Co-Founder and COO Robert Hendrick spent a few minutes with the local TV crew to share tips on how to save money on your prescriptions. Easy steps that can add up to huge savings. You’ll be surprised!

Thanks for all of the support, and for trusting us to help you make smarter healthcare decisions and save money in the process.

Below is a video from the Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV. The clip shows change:healthcare COO and co-founder Robert Hendrick working with the reporter to show people 4 ways to save on their medical costs.

All in all a very good week at change:healthcare! Thanks for all of the support, and for trusting us to teach you how to save money on your doctors visits and prescriptions, and to help you make smarter healthcare decisions.

In a phone call from the NPR affiliate in Nashville, Host & News Reporter Nina Cardona talked with change:healthcare Product Manager Chris McIntyre about a newly released service that lets people find the cost of a prescription by asking Twitter. The result… a segment on the Morning Edition radio show this morning!

The Morning Edition with Jacqueline Fellows runs each morning during the week. We are honored to be a featured part of the show. We have included a snippet below, just click play and see what NPR had to say about our new service! You can find more information, or listen to the entire show here. There is also a written transcript of the interview from Nashville Public Radio.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you have ever left the doctors office confused about a diagnosis or wondering how much your new prescription is going to cost you, you should definitely check out the new ASKch Twitter healthcare service.

About the ASKch Twitter Service

AskCH is a one-of-a-kind healthcare tool. Send a healthcare cost or definition question in the proper format, and receive the answer with a link to find detailed information! This service was designed to help you save money on your health related expenses and to learn about health issues. It will give you instant cost information for prescriptions as well as definitions for common health issues from change:healthcare. We exist to help people save money on prescriptions, doctor visits and medical procedures and try to teach people along the way.

Find out more about the ASKch Service at: http://ask.changehealthcare.com

About Nina Cardona, All Things Considered Host & News Reporter

A Middle Tennesseean since the age of two, Nina Cardona grew up in a home whose radio dials seemed to be permanently welded into the “90.3″ position. She credits WPLN’s music programming with triggering an interest in the arts that lead her to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from Converse College. After seven years as one of the station’ s music hosts, Nina became a reporter and local host of All Things Considered in 2004.

Now, healthcare answers come in 140 characters or less. Which is a far cry from the nearly 2,000-page health reform bill the U.S. Congress has been proposing.

Starting today, consumers can simply tweet healthcare questions such as “what is diabetes” to @askch and it will return a short description and a link to more information. Or tweet “cost of celebrex near 37209” and you get “average price of $163 in 37209″ in return.

The engine behind this new Twitter application is Nashville-based consumerism company change:healthcare, which uses the web to provide information to the public about healthcare, its costs and ways to save money. Company developers realized that the social media phenomenon could extend consumer information into the exam room, so they developed the first phase of what will be a much larger application that delivers accurate healthcare costs and information to consumers’ fingertips within 60 seconds, helping them be more informed and potentially save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

Hey, when cutting the cost of healthcare, who needs Washington, anyway?

“It’s not everything you need to know, but it gets you to a well-informed starting point when you want to make a smart healthcare purchase,” says Christopher Parks, co-founder and CEO of change:healthcare. “If you’re looking for information about the cost of a prescription your physician is prescribing, then we’ve got an answer. If you want to know more about the flu virus, we get you started on finding out more.”

“It’s the first time ever that consumers can use an existing social media application to quickly discover – wherever they are — how they can save money on their healthcare. We already have the next iteration in beta that significantly broadens the information for consumers,” Parks said.

To work effectively, users first need to “follow” @askch from their Twitter account. Then, it’s simply a matter of asking questions via direct message (to keep responses confidential).

For the beta launch, change:healthcare identified the five most consistently asked questions at their website. As users provide more feedback about the service and their information needs via the @askch page, the types of information and questions will be expanded.

The search works using a pre-defined format: What is (health issue); What is (drug name); Cost of (drug name) near (zipcode); Generic for (drug name); and Generic discounts for (drug name) near (zipcode). Messages should be asked as listed and without punctuation.

For those that need it, the company has developed a simple tutorial .

