In an article today on BusinessInsurance.com states that IBM plans to cover 100% of primary care visits in 2010, going against current trends of pushing a great portion of the health care cost burden onto employees shoulders.

With 80% of their 115,000 employees currently on one of the company’s self-insured health care plans, the cost of covering 100% of primary care visits could be steep.  However, IBM believes (via their director of health benefits Marianne Defazio) “very strongly that employees should have a primary care physician who’s sort of the quarterback to help coordinate all of their care.”

It will be interesting to see what the initial results of this benefit design change look like next year as they begin to track and compare utilization and prevention metrics.  I would imagine in some way or another this new coverage is going to impact employee behavior.  Bottom line – it’s always good to see large employers taking risks and trying new things.  A small part of me still believes companies like IBM and others are really going to pave the way for change in health care, driving and creating sustainable ways to improve the current health care crisis and our approach to wellness.

The LPN to RN Blog offers some great tips on how to lower your healthcare expenses.  100 tips to be exact, and some of them are really good advice.  Here are some of my highlights with my notes in italics.  For a complete list of 100 Ways You Can Lower Your Healthcare Costs visit their blog.

3. Change your coinsurance ratio: Raise your ratio to cut your monthly premium.

Find more information on co-insurance here. Increasing your co-insurance ratio will help to spread out the payment responsibility between you and your insurer, in turn reducing your monthly premium.

6. Don’t take no for an answer: Go through appeals processes with your insurance company if they deny your medical claims.

change:healthcare offers a field guide on “How to handle a denied medical claim.” You can access it here. This guides walks you through the necessary steps associated with appealing a denied medical claim.

30. Go to federally funded clinics: You can get immunizations, checkups, and dental care, while paying what you can afford through special clinics.

Often community health centers, and now even retail based clinics, offer vaccinations for a flat fee such as $10 to $30 depending on the type.  Going to see your doctor for this type of care can cost as much as $120.

36. Pay today: Offer to pay immediately with cash or credit card to get a discount.

It’s true!  If you are a cash-pay patient you can often get a 10-20% discount on your care. If you are uninsured and have never offered to pay up front, give it a shot – and if they do not offer you a discount, ask for one! Sometimes, even providers that accept your insurance, but do not offer a negotiated rate, will provide a discount off charges. You just simply need to ask!

54. Use in-network providers: Avoid using providers that are outside of your network.

This is a no-brainer! When you use an in-network provider not only will your insurance company cover a greater portion of the expense, but you will most likely also receive a discount on your care through the contractual agreement between your insurer and provider. To learn more about in vs. out-of-network providers check out our field guide (located near the bottom of the page).

97.  Lose weight: Fight obesity, and you’ll save on your insurance premiums, as well as prevent weight related conditions.

Though this is often easier said than done, losing weight will not only help to decrease your risk level for weight related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension, but it can also improve your mental health and wellness.  Find a friend to help you set a goal and stick to it.  Losing weight is easier when you have support from family and friends.  Remember to start small too!  Take it one pound at a time, and reward yourself for milestones such as 10, 20 and 30 lbs.

To find out more information on change:healthcare’s help tools such as our field guides and health term glossary visit help.changehealthcare.com.

Photo Courtesy of Bartificial on Flickr

Who knew prescription coupons could save me $75?!  I didnt…

I was speaking to my doctor this morning about a new prescription she suggested I try.  It sounded like a great option for me. As she proceeded to enter the information into their e-prescribing system, she told me that this drug could be expensive depending on my co-payment (what a novel concept – a doctor telling you cost information about the drug you are being prescribed).

I told her I was used to “sticker shock” being on a high deductible plan.  And thanked her for the heads up. We ended our call. About a minute later she called me back.  “I have a coupon here for $75 off your prescription and some samples. I can leave them at the front desk if you have time to come and grab them.”

“Yes, of course.  Thank you!” was my response.

Communication is key!  This morning I was inspired by her willingness to help me save money once she found out I would pay the whole cost for the prescription out of my pocket.  If you are willing to talk to your doctor about the weird stuff growing on your foot, or the pains in your back, why not talk to your doctor about the price of your prescriptions.  Now I know some people, possibly those still on standard co-payments for drugs, may not care (though you should). But those on percent co-insurance, high-deductible plans, and the uninsured certainly do.

Ask your doctor when being prescribed a new drug, especially if there is only a brand-name option available, if they have any samples or coupons!  If they don’t, search online. Often the drug’s website will include a coupon.  Here are just a few examples: Nexium,  Lipitor, Lunesta.

One final tip… check out the change:healthcare Field Guide on How to Save Money by Switching to Generics (pdf) for your prescriptions.

HMS (Healthcare Managements Systems Inc.) announced August 7th (I know, I am a little behind) that they have an online bill payment tool available for hospitals.  This would allow them to send bills and statements electronically, as well as recieve online payments from patients.

Excepts from their announcement: “Our online bill pay product creates a particular advantage for the facility by allowing patient payments entered through a hospital’s web portal to be automatically updated in their HMS Patient Accounting solution.”

