Health Care Cost Institute

What Health Care Cost Institute does

Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) is an independent, non-profit research institute founded in 2011 and headquartered in Washington, DC. It maintains what it describes as the most comprehensive multi-payer commercial claims dataset available to non-commercial users in the United States, covering approximately one-third of the employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) population — roughly 38 million lives and over 1.3 billion medical and pharmacy claims. Its published outputs draw on data contribution agreements with Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare.

HCCI's core product surface is built around four deliverables: (1) the annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report (HCCUR), tracking year-over-year and five-year spending and utilization trends in employer-sponsored insurance; (2) the Health Cost Landscape, an interactive metro- and state-level tool breaking spending into use, price, and service-mix components; (3) HealthPrices.org, a free consumer-facing price transparency resource; and (4) the ESI Data Access Hub, which licenses claims data to qualified academic researchers, policymakers, and non-profit organizations. Supplementary products include Health Care Vitals, the Healthy Marketplace Index (HMI), State Fact Sheets for all 50 states and DC, and Tableau Public dashboards.

HCCI operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit research institute, with revenue derived from data licensing to academic, policy, and non-profit users, plus foundation grants (notably Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funding the HMI project). The organization partners with the International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP) for international cost comparisons. Its distribution model combines direct licensing for data customers with free, self-serve public access for transparency tools, supported by content marketing through research publications, email newsletters, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, webinars, and Tableau Public dashboards.

Name

Health Care Cost Institute

Legal name

Health Care Cost Institute Inc.

Website

https://healthcostinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) is an independent, non-profit research institute founded in 2011 that maintains the most comprehensive multi-payer commercial claims dataset on the U.S. employer-sponsored insurance population and licenses it to academic, policy, and non-profit users.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Data Analytics

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAJAJAK

Healthcare Utilization, Claims & Administrative Data Analytics

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Health Statistics, Vital Records & Population Health Analytics

SECONDARYHLAJANAL

Economic Evaluation & Health Technology Assessment (Public Programs)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Health Program Evaluation & Surveillance

SECONDARYHLAJAJAD

Health Information Exchange & Public Health Data Integration

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Health Statistics, Vital Records & Population Health Analytics

Keywords

• Healthcare claims analytics
• Health cost research
• Commercial claims data
• Healthcare price transparency
• Health spending analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Data Licensing: License access to commercial claims data to academic researchers, policymakers, and non-profit organizations. This is the primary revenue stream supporting operations as a non-profit research institute.

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) licenses access to a multi-payer commercial claims dataset covering approximately one-third of the US employer-sponsored insurance population (38 million people, over 1.3 billion medical claims) to academic researchers, policymakers, and non-profit organizations. It also publishes independent research reports, interactive web tools (Health Cost Landscape, Health Care Vitals, HealthPrices.org), and state-level fact sheets analyzing US healthcare spending, prices, utilization, and market dynamics.

Product overview

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) is a non-profit, independent research organization that operates as a platform-plus-research institute model. Its core offerings include the Health Care Cost and Utilization Report (annual spending analysis), the Health Cost Landscape interactive web tool, the HealthPrices.org consumer transparency portal, and the ESI Data Access Hub for commercial claims data licensing. These products are supported by downloadable Data Tools and Tableau Public dashboards, with supplementary research products like the Healthy Marketplace Index and State Fact Sheets. The organization leverages unique medical and pharmacy claims data covering approximately one-third of the employer-sponsored insurance population in the U.S.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Health Cost Landscape: Interactive tool providing metro area and state-level data on healthcare spending, including use, prices, and mix of services
• Health Care Vitals
• HealthPrices.org
• Health Care Cost and Utilization Report (HCCUR)
• ESI Data Access Hub

