A new web site, Guroo.com, is available for consumers to view the average cost for 70 of the most common healthcare conditions, ‘care bundles’, or tests. The average cost for each is available at the national, state, and local level.
Guroo is produced by the Health Care Cost Institute, an organization that collects data from the major private insurers, including Aetna, Assurant, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare. The average costs are based on what the insurance companies actually pay, not the provider ‘retail’ charges before any discounting that my be negotiated by individual insurers.
Costs of additional conditions, care bundles, and tests will be added in the future, including prescriptions costs. A Spanish language version is also in the works.
Guroo.com information is not yet available for individual providers nor does it currently link to any data on the quality of care. That may be added later as well.
Sources:
Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) launches Guroo — to provide consumers with free access to a health care transparency tool. Health Care Cost Institute press release, Feb. 25, 2015. http://www.healthcostinstitute.org/news-and-events/health-care-cost-institute-hcci-launches-guroo-%E2%80%93-provide-consumers-free-access-healt
Hancock J. Attention, shoppers: prices for 70 health care procedures now online! Kaiser Health News, Feb. 25, 2015. http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/new-online-tool-gives-patients-insight-into-the-cost-of-medical-care/
Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org
Filed under: Benchmarking, Consumers, Health expenditures, Hospital costs, Insurance, Patient care, Physicians, Posted by Diana Culbertson | Tagged: healthcare price transparency, hospital prices, medical test prices, physician prices | 1 Comment »
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