Elisabeth Leamy who is the Consumer Correspondent for the Good Morning America show has a new book out called Save Big.
In addition to tips on expenses around housing, transportation, loans and grocery shopping, she has an entire section devoted to healthcare costs.
It is definitely worth reading and can help consumers with health insurance suggestions as well as suggestions for finding care and prescriptions.
Not surprisingly she recommends negotiating with your doctor.
We were glad to see that she suggested using The Healthcare Blue Book as a great place to find out how much your care should cost. As Leamy reports, the Healthcare Blue Book's fair price is "a great starting point for discussion- and negotiation."
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Why do we pay more money without getting better quality care?
Value is one of the most important missing topics in the health reform debate.
We might not be so concerned with how much health care costs or how much of our national budget gets devoted to health care, IF we felt we were getting good value for our money. But the fact is that we all know we aren't getting a good value. We see prices continue to rise faster than inflation and very often that is accompanied with lower levels of service, less time with our doctors, etc.
There have been some studies focused squarely on this issue. I have commented before on the Health Affairs article last year.
Now comes a nice report from Massachusetts that examined the costs of healthcare and how they relate to quality.
What did they find?
Their preliminary review revealed serious system-wide failings in the commercial health care marketplace which, if unaddressed, imperil access to affordable, quality health care.
Their investigation has shown:
- Prices paid by health insurance companies to hospitals and physician groups vary significantly within the same geographic area and amongst providers offering similar levels of service.
- Price variations are not correlated to (1) quality of care, (2) the sickness or
complexity of the population being served, (3) the extent to which a provider is
responsible for caring for a large portion of patients on Medicare or Medicaid, or (4) whether a provider is an academic teaching or research facility. Moreover, (5) price variations are not adequately explained by differences in hospital costs of delivering similar services at similar facilities.
At The Healthcare Blue Book our work with employers reveals this fact frequently. We routinely see employees paying 500% more than necessary for common services while getting no better (and sometimes lower) quality of care. These are prices paid to in-network providers; and prices that ultimately are paid for by the employer under their health benefit costs.
The more research the better, but each study points in the same direction: there is a lot of opportunity for employers and employees to lower costs and raise quality.
We might not be so concerned with how much health care costs or how much of our national budget gets devoted to health care, IF we felt we were getting good value for our money. But the fact is that we all know we aren't getting a good value. We see prices continue to rise faster than inflation and very often that is accompanied with lower levels of service, less time with our doctors, etc.
There have been some studies focused squarely on this issue. I have commented before on the Health Affairs article last year.
Now comes a nice report from Massachusetts that examined the costs of healthcare and how they relate to quality.
What did they find?
Their preliminary review revealed serious system-wide failings in the commercial health care marketplace which, if unaddressed, imperil access to affordable, quality health care.
Their investigation has shown:
- Prices paid by health insurance companies to hospitals and physician groups vary significantly within the same geographic area and amongst providers offering similar levels of service.
- Price variations are not correlated to (1) quality of care, (2) the sickness or
complexity of the population being served, (3) the extent to which a provider is
responsible for caring for a large portion of patients on Medicare or Medicaid, or (4) whether a provider is an academic teaching or research facility. Moreover, (5) price variations are not adequately explained by differences in hospital costs of delivering similar services at similar facilities.
At The Healthcare Blue Book our work with employers reveals this fact frequently. We routinely see employees paying 500% more than necessary for common services while getting no better (and sometimes lower) quality of care. These are prices paid to in-network providers; and prices that ultimately are paid for by the employer under their health benefit costs.
The more research the better, but each study points in the same direction: there is a lot of opportunity for employers and employees to lower costs and raise quality.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care
People are always comparing the health care system to other industries.... Well now you can watch the movie.
Check out this video, you may not know whether to laugh or cry.
Of course they highlight the issues of transparency and the challenges faced by consumers in having to work with multiple providers to get a single service.
