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.
Folks from coast-to-coast are talking about change:healthcare! The New York Daily News is talking about healthcare cost savings in the east, while the team was in California presenting as part of a panel at the Health 2.0 conference. And here at home in Nashville, the Venture Capitalist arena is buzzing about the company too. We are amazed by the number of people taking interest in saving money on their healthcare, and who trust us to help them out.
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.
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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.
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
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.
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.
“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 .
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.
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,” 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.
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!
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.)
change:healthcare’s COO Robert Hendrick has been featured in several stories (practically across the country) for tweeting his outpatient surgery last October. Recently the Kansas City Star plublished a story about ‘Twitter’ titled “More people flock to Twitter as a conduit for information.”
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.
As online physician rating sites become more and more prevalent, some doctors are asking their patients to sign waivers (provided by a NC based company – Medical Justice) to prevent them from providing online feedback without prior consent from the physician.
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
Herman Trend Alert: Consumer-Driven to Save Money – March 4, 2009
“change:healthcare” is a leading edge informatics company created to help individuals and employers save money on healthcare expenses. If you knew you could get the same procedure or service for hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars less than what your physician or hospital charges, you could certainly make a more informed decision about where you chose to go.
That’s just what change:healthcare (www.changehealthcare.com) offers—the opportunity to see what other providers are charging for the same product or service. Their enormous database contains cost data on literally thousands of providers and drugstores.
Over the last five years, employee healthcare costs have risen by 40 percent, while employers’ costs have increased by 29 percent. During the same period, over six million employees have migrated (mostly by necessity) to consumer-driven health plans. We forecasted this shift some years ago. (To see the full study, visit http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/showdctmdoc.jsp?country=usa&url=Master_Brand_2/USA/News/Spotlights/2009/Jan/2009_01_15_spotlight_2009_HCCS.htm)
No one would disagree that for many, the costs are simply unbearable. They respond by either not going to the doctor, taking the medication, or having the procedure. “Most people don’t apply the normal rules of consumerism to healthcare,” said Robert Hendrick, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of change:healthcare. “They do not think of medical care as a commodity.”
However, when quality care or the very same prescription medication is available at a much lower cost in the same metro area, then many of us will choose to take action. Typical corner drugstores, including the large chains, charge 30 to 40 percent more than some other providers, such as grocery pharmacies. In this economic climate, that savings is very meaningful.
So what is the benefit for employers? After analyzing 12 to 18 months of past claims data, the company performs an analysis to look at the range of rates in the geographical area. The typical cost savings is substantial—between 25 and 40 percent. . . and the pharmaceuticals involved are not generics, but branded drugs. It is not uncommon for employer savings to exceed USD$250,000.
Making people aware of their options allows them to make more informed decisions. Particularly in these challenging times, consumers will vote with their pocketbooks in the US and overseas.
Check out the report on The Herman Group’s website at http://www.hermangroup.com/alert/archive_3-04-2009.html.
Out of Tragedy, a Commitment to Change Healthcare is Born
When both of Christopher Parks' parents passed away within a year of each other in 2006, he was left with more than just grief.
