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About Healthcarebluebook.com
Begun by a team of E-Health experts, Healthcarebluebook.com is dedicated to helping people better manage
their healthcare by providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to shop for and receive a fair price
for their healthcare services.
The new web site, the first to offer pricing data for healthcare services on a national basis, provides
pricing and treatment information for surgery, hospital stays, doctor visits, medical tests and much more. It
allows people to search by type of doctor, procedure, hospital, and other criteria to find out what a fair
price for treatment is in their area. The Healthcare Blue Book fair price is based on an average of the negotiated
price that health plans pay to their network providers for a service in a specific market.
The Healthcare Blue Book also offers a customized application to employers that supports their
implementation and ongoing delivery of consumer directed benefits designs. The customized application uses
an employer’s medical claims data to provide employees and their dependents with information about what
in-network providers charge for medical services. The end result: The customized Healthcare Blue Book helps
create educated employees who can do a better job of managing their health at a price they can afford.
Why People Need Us
Prices for healthcare services or treatments can vary by thousands of dollars even in the same
market. As a result:
The uninsured are charged higher prices. In many cases, the uninsured pay higher prices for hospital
care, prescription drugs, doctor visits and other healthcare services than those with insurance. A study, From ‘Soak The Rich’ To ‘Soak The Poor’,
published in Health Affairs found that charges are often more than 2.5 times more
than what most health insurers actually paid. Deductibles are rising and people are paying more out-of-pocket. The National Survey of
Employer-Sponsored Health Plans conducted by Mercer, reported that in 2008 deductibles for Preferred
Provider Organizations (PPOs) doubled at many companies from $500 to $1,000, with the majority at the
higher number for the first time. Over 60% of employees with health insurance are enrolled in a PPO type
program. Prices vary widely for the same service. In-network providers, even within the same health
plan can have major variations in price for the same service. For example, in a 2008 analysis from the
Health as Human Capital Foundation, the cost of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) of the knee across six
local facilities was analyzed. The amounts paid to providers by the two health insurance companies
studied ranged from under $700 to more than $2,400 for the same service. The amount billed to insurance
companies (before discounts were applied) ranged from $1,100 to over $4,000.
Who Healthcarebluebook.com Can Help
According to the Census Bureau there are 45.7 million uninsured Americans. The
majority of these people are working. Here’s a list of who can benefit from the Healthcare Blue Book:
- Insured patients with high deductibles
- Patients with Health Savings Accounts
- People who are uninsured or underinsured
- Those who are recently unemployed and have lost their insurance
- Patients that need services not covered by their insurance
- Anyone who has to pay an out-of-pocket fee for a healthcare service.
Our Business Model
The Healthcare Blue Book fair price is the cash price that should be paid for a service or product at
the time of treatment. It is the payment amount that many high quality providers accept from insurance
companies as payment in full. The fair price is calculated from billing and medical payment data.
Healthcarebluebook.com is new, and as it grows, we envision a network that will help people learn about,
evaluate, price and select their healthcare options. Think of it as a site that will match patients with
qualified doctors and other providers who charge affordable prices. Models of this type of service in other
industries include Lending Tree (home loans), ServiceMagic (home improvement) and Expedia (travel).
How We’re Different
Healthcarebluebook.com is the first web site on the Internet today to help people price healthcare services
on a national basis. Our site is easy to use and delivers high quality information in plain language. We
explain medical terms and break down complex services so people can figure out what they need and what it
should cost. We promise to help people obtain the best medical care at a fair price.
CareOperative LLC provides the information, tools and processes that enable fair, upfront pricing for
healthcare services and products. As parent company of Healthcarebluebook.com, it is developing a consumer
friendly guide to find fair prices for healthcare services. Employers can use the Healthcare Blue Book to help
their employees more effectively manage the cost of their healthcare.
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