Data Methodology
How we collect, verify, normalise, and model medical cost data so you can compare hospitals across the globe with confidence.
Last updated: February 2026
Our 4-Step Data Pipeline
Collection
We collect procedure cost data from hospital billing offices, international patient coordinators, verified patient reports, published healthcare indices (WHO, OECD, local ministries), and licensed third-party data providers. Sources are logged and date-stamped for traceability.
Verification
Each data point is cross-referenced against at least one secondary source. Data points with no corroboration are either flagged as 'estimated' or excluded. Patient-submitted costs go through an additional photo verification and medical team review before being incorporated.
Normalisation
All costs are converted to USD using live exchange rates fetched daily from a reliable forex API. We apply purchasing power parity (PPP) adjustments for research publications, but display simple converted prices on public-facing pages for clarity.
Modelling & Refresh
Hospitals without direct pricing data receive AI-modelled estimates based on country cost indices, procedure complexity scores, and peer hospital pricing. These are clearly labelled '* Est. based on AI modeling'. Data is reviewed quarterly or when significant currency/market shifts are detected.
AI Safeguards — How We Prevent Hallucinations
Our AI content generation system uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). This means the model never invents statistics — all numerical claims are pulled directly from our Postgres database and injected into the prompt context.
Database-bound figures
Cost ranges, accreditation counts, bed capacity — all sourced from structured records, not model weights.
Confidence thresholds
If a data field has insufficient verification confidence, the model is instructed to omit it rather than estimate.
Post-generation validation
Generated content is scanned for numeric patterns and cross-checked against source data before storage.
Human audit loops
Our editorial team reviews flagged pages monthly and after any major database refresh.
Coverage & Limitations
We currently cover 50+ countries and 200+ medical procedures. However, direct hospital records are only available for a subset of hospitals. The following labels appear on the site to indicate data quality:
Direct cost confirmed with hospital billing. Most reliable.
Derived from regional indices or peer hospital data using our modelling pipeline.
No pricing data available. We recommend contacting the hospital directly.