Who is change:healthcare?

A technology firm focused on helping people save money and make informed healthcare consumer decisions, change:healthcare provides its users access to information about medical provider quality, cost, access and performance. There’s even an alert function that proactively notifies users when there’s a cost savings opportunity.

The company’s core business is providing employers and employees relevant and easy-to-use information about where in their area they can get the most cost-effective treatment, services and prescriptions.

“There’s a lot of misinformation about healthcare and costs running around out there.” Parks continued. “So when it comes to your health, it’s nice to know that there’s a professional source you can turn to 24-7 for a quick answer. Twitter just helps us compress the delivery time to consumers for that information. And all folks need to do is follow us on Twitter @askch.”

View the published press release and Download it in PDF format here.

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.

“The Keystone Institute for Translational Medicine — an alliance of three Pennsylvania medical institutions led by Temple University — is researching the genetic, behavioral and social causes of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, obesity and certain cancers that affect urban and rural Pennsylvanians.”

Click here for the PDF of the full story.

The move is intended to help the Keystone Institute for Translational Medicine more quickly reach their goal of increasing the speed with which medical and health-related discoveries become significant patient care advances.

An alliance of three Pennsylvania medical institutions led by Temple University School of Medicine, the Keystone Institute for Translational Medicine is implementing research on the genetic, behavioral and social causes of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, obesity and specific cancers that affect urban and rural Pennsylvanians. The institute’s commercialization partner, GeneSyn IP Ventures, is leading a group of technology providers to support the institute’s mission and develop new tools for advancing bench-to-bedside medicine.

”We selected change:healthcare because their innovative platform provides valuable services and tools to patients and facilitates communication among all stakeholders in translational medicine – researchers, healthcare professionals, consumers, patients and community leaders,” said Dr. Elliot Menkowitz, chairman, GeneSyn IP Ventures, and Temple University School of Medicine alumnus. “We are searching for leaders within the Health 2.0 community, like change:healthcare, who can bring experience and tools to bear in transforming medical knowledge.”

“The Keystone Institute is seeking to remove barriers that have previously impeded the translation of medical research discoveries to solutions in clinical practice, said Eric Abel, assistant dean and assistant vice president, Temple University Health Enterprise. “I have every confidence that the technology consortium will help us achieve that goal.”

A technology company focused on cost transparency while helping people save money and make more informed healthcare consumer decisions, the internet-based change:healthcare (www.changehealthcare.com) provides its member users access to a wide variety of healthcare information and social networking processes to more easily share healthcare experiences and attitudes about medical provider quality, cost, access and performance.

“We’re excited about joining this national healthcare consortium,” said Christopher Parks, co-Founder and CEO of change:healthcare. “Our technology tools are helping change the way consumers access, judge and share health and cost information, as they navigate the American healthcare system. We look forward to adapting, developing, and supporting the translational medicine technologies of the future.”

Download the press release PDF.

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.”

Highlight: “Hendrick is a co-founder of Change:Healthcare, a business that helps clients save money on health care. Hendrick said that twittering his surgery was a way to show people the process and educate them. ‘2 veins down. 2 to go. 1 lower left leg. 1 lower right leg. Top left leg done,’ he tweeted from what he described to his followers as a cold operating room. Twittering, Hendrick said, “gave me a sense of connection to people during the surgery.”

Check out the full story online at the Kansas City Star website or download the PDF here.

change:healthcare CEO Christopher Parks, shared his opinion on the matter with Getahn Ward of the Tennessean. Here are some of the highlights:

Parks says, “”It’s never worked in our society to try to constrain or restrain perceptions or feedback,” he said. “The more you tell people to be quiet, the louder they want to yell.” He, however, believes that physicians should be allowed to offer their perspectives and that the ratings sites have a responsibility to filter out comments that are libelous.

Doctors, he added, should encourage all of their patients to rate their experiences. “As a general consumer, I won’t let one horrible rating sway my perception or cause me to devalue that provider,” he said. “It’s the trend — what’s the majority of the ratings.”

To view the complete article visit the Tennessean website or download the PDF here