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.