# state_expert

State Expert · v1.2.1 · curated

The callable STATE EXPERT — the data-availability + regulation X-ray for a US state. Given a 2-letter state code (e.g. 'CT'), returns: (1) DATA AVAILABILITY — how many hospitals are priced, total price rows, distinct billing codes, care sites mapped, and payers with resolved coverage; (2) the REGULATION object — the rules of the game in that state (transparency regime, required disclosures, public datasets like an APCD or rate-setting authority, and the completeness bar); and (3) the computed GAPS — required-or-known datasets we have NOT yet ingested (e.g. a mandatory APCD), so absence is reported as gap-vs-expected, not silently. This is the 'what data do we have in this state, what is required here, and what is missing' entry a higher-level agent or operator reasons over. Because hospital pricing is a NATIONAL substrate, a state can show many hospitals priced even before its county map is built (e.g. MD). Stateless + state-parameterized: one runtime serves every state. To price a code across the state's hospitals, call compare_hospital_rates. SOURCE: curated hospital chargemaster + care-site registry + the state-regulation object. KNOWLEDGE (1.2.0): every answer lists the state's Marketplace and Medicaid knowledge pages (the States lane's per-state pages: regulators, what the state publishes, the rules, the plans) with their sections; pass page='marketplace' or 'medicaid' (and optionally section='<heading text>') to read one. Pages exist for states hospital rules do not yet cover, so a found=false answer can still carry them.

**Inputs.**
- `state_code` (required): 2-letter USPS state code, e.g. 'CT' (fully built) or 'MD' (hospital pricing present in the national substrate; county map not yet built).
- `page`: Return the state's knowledge page for this line in full: 'marketplace' (who regulates the individual market, what the state publishes, rate review, the issuers) or 'medicaid' (the program, its plans, procurements, rate setting, what the state publishes). Omit for the profile; every answer lists the pages and their sections under knowledge.
- `section`: With page: return only the section whose heading contains this text (case-insensitive), e.g. 'Who publishes what'. The section list is under knowledge.<line>.sections.

**Known limits.**
- regulation_object_is_seed_not_yet_dim_state_regulation
- freshness_not_yet_tracked_pending_refresh_cascade
- county_map_built_for_CT_only

**A real answer** (customer seat, 5.36 s, args `{"state_code":"CT"}`):

```json
{
 "value": {
  "state_code": "CT",
  "state_name": "Connecticut",
  "found": true,
  "fips": "09",
  "data_availability": {
   "hospitals_priced": 39,
   "hospital_price_rows": 42731575,
   "distinct_billing_codes": 110242,
   "care_sites_mapped": 19400,
   "care_sites_verified": 441,
   "payers_with_coverage": 36
  },
  "regulation": {
   "transparency_regime": "state-plus",
   "required_disclosures": [
    {
     "name": "hospital_hpt",
     "authority": "federal CMS HPT rule"
    },
    {
     "name": "payer_tic",
     "authority": "federal TiC rule"
    }
   ],
   "public_datasets": [
    {
     "name": "CT APCD",
     "kind": "all_payer_claims_database",
     "status": "mandatory",
     "ingested": false,
     "note": "CT runs a mandatory APCD (CT Office of Health Strategy) \u2014 richer than MRFs; not yet ingested = known gap"
    },
    {
     "name": "CT DOI rate filings",
     "kind": "doi_rate_filings",
     "status": "public",
     "ingested": false
    },
    {
     "name": "CHIME / hospital reporting",
     "kind": "state_hospital_reports",
     "status": "public",
     "ingested": false
    }
   ],
   "apcd_status": "mandatory",
   "completeness_bar": "all CT acute hospitals priced (HPT) + dominant carriers built (TiC) + APCD ingested for the claims-grounded layer",
   "source_urls": [
    "https://portal.ct.gov/ohs"
   ],
   "reviewed_by": "seed_2026-06-21"
  },
  "gaps": [
   {
    "item": "CT APCD",
    "kind": "all_payer_claims_database",
    "severity": "known_gap",
    "detail": "CT runs a mandatory APCD (CT Office of Health Strategy) \u2014 richer than MRFs; not yet ingested = known gap"
   },
   {
    "item": "CT DOI rate filings",
    "kind": "doi_rate_filings",
    "severity": "known_gap",
    "detail": "exists but not ingested"
   },
   {
    "item": "CHIME / hospital reporting",
    "kind": "state_hospital_reports",
    "severity": "known_gap",
    "detail": "exists but not ingested"
   }
  ],
  "freshness": {
   "last_verified_at": null,
   "status": "not_yet_tracked"
  },
  "caveats": [],
  "knowledge": {
   "marketplace": {
    "available": false
   },
   "medicaid": {
    "available": false
   }
  }
 },
 "unit": "profile",
 "vintage": "as_built",
 "source": {
  "dataset": "Hospital Price Transparency machine-readable standard-charges files",
  "publisher": "cms",
  "catalog_updated_at": "2026-05-28"
 },
 "caveats": [],
 "response_hash": "bed64dbd8b60f5de3455aa9f93d25a598e89bd7b2f0600d06b24c767a2ae8bea",
 "semantic_version": 1,
 "tool_version": "1.2.1",
 "explanation": null,
 "status": "complete",
 "audience": "customer",
 "answer": {
  "value_ref": "value",
  "unit": "profile",
  "scope": {
   "tool": "state_expert",
   "filters": {
    "state_code": "CT"
   }
  }
 },
 "method": "Computed over the filters shown in this answer's scope, from the sources listed in its evidence. Nothing outside those filters was included.",
 "evidence": {
  "sources": [
   {
    "dataset": "Hospital Price Transparency machine-readable standard-charges files",
    "publisher": "cms",
    "catalog_updated_at": "2026-05-28"
   }
  ],
  "response_hash": "bed64dbd8b60f5de3455aa9f93d25a598e89bd7b2f0600d06b24c767a2ae8bea"
 }
}
```

REST: `POST https://api.vladahealth.com/v1/tools/state_expert` with the inputs as the JSON body. MCP: the tool by name.