Products and services

• Health Care Cost and Utilization Report (HCCUR) Annual report examining year-over-year and five-year cumulative trends in health care spending for individuals with employer-sponsored insurance, covering inpatient, outpatient, physician, and prescription drug services.
• Health Cost Landscape Interactive web tool providing metro area and state-level data on health care spending, breaking down factors that contribute to spending including use, prices, and mix of services across US metropolitan areas.
• HealthPrices.org Free patient-facing health care price transparency tool designed to help individuals understand and compare health care costs.
• Health Care Vitals Interactive tool providing data on health care costs and utilization metrics.
• ESI Data Access Hub Platform providing licensed access to HCCI's multi-payer commercial claims dataset covering one-third of the US employer-sponsored insurance population, made available to academic researchers, policymakers, and non-profit organizations.
• Data Tools Interactive tools and downloadable data sets including Tableau Public dashboards for visualizing health care spending and price information.
• Healthy Marketplace Index (HMI) Report examining relative health care prices in metropolitan areas, comparing commercial health care markets using price and utilization indices across 112 metropolitan areas.
• State Fact Sheets State-level data compilations summarizing health care cost trends and drivers for all 50 US states and DC.

Quantifiable outcome

• 88% of metropolitan areas were found to have highly or very highly concentrated hospital markets
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AetnacoreTechnology or IntegrationMajor insurance company contributing claims data to HCCI's multi-payer commercial claims dataset, enabling comprehensive analysis of healthcare spending for the commercially insured population.
• HumanacoreTechnology or IntegrationMajor insurance company contributing claims data to HCCI's multi-payer commercial claims dataset, enabling comprehensive analysis of healthcare spending for the commercially insured population.
• Kaiser PermanentecoreTechnology or IntegrationMajor insurance company contributing claims data to HCCI's multi-payer commercial claims dataset, enabling comprehensive analysis of healthcare spending for the commercially insured population.
• UnitedHealthcarecoreTechnology or IntegrationMajor insurance company contributing claims data to HCCI's multi-payer commercial claims dataset, enabling comprehensive analysis of healthcare spending for the commercially insured population.
• International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal health insurance executive network collaborating with HCCI on international healthcare cost comparison reports, comparing costs across nine countries.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Urban Institute: Non-profit policy research organization with a substantial Health Policy Center analyzing healthcare spending, insurance markets, and Medicare/Medicaid data, making it a strong comparable on mission and methodological depth.
• West Health: Family of non-profits focused on lowering healthcare costs for seniors and improving price transparency, with policy research and data work that overlaps HCCI's healthcare cost and transparency mission.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: Independent research institution with deep healthcare analytics capabilities, including claims-data studies for federal and state clients; comparable to HCCI in producing rigorous, third-party health services research products.
• The Commonwealth Fund: Private non-profit foundation focused on healthcare system performance, access, and cost in the US, publishing comparable health services research and policy briefs aimed at the same researcher, policymaker, and journalist audience as HCCI.
• KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation): Independent non-profit health policy research organization producing data, polling, and analysis on US healthcare—including the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker—overlapping directly with HCCI's mission of independent, data-driven healthcare cost research.

Broad incumbents

• Peterson Center on Healthcare: Non-profit foundation funding healthcare cost and performance research, including the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker; related mission and funding role to HCCI's research dissemination work.
• RAND Corporation: Large, well-established non-profit research institution with a broad portfolio that includes substantial health services research on costs, quality, and access—a broader incumbent with overlapping research methods and audiences.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Large non-profit policy research firm with extensive work on healthcare claims analysis, evaluation, and program assessment for federal and foundation clients; comparable on methodology and customer base.

Regional players

• Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC): Colorado-based non-profit administering the state's all-payer claims database (CO APCD) and producing healthcare cost and utilization analyses for regional audiences—a comparable but geographically focused claims-data research model.

Emerging players

• Health Affairs: Leading peer-reviewed health policy journal with affiliated research publications and data analyses; not a direct producer of claims data but an important adjacent venue and amplifier in the same healthcare cost research ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/healthcostinst
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/11240565

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Health Care Cost Institute