The Healthcare Blue Book is working to solve both of these problems. Maybe if all the CEOs working in the healthcare system would watch this video, they could find a little motivation to cooperate in solving these issues.
Check out this video, you may not know whether to laugh or cry.
Of course they highlight the issues of transparency and the challenges faced by consumers in having to work with multiple providers to get a single service.
The Healthcare Blue Book is working to solve both of these problems. Maybe if all the CEOs working in the healthcare system would watch this video, they could find a little motivation to cooperate in solving these issues.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
How Much Will Your Surgery Cost? Hospitals Can’t Tell You
Press Release regarding Healthcare Blue Book Survey: How Much Will Your Surgery Cost? Hospitals Can’t Tell You
Washington, DC. -- Patients are the losers in both the Democrat and Republican versions of the health care reform bills. Proposed health care reform won’t help patients find out how much health care costs before they get care and many hospitals aren’t set up to help.
A new research paper from The Healthcare Blue Book (www.healthcarebluebook.com) entitled Surgery Pricing Secrets: The Challenges Patients Face, shows that it is almost impossible to get prices ahead of time if a patient plans to have surgery in a hospital.
Healthcare Blue Book researchers found that:
• It took three times as many phone calls and four times as long to get pricing information from a hospital.
• Hospitals would not provide guaranteed prices and price ranges often varied by more than 100%.
• ASCs were more likely to discount prices for cash customers; regardless of the patient’s financial status.
• Facility fees are 3-4 times higher in a hospital than in an ASC.
Healthcare Blue Book researchers contacted hospitals and ambulatory care centers (ASCs) in three markets: Raleigh-Durham, NC; Denver, CO; and Portland, OR. Hospitals and ASCs were asked to provide the costs of an anterior cruciate ligament surgery of the knee for a patient without health insurance.
Queries were primarily about facility fees, but researchers also asked respondents about other fees associated with the surgery.
It’s almost certain health care expenditures, which totaled about $2.5 trillion in 2009, will continue to climb by at least 6% a year. Hospital costs are 31% of the total according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. So what are health care consumers going to do?
The Healthcare Blue Book, an Internet content provider, offers a free consumer guide to fair pricing for healthcare treatments and services for local markets at www.healthcarebluebook.com.
“One of the main tenets of successful healthcare reform will be patients taking more responsibility for finding out what their care costs as they make treatment decisions,” said Dr. Jeffrey Rice, Healthcare Blue Book CEO, and white paper author. “But until hospitals are able to provide exact pricing, managing out of pocket costs for both insured and self-pay patients is almost impossible.”
For a free copy Surgery Pricing Secrets: The Challenges Patients Face go here.
Washington, DC. -- Patients are the losers in both the Democrat and Republican versions of the health care reform bills. Proposed health care reform won’t help patients find out how much health care costs before they get care and many hospitals aren’t set up to help.
A new research paper from The Healthcare Blue Book (www.healthcarebluebook.com) entitled Surgery Pricing Secrets: The Challenges Patients Face, shows that it is almost impossible to get prices ahead of time if a patient plans to have surgery in a hospital.
Healthcare Blue Book researchers found that:
• It took three times as many phone calls and four times as long to get pricing information from a hospital.
• Hospitals would not provide guaranteed prices and price ranges often varied by more than 100%.
• ASCs were more likely to discount prices for cash customers; regardless of the patient’s financial status.
• Facility fees are 3-4 times higher in a hospital than in an ASC.
Healthcare Blue Book researchers contacted hospitals and ambulatory care centers (ASCs) in three markets: Raleigh-Durham, NC; Denver, CO; and Portland, OR. Hospitals and ASCs were asked to provide the costs of an anterior cruciate ligament surgery of the knee for a patient without health insurance.
Queries were primarily about facility fees, but researchers also asked respondents about other fees associated with the surgery.
It’s almost certain health care expenditures, which totaled about $2.5 trillion in 2009, will continue to climb by at least 6% a year. Hospital costs are 31% of the total according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. So what are health care consumers going to do?
