Healthcare consumers have a new tool to compare prices using data from some of the largest U.S. health insurers, but comparison shopping will remain a challenge for most.
On Wednesday the Health Care Cost Institute, a not-for-profit healthcare research organization, launched the first of two websites conceived to help consumers navigate prices for medical services. The website—named Guroo—allows consumers to search for average prices for 70 services across more than 300 hundred cities, 41 states, coastal California and the District of Columbia.
Prices are drawn from medical claims for 40 million Americans covered by Aetna, Assurant Health, Humana and UnitedHealthcare.
Consumers will be able to identify the low, average and high prices within each market, and they will see prices for all of the services to treat certain conditions, including office visits, laboratory and diagnostic tests, and other services in addition to the procedures themselves.
“HCCI is going to use this data to ultimately create a national source of truth for consumers,” said Tom Beauregard, executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group.
The new website comes amid a wave of healthcare price transparency tools developed by entrepreneurs, health insurers and states to give patients and employers more ability to shop around. Pricing tool Castlight Health went public roughly one year ago with a hugely successful initial public offering. (Wall Street has lost some of its enthusiasm recently, although the company has been adding customers and narrowing its losses.) A dozen states operate all-payer claims databases. Regulators, too, may use price data to challenge hospitals and doctors to justify wide differences in price.
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Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.
