• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

Wellpoint partners with four health plans on cost transparency program

Article

Health insurer Wellpoint plans to collaborate with health plans in four states on a new online cost transparency initiative.

Health insurer Wellpoint plans to collaborate with health plans in four states on a new online cost transparency initiative.

The initiative calls for the health plans to list total estimated cost ranges associated with 39 specific medical procedures performed at hospitals, outpatient surgery centers or other medical facilities, according to a statement from Wellpoint. The estimated cost ranges will be calculated by combining related services typically performed at the time of the procedure, not just the procedure itself, Wellpoint says.

The cost data is designed to help patients comparison shop among local healthcare providers at a “facility-specific” level, according to Wellpoint.

The four plans, like Wellpoint are “independent licensees” of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, a group of health plans across the nation. The four participating plans are: Highmark, in Pennsylvania; Premera Blue Cross, in Washington; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

The health plans will release the cost information on their websites later this year, a Wellpoint spokesman said.

The cost information is based on each health plans’ claims-paid data over the past 12 months. The information will be updated every six months, according to Wellpoint.

“An essential step in transforming consumers’ role in their own healthcare decisions is to provide access to clear information about healthcare cost and quality,” says Angela Braly, Wellpoint’s CEO. “Our goal is always to work collectively with other Blue plans to enhance the offerings and programs available throughout the country.”

Despite Braly’s assertion on the value of providing health-shopping data to consumers, most consumers don’t rely on information from the Internet when shopping for primary care physicians, a recent study concluded.

The Wellpoint spokesman wouldn’t comment on whether the company plans to publish quality information on physicians in the future.

 

Related Videos
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
© drsampsondavis.com
Mike Bannon ©CSG Partners
Mike Bannon ©CSG Partners