The Healthcare Blue Book, an Internet content provider, offers a free consumer guide to fair pricing for healthcare treatments and services for local markets at www.healthcarebluebook.com.
“One of the main tenets of successful healthcare reform will be patients taking more responsibility for finding out what their care costs as they make treatment decisions,” said Dr. Jeffrey Rice, Healthcare Blue Book CEO, and white paper author. “But until hospitals are able to provide exact pricing, managing out of pocket costs for both insured and self-pay patients is almost impossible.”
For a free copy Surgery Pricing Secrets: The Challenges Patients Face go here.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Cut Your Health Care Costs Now!
Cut Your Health Care Costs Now! is a new book by Brandi Funk, FNP-C that I just had the opportunity to review.
Brandi Funk is a board certified family nurse practitioner and health care advocate. With 15 years of experience helping patients, she as a lot to offer in her book.
Her book begins with suggestions for buying health insurance. Most importantly are the check lists to make sure your coverage will actually cover you.
She next shares useful tips on using your insurance. The book has lots of tips for traditional insurance and also for using Medicare. While many readers may have traditional insurance, they may also be helping their parents with issues involving Medicare.
Healthcare Blue Book is focused on helping patients get quality care at affordable prices. Cut Your Health Care Costs Now! offers many suggestions to patients on how to save on health care expenses and prescription drugs. Of course, one of my favorite tips in the book is "Negotiate Your Price First". As we see every day, once a patient gets care; it is very difficult to lower the final bill. However, patients can save $100's or even $1000's if they know to ask about prices first. Often they improve the quality of their care too.
Cut Your Health Care Costs Now! has many other tips for consumers. It is well worth your time and I imagine that most consumers will save a lot more than the book costs. A book that pays for itself, how can you beat that?
The book is provided as an e-book. One neat thing about the e-book format is the fact that you can directly link to valuable resources provided in the book. Ms. Funk has excellent reference sources, lists, and content links throughout the book.
You can find the book here.
Brandi Funk is a board certified family nurse practitioner and health care advocate. With 15 years of experience helping patients, she as a lot to offer in her book.
Her book begins with suggestions for buying health insurance. Most importantly are the check lists to make sure your coverage will actually cover you.
She next shares useful tips on using your insurance. The book has lots of tips for traditional insurance and also for using Medicare. While many readers may have traditional insurance, they may also be helping their parents with issues involving Medicare.
Healthcare Blue Book is focused on helping patients get quality care at affordable prices. Cut Your Health Care Costs Now! offers many suggestions to patients on how to save on health care expenses and prescription drugs. Of course, one of my favorite tips in the book is "Negotiate Your Price First". As we see every day, once a patient gets care; it is very difficult to lower the final bill. However, patients can save $100's or even $1000's if they know to ask about prices first. Often they improve the quality of their care too.
Cut Your Health Care Costs Now! has many other tips for consumers. It is well worth your time and I imagine that most consumers will save a lot more than the book costs. A book that pays for itself, how can you beat that?
The book is provided as an e-book. One neat thing about the e-book format is the fact that you can directly link to valuable resources provided in the book. Ms. Funk has excellent reference sources, lists, and content links throughout the book.
You can find the book here.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The People's Health Care Reform Plan
I just received an article by Dr. Bradley Hennenfent: The People's Health care Reform Plan.
The Plan starts off like this:
+++++++++++
Let's be part of the Health Care Reform solution. Let's distribute a plan that empowers patients, doctors, and nurses, which everyone can understand. The People's Health Care Reform Plan will make PATIENTS MORE POWERFUL, and the Government, corporations, and insurance companies (crony capitalism) less powerful. This plan will reduce costs, increase access, and save the most lives. It's also simple.
SHORT VERSION OF THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH CARE REFORM PLAN
1. Tell us patients what everything costs - no more secrets.
2. Give doctors, nurses, and allied health care professionals social networking so they can tell us everything they know.
