent
imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), or other freestanding facilities.
Args:
query: CPT/HCPCS code (e.g. "70551") or text search (e.g. "MRI brain").
Must be at least 2 characters.
code_type: Filter by code type: "CPT", "HCPCS", "MS-DRG", "RC", etc.
hospital_id: Filter to a specific hospital (use the hospitals tool to find IDs).
payer_name: Filter by insurance payer name (e.g. "Blue Cross", "Aetna").
plan_name: Filter by plan name (e.g. "PPO", "HMO").
setting: Filter by clinical setting: "inpatient" or "outpatient".
zip_code: US zip code for geographic filtering (alternative to lat/lng).
lat: Latitude for geographic filtering (use with lng and radius_miles).
lng: Longitude for geographic filtering (use with lat and radius_miles).
radius_miles: Search radius in miles from the zip code or lat/lng location.
page: Page number (default 1).
page_size: Results per page (default 25, max 100).
Returns:
JSON with matching charge items including procedure codes, descriptions,
gross charges, cash prices, and negotiated rate ranges per hospital.
Only high-confidence results (with at least one usable price) are included.
Each result includes last_updated (ISO date of the per-hospital MRF ingest)
and mrf_date (ISO date the hospital self-reported in the MRF file).
When all results are filtered out, filtered_low_confidence=true is set
so the agent can say "no high-confidence prices found" rather than
asserting that no prices exist.