Open & Analyze Hospital Machine-Readable Files (MRFs)

Hospital Machine-Readable Files (MRFs) are rich sources of pricing data, but are complex and can be inconsistently formatted. Gigasheet makes it possible to explore these large datasets directly, without code or special tools. This guide explains how to upload and prepare hospital MRFs for analysis in Gigasheet.

Note: Gigasheet Premium Individual supports CSVs from 25M-75M rows. For JSON support you'll need a Gigasheet for Price Transparency or MRF Explorer license. 

Step 1: Upload the File

You can load hospital MRFs into Gigasheet in two ways:

Option 1: Upload a downloaded file

1. Download the hospital’s MRF from their transparency site (often labeled as “Standard Charges” or “Negotiated Rates”).

2. In Gigasheet, click Upload File on your dashboard.

3. Drag and drop the downloaded file, or select it from your local computer.
   
   

Option 2: Load directly from a link

1. Copy the public URL of the hospital’s MRF (the direct link to the .csv, .json, or .json.gz file).

2. In Gigasheet, choose Upload from URL and paste the link.

3. Click Upload to begin processing.
   
   

Both methods will automatically parse and prepare the data for viewing once loaded.

Step 2: Handling CSV Files

Most hospital MRFs provided in CSV format should parse correctly on upload. However, depending on the hospital’s formatting, you might need to adjust the header rows.

• In some cases, the first row of the file may not contain column headers (e.g., when there’s extra metadata at the top).

• If the data looks misaligned or columns are unnamed, use the Set First Row as Header option in Gigasheet.

• You may need to apply this more than once (typically twice) until the appropriate column names appear.

Once the headers are aligned, you can filter, group, and search across columns like CPT code, payer, and negotiated rate.

Step 3: Handling JSON Files

Hospital MRFs in JSON format are usually more complex but offer richer detail. Gigasheet automatically parses JSON hospital files into tabular format, expanding nested structures for easier exploration.

Because there’s no consistent standard for JSON hospital files, some uploads may need light adjustments:

• If column names appear missing or duplicated, try Set First Row as Header to realign the fields.

• In rare cases, you may need to adjust which array or object Gigasheet uses as the root table. (If this happens, contact Gigasheet Support and we’ll help identify the correct level.)

Once parsed, you can use Gigasheet’s filtering and search tools to analyze rates by payer, code, or service description.

Step 4: Explore and Analyze

After the MRF loads correctly:

• Use Filter to narrow by payer, code type, or location.

• Use Group and Aggregate to compare average negotiated rates across plans or hospitals.

• Export filtered results for reporting or visualization in other tools.

Notes

• Some hospitals publish extremely large MRFs (hundreds of millions of rows). For these, consider using a Gigasheet for Price Transparency plan for faster processing and additional capacity.

• If a file fails to parse, you can contact Support with the hospital name and URL, and we’ll help identify the issue.

Gigasheet allows you to turn messy, complex hospital MRFs into clean, structured spreadsheets that are ready for exploration. No SQL, scripts, or database setup required.