This webinar, produced by Simple Healthcare for an audience of health system strategy teams, payer analytics professionals, and management consultants, provides a practical walkthrough of commercial rate benchmarking methodology and the most common analytical errors made by teams new to MRF-derived data. The session covers four core topics: data normalization and pre-processing requirements before benchmarking can begin; ghost rate identification and exclusion to ensure distributional analyses reflect actual market pricing; peer market and peer institution selection methodology for producing comparable benchmarks; and rate percentile interpretation in the context of contract negotiation and network strategy.
The webinar is designed for analysts and strategists who have a working understanding of healthcare payment structures but are new to the specific challenges of machine-readable file data. No prior experience with MRF processing is assumed. Speakers walk through concrete examples using de-identified CBSA-level data, illustrating the difference in analytical conclusions that result from applying rigorous vs. naive benchmarking approaches. Particular attention is given to the misinterpretation of simple CBSA medians as proxies for negotiation targets — a common mistake that fails to account for payer mix, case mix, and facility type variation. Attendees leave with a practical checklist of data quality checks and a framework for structuring benchmarking analyses appropriate to their specific use case.
The recorded session is approximately 75 minutes in length and includes a 20-minute Q&A segment addressing questions on topics including payer product type handling, outpatient rate benchmarking methodology, and integration of MRF benchmarks with claims-based analysis. The recording and accompanying slide deck are available on request to qualified organizations. To access the recording, contact Simple Healthcare at info@simplehc.com with a brief description of your organization and intended use case.