3. Tort Reform.
4. Distribute The People's Health Care Reform Plan to everyone in America and around the World via Facebook, E-mail, etc.
PATIENTS GETTING CONTROL OF PRICES
Congress must facilitate that patients be told the price of everything in health care in advance, except in true emergencies, or they do not have to pay.
Patients cannot spend money from Medicare, Medicaid, Insurance Companies, Unions, or their own money, wisely if they do not know what anything costs. It's these hidden prices that cause monopolies that drive up our prices and result in unsavory backroom political deals. It's not knowing the price of anything that enables Medicare, Medicaid, and corporate fraud to occur so easily. How can we know if we are overcharged if we never know what anything costs in the first place? How can we revolutionize health care if we don't know what costs too much? We need to know the prices.
+++++++++++
The plan goes on to include aspects of getting more information to patients via technology and clinician input; tort reform; putting more power with patients and direct care providers; and finally a plan to get the plan out.
You can read the entire plan at Dr. Hennenfent's FaceBook.
It is easy to support pricing transparency and some of the other concepts in the plan. Healthcare Blue Book provides nice technology that helps patients with comparison pricing.
So what do you think about the Dr. Hennenfent's plan?
The bigger question to me, is why is it left to individuals to promote common sense solutions that would actually help reform the health system?
The Plan starts off like this:
+++++++++++
Let's be part of the Health Care Reform solution. Let's distribute a plan that empowers patients, doctors, and nurses, which everyone can understand. The People's Health Care Reform Plan will make PATIENTS MORE POWERFUL, and the Government, corporations, and insurance companies (crony capitalism) less powerful. This plan will reduce costs, increase access, and save the most lives. It's also simple.
SHORT VERSION OF THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH CARE REFORM PLAN
1. Tell us patients what everything costs - no more secrets.
2. Give doctors, nurses, and allied health care professionals social networking so they can tell us everything they know.
3. Tort Reform.
4. Distribute The People's Health Care Reform Plan to everyone in America and around the World via Facebook, E-mail, etc.
PATIENTS GETTING CONTROL OF PRICES
Congress must facilitate that patients be told the price of everything in health care in advance, except in true emergencies, or they do not have to pay.
Patients cannot spend money from Medicare, Medicaid, Insurance Companies, Unions, or their own money, wisely if they do not know what anything costs. It's these hidden prices that cause monopolies that drive up our prices and result in unsavory backroom political deals. It's not knowing the price of anything that enables Medicare, Medicaid, and corporate fraud to occur so easily. How can we know if we are overcharged if we never know what anything costs in the first place? How can we revolutionize health care if we don't know what costs too much? We need to know the prices.
+++++++++++
The plan goes on to include aspects of getting more information to patients via technology and clinician input; tort reform; putting more power with patients and direct care providers; and finally a plan to get the plan out.
You can read the entire plan at Dr. Hennenfent's FaceBook.
It is easy to support pricing transparency and some of the other concepts in the plan. Healthcare Blue Book provides nice technology that helps patients with comparison pricing.
So what do you think about the Dr. Hennenfent's plan?
The bigger question to me, is why is it left to individuals to promote common sense solutions that would actually help reform the health system?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Marathon Health and Healthcarebluebook.com Join Forces to Help Employers Reduce Healthcare Costs
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Marathon Health and Healthcarebluebook.com today announced a co-marketing agreement to bring new consumer education and healthcare price transparency tools to employers with consumer directed health plans (CDHP) or high deductible health plans (HDHP).
The joint offering extends Marathon Health’s onsite clinic capabilities by helping employees with significant out of pocket expenses make informed, cost conscious decisions on treatment. Both onsite clinicians and employees will have access to the Healthcare Blue Book’s education and healthcare price transparency tool. Marathon Health clinic patients can access the Blue Book tool directly from the Marathon eHealth Portal, or work with their onsite clinician to consider treatment options, understand out of pocket costs, and make smarter, more affordable treatment choices when seeking care outside the clinic setting.
