Health Insurance Daily

Two Insurers Make Health Care Prices Visible

Two Midwestern health insurers are laying detailed medical pricing information on the table for patients to inspect and compare, a practice that's relatively uncommon in the industry.

HealthPartners publishes data showing which clinics or hospitals are in the high or low price ranges for X-rays, blood tests, surgeries and other procedures. It also uses patient surveys to rank doctors and hospitals in quality, and then pairs the quality rankings with the cost information to identify providers that might offer the best value for patients.

"We feel it's important for them to see the information that's relevant to them" within a specific region, says Scott Aebischer, senior vice president for customer service. "We've got a lot of work to do [on educating consumers]." The Bloomington, Minn.-based insurer serves 630,000 members.

Likewise, Preferred One tells patients their previous claim costs, general price ranges for various procedures or services, and what providers within a certain ZIP code charge. Eugene Sako, manager of product development, says this helps Preferred One in its negotiations with providers, since they know their patients will see price comparisons.

Preferred One says health care utilization has dropped since it started providing price transparency one year ago. The Golden Valley, Minn.-based insurer has about 180,000 members.

Article provided by Benefit News, November 10, 2005.

posted by Mike @ 10:45 AM