UnitedHealthcare (NYSE:UNH) is preparing to roll out a tool for its Health4me app to address the increased demand for price transparency by consumers to help them better manage healthcare costs.
The tool, myHealthcare Cost Estimator, allows users to search through an alphabetical list for a particular procedure or problem such as knee pain and provides different treatment paths. Several estimates are offered and are color coordinated by price with red being above the cost of the local average and green being under the cost. The Health4me app, announced in February, gives users 24/7 access to a registered nurse for healthcare queries.
Bud Flagstad, the senior vice president of software innovation and technical product services at UnitedHealth Group, told MedCity News on Tuesday about the tool at the Digital Healthcare Innovation Summit held in New York where he spoke on a panel about payor issues, one of which was transparency.
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It is intended to spark a more informed conversation between patients and their physicians about the merits and downsides of a particular procedure so customers can have a better sense of their options.
“It’s about building better tools so patients can make better decisions,” Flagstad said.
Insurers like Aetna have been steadily introducing pricing transparency tools in recent years. Others, such as Cigna, have introduced them this year. If members better understand the expenses they face with certain treatment options, they are more likely to stay on top of bill payments. But price transparency could also help the pervasive problem of price disparity, when the same treatment differs significantly from one healthcare system to another. A report by Thomson Reuters published earlier this year highlighted the need to reduce price variation in the U.S. and estimated that $36 billion could be saved.
UnitedHealthcare is also in the pilot stage of developing a social giving website, Many Strong, aimed at helping someone with a serious illness stay in touch with family and friends. Users can post updates on their condition and how they are feeling. Flagstad compared it to CaringBridge, a service that allows friends and family members to create websites so they can keep in touch with someone who is ill and make donations to assist with their care.
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Many Strong would work in a similar way and let members of a person’s community volunteer to assist with various tasks for that person and their family or through financial support.
Flagstad said the company is looking at implementing gaming apps to help its customers better understand and plan for medical expenses. It is also developing a gamification program in connection with the Wounded Warriors Project to help veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries recuperate.
The company has been developing a series of mobile apps to address various customer needs from finding a physician in their area to addressing healthcare concerns. Earlier this year, its parent company UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Division created a healthcare cloud environment with a healthcare app store.
