Check out this release:
"Chicago, IL, April 30, 2008 – OutofPocket.com, a technology startup dedicated to promoting health care transparency and competition, announced today the launch of its new search engine. The search engine enables consumers to look up prices and comparison shop for health care services by searching for price data across different websites. OutofPocket.com launched an earlier version of their website in July 2007 which provided consumers with a platform to collaborate and expose the true prices of routine health care services. With the addition of the new search engine, the enhanced website collects health care price data from multiple sources including provider price lists, consumer contributed content, claims data from businesses, Government CMS Medicare data, websites that publish health care prices (hospitals, diagnostic testing facilities, clinics, labs, physician practices), and price transparency tools on public websites.
"Consumers need to know the true price upfront before purchasing health care services. After researching the basic price transparency tools that are available today from providers, health plans, vendor tools and state initiatives, it was obvious that the industry lacks a robust search tool that summarizes price data across different sources," said Mona Lori, founder of OutofPocket.com. Using collaboration to bring price transparency to health care, OutofPocket.com emerges as a leader in exposing true prices for routine health care services using intelligent search technologies.
Health care costs continue to rise each year. Consumers are paying more of their own health care costs in the form of higher premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses for health care. Increasingly, businesses and individuals, in an effort to control health care costs, are adopting consumer driven health plans. These plans have proven effective in controlling costs; however, in order for these plans to be successful, consumers need access to meaningful tools to help them make informed decisions before purchasing health care services."
-Max Borders
In North Carolina, both Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Healthcare have a reimbursement schedule for providers, even in their HSA plans. This means the consumer has no incentive to comparison shop based on price. And this effectively undercuts one of the main ways HSA plans can help reduce future premium increases and hold down costs.
Max,
Thank you for posting about our new release of OutofPocket.com. We hope to get the word out about this consumer price transparency tool to help the uninsured, under-insured and insured with high-deductible plans that have a financial incentive to shop around for the best value.
Mona Lori