A failing file, and what fixing it looks like
This is the same sample file shown on our homepage, run through CMS's official validator — the open-source tool CMS publishes. Here's what failed, and what the corrected file returns. (Sample data; no real hospital is shown.)
CMS hpt-validator v2.5.0 · dictionary v3.0 Example — sample data
sample-community-hospital_standardcharges.csv
11 errors — does not pass CMS v3.0
- must have required property 'hospital_name' The file never states which hospital it belongs to.
- must have required property 'attestation' The sign-off by a senior official — usually the CEO — that CMS requires is missing entirely.
- must have required property 'type_2_npi' Missing the organizational NPI the 2026 rule added.
- payer-specific: median / 10th / 90th percentile allowed amounts missing The core 2026 requirement — figures that must be calculated from your 835 remittance data.
- header row does not match CMS v3.0 template The layout predates the current rule, so the whole file is unreadable to CMS's tooling.
…and 6 more. As published, this file fails the v3.0 format check that CMS's tooling enforces.
0 errors — passes the CMS v3.0 format check
- ✓hospital_name — present The file identifies the hospital, license, and location.
- ✓attestation — present The required statement is in place, ready for the senior official — usually the CEO — to stand behind.
- ✓type_2_npi — present The organizational NPI the 2026 rule added.
- ✓median / 10th / 90th percentile allowed amounts — present Calculated from the hospital's own 835 remittance data, the way the rule specifies.
- ✓v3.0 header layout — correct Readable by CMS's tooling, and by yours.
Same validator, same sample file. Every error you just saw is a solved problem — that's the service.
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