New healthcare price transparency tools outlined in "The Self-Service Pricing Calculator: The Solution for Pricing Transparency" white paper from Recondo Technology may help hospitals cope with high deductibles and bad debt.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The pricing calculator enables consumers to generate out-of-pocket estimates themselves from an online calculator on the provider's website or portal.
2. The white paper reveals several important capabilities of the new provider-centric calculator that differentiates it from those provided by insurance companies or employers:
- The calculator provides a price estimate based on the consumer's current levels of insurance coverage, as well as the individual hospital's negotiated rates with insurers;
- The process is powered by rules-based engines that automatically query, retrieve and combine data from payer portals with the hospital's charge master data and payer contracts;
- Analytics plays a critical role in ensuring the estimate is accurate, including analysis or previously adjudicated claims to identify variances.
3. Under pressure from consumers, 39 states have recently passed price transparency regulations.
4. The simple process involved patients inputting their names, insurance ID number and two to three other data elements, and within 10 to 45 seconds, a complete and accurate estimate appears of what they will owe post-procedure.
5. Recondo is a healthcare technology company whose cloud-based solutions deliver financial clarity to all participants within the healthcare revenue cycle.