“The new HMS online offerings are a vast improvement over our previous solution,” said Michael Pracheil, Thayer’s chief financial officer. “Now our patients can click a link on our hospital website and see past bills, set up recurring payments or make a one-time ACH transfer or credit card payment. Our hospital staff has access to the same information so they can work with patients to set up electronic payments over the phone.”

Though there will be slow uptake and some patient resistance to use new online technologies relating to their medical care…  This a step in the right direction!  Reducing paper flow and processing will save the system both time and money, hopefully cutting some administrative overhead. If given the option to participate in electronic billing with your medical provider… at least take a moment to ask questions and consider the option!

Shannon Buggs at the Houston Chronicle has written a great piece “Close Look at Hospital Bills Saves Money” on taking a closer look at your hospital bills for errors.  Though there have been numerous pieces on this topic, this one in particular (find it here) has  some great tips included at the end. I have her “common errors to look for on your bills” below:

Wrong names: If you or your insurance company’s name is misspelled, there is a chance the hospital did not correctly calculate the charges based on your actual coverage plan.

Clerical errors: The two pills you took while in the hospital are input accidentally as 222 pills. Those typing mistakes are simple to correct and costly to let stand.

Extra dates: Your insurance company may not pay room-and-board fees for discharge days, but your bill may include a charge for that date. Also make sure you are not charged for a hospital stay for the same day you visited the emergency room if your treatment resulted in a post-midnight hospital admittance.

Out-of-network charges: Follow up with your insurance company to make sure the hospital contacted your insurer to get all necessary approvals before doing procedures.

Brand-name substitutes: Compare the doctor’s orders to the hospital bill. If the physician ordered a generic medicine commonly stocked in hospital pharmacies, but the hospital substituted a more expensive brand-name drug, you should not have to pay the higher cost.

Resulting Instrument Will Show Consumers, Employers, and Health Plans How to Obtain Up to 30% Savings in Healthcare Spending

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 31, 2009 — Two consumer healthcare technology companies today announced a strategic alliance to create the first personal health information tool with an embedded cost savings application to help employees, employers and the general public save money on their personal health spending. The tool will include a guaranteed return-on-investment (ROI).

Nashville, TN-based change:healthcare, a technology firm focused on healthcare cost transparency, and San Diego, CA-based MediKeeper, a provider of customized technology systems for the health and wellness industry, have joined forces to embed change:healthcare’s cost savings application in MediKeeper’s personal health information platform. The application will enable organizations and consumers to save money and make more informed personal health spending decisions. The companies will introduce the enhanced Medikeeper personal health information tool to large employer groups and health plans in the next few weeks with a direct-to-consumer version to be launched later this year.

As people continue to focus greater attention on their healthcare through the programs offered by employers and health plans, they become increasingly concerned with the ever-escalating costs of healthcare in America. More and more of the cost is coming directly out of consumers’ wallets and we are now able to lessen that

By partnering with change:healthcare, we’re offering all types of consumers an enhancement to our web-based personal health application that will help users understand how easy it is to reduce their healthcare costs by up to 30%.

We’re pleased that Medikeeper has recognized the change:healthcare platform as a critical tool that can help consumers better see where they can make changes in their purchase habits and increase the value of wellness programs

With Medikeeper’s leadership in the personal health application space, we hope to continue helping consumers navigate the American healthcare system.

“As people continue to focus greater attention on their healthcare through the programs offered by employers and health plans, they become increasingly concerned with the ever-escalating costs of healthcare in America. More and more of the cost is coming directly out of consumers’ wallets and we are now able to lessen that,” said Jason Peoples, vice president of Sales for MediKeeper. “By partnering with change:healthcare, we’re offering all types of consumers an enhancement to our web-based personal health application that will help users understand how easy it is to reduce their healthcare costs by up to 30%.”

Medikeeper (www.medikeeper.com) specializes in building and delivering online personal health management tools to help users become more informed and effective healthcare consumers. Its tools include a patient-centered personal health record, an enhanced health risk assessment and a consumer health information portal. Mostly offered in the workplace, these applications have proven to enhance the effectiveness of a company’s health and wellness programs. In 2008, the company was selected by the Dossia consortium, consisting of Fortune 100 employers such as Wal-Mart, Intel and AT&T, as one of the first personal health application vendors to be built on the Dossia platform.

A technology company focused on helping people save money and make more informed healthcare consumer decisions, change:healthcare (www.changehealthcare.com) provides its users access to personalized and actionable cost savings information. By analyzing claims data, change:healthcare works 24/7 to make saving money virtually effortless for users, as well as providing a way for users to more easily share healthcare experiences about medical provider quality, cost, access and performance to help them make the best healthcare decisions.

“We’re pleased that Medikeeper has recognized the change:healthcare platform as a critical tool that can help consumers better see where they can make changes in their purchase habits and increase the value of wellness programs,” said Christopher Parks, co-Founder and CEO of change:healthcare. “With Medikeeper’s leadership in the personal health application space, we hope to continue helping consumers navigate the American healthcare system.”