“Price shopping for healthcare services can be time consuming and frustrating,” said Marathon Health CEO Jerry Ford. “Our co-marketing agreement with Healthcare Blue Book will help us provide a virtual ‘safety net’ for the employees with high deductible plans who require greater access to cost and care details. This addition to our technology platform will ensure our patients have the information they need when making care decisions.”
The relationship enhances Marathon Health’s value proposition for employers who offer CDHPs by bringing timely consumer decision support to the point of care. The joint offering fills a recognized gap in employers’ consumer tool set, and helps both employee and employer save money through better use of their existing provider options.
“Marathon Health and Healthcarebluebook.com are innovative companies creating new models for delivering high-quality healthcare at a fair price,” said Healthcarebluebook.com CEO, Dr. Jeffrey Rice. “Joining forces will help us create systems that can benefit employers and employees through improved access to high-quality, cost-effective care.”
About Marathon Health
Marathon Health of Colchester, VT, offers a proven solution for helping employers reduce the total cost of healthcare. The Marathon Health approach integrates the best practices of onsite primary care, health assessment with risk identification, coaching and advocacy, and disease management for high cost chronic conditions. Marathon Health supports its unique model with an eHealth Portal delivering medical content, interactive diet and fitness tools, a personal health record, and an electronic medical record to manage care. www.marathon-health.com.
About the Healthcare Blue Book
Healthcarebluebook.com, headquartered in Nashville, TN, is a healthcare pricing tool that helps consumers and companies determine what fair prices are for healthcare services and treatments in their markets. The www.healthcarebluebook.com web site can be customized to employer needs by offering information that allows employees to identify lower cost and high quality providers within their existing employer-sponsored health plan.
The joint offering extends Marathon Health’s onsite clinic capabilities by helping employees with significant out of pocket expenses make informed, cost conscious decisions on treatment. Both onsite clinicians and employees will have access to the Healthcare Blue Book’s education and healthcare price transparency tool. Marathon Health clinic patients can access the Blue Book tool directly from the Marathon eHealth Portal, or work with their onsite clinician to consider treatment options, understand out of pocket costs, and make smarter, more affordable treatment choices when seeking care outside the clinic setting.
“Price shopping for healthcare services can be time consuming and frustrating,” said Marathon Health CEO Jerry Ford. “Our co-marketing agreement with Healthcare Blue Book will help us provide a virtual ‘safety net’ for the employees with high deductible plans who require greater access to cost and care details. This addition to our technology platform will ensure our patients have the information they need when making care decisions.”
The relationship enhances Marathon Health’s value proposition for employers who offer CDHPs by bringing timely consumer decision support to the point of care. The joint offering fills a recognized gap in employers’ consumer tool set, and helps both employee and employer save money through better use of their existing provider options.
“Marathon Health and Healthcarebluebook.com are innovative companies creating new models for delivering high-quality healthcare at a fair price,” said Healthcarebluebook.com CEO, Dr. Jeffrey Rice. “Joining forces will help us create systems that can benefit employers and employees through improved access to high-quality, cost-effective care.”
About Marathon Health
Marathon Health of Colchester, VT, offers a proven solution for helping employers reduce the total cost of healthcare. The Marathon Health approach integrates the best practices of onsite primary care, health assessment with risk identification, coaching and advocacy, and disease management for high cost chronic conditions. Marathon Health supports its unique model with an eHealth Portal delivering medical content, interactive diet and fitness tools, a personal health record, and an electronic medical record to manage care. www.marathon-health.com.
About the Healthcare Blue Book
Healthcarebluebook.com, headquartered in Nashville, TN, is a healthcare pricing tool that helps consumers and companies determine what fair prices are for healthcare services and treatments in their markets. The www.healthcarebluebook.com web site can be customized to employer needs by offering information that allows employees to identify lower cost and high quality providers within their existing employer-sponsored health plan.
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