Ideon (formerly Vericred) is built for plan, network, and formulary data. PayerBenchmark is built for negotiated rate benchmarking — 2B+ CMS MRF rate rows, queryable via REST API in under 50ms.
| Feature | PayerBenchmark | Ideon (Vericred) |
|---|---|---|
| Negotiated Rate Data | ✔ 2B+ rate rows, all major payers | ~ Limited; not primary offering |
| Cross-Payer Benchmarks | ✔ p10–p90 percentiles via API | ✗ Not available |
| Insurance Plan Data | ✗ Not a primary offering | ✔ Core product — plan structures, benefits |
| Formulary Data | ✗ Not covered | ✔ Core product — drug formulary API |
| Provider Network Data | ~ Derived from rate row presence by NPI | ✔ Core product — structured network APIs |
| CMS MRF Rate Coverage | ✔ All 5 major payers, complete | ~ Selected payer data |
| OON Allowed Amounts | ✔ Full OON files, all payers | ✗ Not available |
| Query Latency | ✔ <50ms p99 | ~ Varies by endpoint |
| REST API + OpenAPI Spec | ✔ Full OpenAPI 3.1 spec + SDKs | ✔ REST API available |
| Monthly MRF-Aligned Refresh | ✔ Zero-downtime monthly CMS refresh | ~ Varies by data type |
| Primary Use Case | ✔ Negotiated rate benchmarking | ✔ Benefits platforms & marketplaces |
Ideon is the leading platform for plan structures, formularies, and network rosters — essential for benefits marketplaces. But if your use case is "what is Cigna's contracted rate for CPT 27447," PayerBenchmark is the answer, not Ideon.
The /v1/benchmarks endpoint returns p10–p90 percentiles computed from 2B+ actual contracted rate rows across all 5 major payers — for any CPT code. This capability doesn't exist anywhere in the Ideon product suite.
PayerBenchmark queries run against a pre-indexed columnar rate store. Filter by payer, network, NPI, CPT, and date range. Results in under 50ms at p99 — no polling, no pre-generation, no report queues.
Every in-network rate file and OON allowed-amount file published by Cigna, Aetna, UnitedHealth, BCBS, and Humana — ingested, normalized, and indexed monthly. 2B+ rate rows and counting.
Ideon tells you the plan structure and which providers are in-network. PayerBenchmark tells you what those in-network providers are actually paid. The two APIs solve adjacent problems — many teams use both.
Cursor-based paginated export across any payer, network, or CPT range. Load directly into Snowflake, BigQuery, or your data warehouse. Ideon is optimized for real-time plan lookups — PayerBenchmark handles bulk rate analytics too.
If you're using Ideon for plan and network data but relying on FAIR Health estimates or manual fee schedules for rate benchmarking, PayerBenchmark fills that gap with actual contracted rates.
Sign up for PayerBenchmark API access — no enterprise contract required for standard tiers. Test against your CPT code list and NPI set from Ideon's network data.
Use NPIs from Ideon's network participation data as input to PayerBenchmark's /v1/rates?npi=<NPI>. You'll get the actual contracted rate for each in-network provider — not just confirmation that they're in-network.
Augment your cost estimator or benefits platform with real market percentiles from /v1/benchmarks. Show users not just "estimated cost" but where that cost sits relative to the p50 and p90 for that procedure.
Ideon gives you the plan and network layer. PayerBenchmark adds the rate layer — actual contracted rates from CMS MRFs, benchmarked across all major payers, via a sub-50ms API.