About MediKeeper
MediKeeper is a private company delivering we-based Personal Health Applications (PHAs) and technologies for patient-centered health information management. In 2008, the Company was selected by the Dossia consortium, consisting of Fortune 100 employers such as Wal-Mart, Intel and AT&T, as the second PHA vendor to be built on the Dossia platform. MediKeeper offers employers and healthcare providers a robust and consumer-friendly package of customizable we-based tools and content to assist with their health and wellness programs, enhancing ROI while improve the health and quality of life for employees and patients. The applications are built on top of MediKeeper’s one-of-a-kind platform, which enables industry leading data integration, reporting and user-interface customization. For more information, visit www.medikeeper.com.

About change:healthcare
change:healthcare, inc. (www.changehealthcare.com) is a technology company dedicated to helping people save money and make better healthcare consumer decisions. Their information and internet-based solutions are available to: third party administrators, self-insured employers and health plans interested in controlling healthcare costs and engaging their employees and members in making more informed healthcare decisions.

When you log into your free change:healthcare account, its simply not the same as logging into an account sponsored by your TPA (third party administrator) or employer.  But why? The simple answer is “data”.

In recent weeks we have done a lot of work on the site, considering ways we can improve the experience for our consumer users.  Hopefully, you have noticed our efforts. We plan to continue to work identifying ways to help you save on your healthcare without having your data.

However, when we are working with your TPA or employer we are able to pull in your specific healthcare claims data.  What does this do?  Well for starters it allows change:healthcare to perform a review of your spending and present you with opportunities/ways to save on your healthcare.  Most importantly, these ways to save are specific to your healthcare spending, the prescriptions you take, and the providers you saw. The red circle in the image below identifies our cost savings alerts.

Additionally, we are able to  provide you with detailed reporting on your healthcare spending, as well as alternative providers seen by your peers for the same services.  You can research these specific providers though change:healthcare’s easy to understand profiles, which contain information on cost and quality. Our detailed reporting can be accessed through one of these two icons on the dashboard.  One provides extended information on ways you can save money, the other provides detailed reports on where you went and what you spent, alongside where your peers went and what they paid for the same services. An overview of your detailed reporting is present in the left hand column.

Please let us know if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about our employer and TPA products!

After long awaited anticipation, change:healthcare has launched a new user interface!  And we are really excited about it! This design is representative of our new approach to saving money on healthcare and helping people make smarter decisions.

Our new interface is intended to make our application simpler and easy to use and understand!!  Yep, that’s right… We want to assist you in finding the information you need, identifying ways to save money, and managing your healthcare claims, bills, and EOBs all in one place.

Our new navigation is today’s highlight! Take a look at the screen shots below.

This first view relates to accounts that have automatic claims feeds associated with them.  When your employer and/or TPA works with change:healthcare, we are able to show you individualized and relevant ways you can save on your healthcare (based upon where you spend your healthcare dollar). It’s kinda like having someone watching out for you 24/7, notifying you about ways you can save money.

As the red circles highlight, you can now simply navigate between the “Find”, “Ways to Save”, and “Manage” tabs.  The center of your dashboard even features four icons that help you identify where to start upon logging into your account.

The next screen shot gives you a view of the new consumer accounts.  When you log into your change:healthcare account for the first time since our update, or sign up for a brand new change:healthcare account, you will notice two icons in the center of the dashboard. They provide quick access to search for information on our site and provide an overview of your healthcare expenses.

We look forward to sharing more information about our new interface with you, and showing you how change:healthcare can help you save money and make smarter consumer decisions that suit your individual healthcare needs.

Please let us know if you have any questions, feedback, comments, etc. We love to hear from users!

change:healthcare’s Healthcare Consumerism Index (HCI) has been featured in Chiropractic New! Check out the article online at Chiropractic News Online or download the PDF here.

Highlights:

“Just launched by healthcare consumerism company change:healthcare, the Healthcare Consumerism Index gives employers and employees a wealth of information so both can improve the cost-effectiveness of their healthcare purchases.

Nashville, Tenn. — Many companies measure healthy employees in terms of “lows.” Low blood pressure. Low fat. Low cholesterol. Low medical claims. So add a new sign of good consumer health – a low Healthcare Consumerism Index™ (HCI).”

“Healthcare costs are a strain on an employer’s budget,” said Christopher Parks, change:healthcare CEO. “The HCI helps a company guide employee healthcare purchases toward less expensive medical care options. It helps everyone make more value-driven choices.”

That’s right!  Our new cost savings alerts for our TPA and employer clients (i.e. our employee users) are finally here… and boy are they hot stuff.  Now an employee can log into their change:healthcare account to see specific ways they can save money on their prescription expenses.  And all they really have to do is log in!

When they log in and click “YES! SHOW ME HOW NOW!” on the alert, we present them with all the information they need to go about making that smarter healthcare decision.  It sounds crazy… but it really is that simple.

Check it out! (Have no fear… consumers your alerts will be coming soon.)

New Cost Savings Alerts from change:healthcare on Vimeo.