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.

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.

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.

The Nashville Business Journal is talking about change:healthcare and the Keystone Institute’s new partnership.

“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.

change:healthcare has been chosen by GeneSyn IP Ventures, LLC, a partner of the Keystone Institute for Translational Medicine in Philadelphia, Penn., to support a national translational medicine technology consortium, officials announced today.

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.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., (March 10, 2009) – The disappearance of 3.6 million jobs since December 2007 — and more than 1.7 million in the last three months– is enough to make anyone ill.  But the additional loss of healthcare coverage and the unpredictable cost of medical care can not only make you sick, it can put your financial future in the Intensive Care Unit.

Cost transparency firm change:healthcare has a prescription that will significantly ease a downsized employee’s healthcare and financial distress.

The web-based company is underscoring that resources which can reduce the cost of a person’s healthcare are available free-of-charge to the recently severed and current employees as well as general consumers.

“Job loss is a frightening thing to both employees who are let go, as well as those who remain,” says Christopher Parks, CEO of change:healthcare, a Health 2.0 firm that helps employees and consumers make better, money-saving healthcare decisions.  “When layoffs occur, one of the single largest concerns employees have after food and shelter is their healthcare.  But there are ways employers can provide healthcare help to their dislocated employees, as well as those that remain on staff, with little or no cost.”

For starters, access to change:healthcare’s website costs tools and information resources (www.changehealthcare.com) are completely free and directly accessible to all consumers.  The site allows anyone to view the cost of medical services, providers and pharmaceuticals in their area, based on actual medical claims, so they can see where less expensive alternatives can be purchased.   The site provides a wealth of information but becomes more personal when companies in the area, as well as consumers, input their own medical claims to gain a picture of how their purchases compare to other options.

The website is typically used by companies to help employees make more value- and quality-driven healthcare purchases.  Some companies have realized potential savings of 30-40 percent in their healthcare costs since using the site.

Other free resources available to displaced employees include ratings and social networking tools that give users a way to confidentially rate, share and compare the quality of their experiences with physicians, providers, costs and medical issues.

A series of downloadable, practical information sheets that better guide consumers in dealing with real-life healthcare issues, including “Negotiating large medical bills,” “A guide to COBRA,” “Choosing a Health Plan” and “Asking a Doctor about Generics to Cut Prescription Costs” is also available free-of-charge.

Additionally, the company’s recently released book, My Healthcare is Killing Me:  A Survival Guide for the American Healthcare Consumer, which was an early #1 health read at Amazon.com, can be downloaded (www.myhealthcareiskillingme.com) at no cost.  Written by change:healthcare’s CEO and COO, the tongue-in-cheek book helps demystify the American healthcare system so readers can better understand and navigate it.  The book is loaded with tips for saving healthcare dollars.

“We’re focused on bringing greater transparency to our healthcare system and making information and resources like these available to people currently going through great trials, is at least one way we can help,” Parks said.

About change:healthcare, inc.
change:healthcare, inc. (www.changehealthcare.com) is a technology company dedicated to helping people save money and make smarter healthcare consumer decisions. The company’s information and internet-based solutions are available to third party administrators, healthcare providers, medical bill adjudicators, consumers and employers interested in controlling healthcare costs by engaging their employees in making informed healthcare choices.

Download the PDF of this press release here.

Chris McIntyre has been named director of product management for change:healthcare, it was announced today by company Co-Founders Christopher Parks and Robert Hendrick.  McIntyre’s role will be to develop and manage the healthcare technology firm’s growing list of current and future products.

“We’re pleased to bring in Chris and his deep experience to lead the change:healthcare team in our product development and management efforts,”  Parks said in making the appointment.  “Chris understands how to build and replicate web-based products and services that are intuitive, collaborative and support millions of users.  Those skills will become invaluable as we continue our efforts to develop products that truly help consumers make smarter healthcare decisions, and companies control their healthcare benefit expenditures more tightly.”

McIntyre comes to change:healthcare from the Founder/CEO position of Podcast Alley, a San Francisco-based internet company that indexes and distributes consumer podcasts of all genres.  He was also a founder and senior product manger at broadband entertainment network Mevio (formerly known as PodShow), founder and CEO of Anrovia Design, a Chicago boutique agency that develops online and offline marketing campaigns, print collateral and websites for the bioscience and gourmet housewares industries, and founder and CEO of Shirts By Mail, an online textile printing company.

He holds degrees from Purdue University in Computer Graphic Technology and Computer Programming Technology.

To download the full PDF click here.

SHOUTAmerica has partnered with change:healthcare inc. to address consumerism and transparency…  both part of the current healthcare crisis and debate.

Download the press release.

George Sibble has been named director of finance and strategy for change:healthcare inc.

“George brings both experience and exuberance to the change:healthcare table,” Parks said in making the appointment.  “As we continue to grow and our opportunities broaden, we’ll lean on his financial expertise to help us further strengthen the bottom line.  And that will allow Robert and me to continue focusing on other aspects of our company’s development.  George’s entrepreneurial experiences will definitely benefit both us and our customers.”

Sibble graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in August 2006 and is currently completing an MBA at the Owen Graduate School of Management.  During his collegiate career, he served Owen as a Systems Analyst and the School of Engineering as an Information Technology Analyst, successfully tackling large scale IT-related projects for both schools.

He is currently President of the Max Adler Student Investment Fund at Vanderbilt and was Chief Executive Officer of a Boston, MA-based company, Paintball Guru, before selling his interest in the web-based business.  Sibble is currently working at change:healthcare in an interim capacity and is expected to join permanently in January.

Download the complete press release here.

Or check out coverage by the Tennessean.