Silicon Valley startup PokitDok today unveiled a host of new tools aimed at furthering healthcare price transparency, including a national price index, along with software that lets users both schedule and pay for treatments.
Users of the company’s API – among them digital-health developers, self-insured corporations and health systems – will have access pricing information for “the 50 most commonly shopped-for healthcare procedures,” the company said. It will includes cash-based, self-pay prices for primary care and surgical specialties from 25 US markets. A version for consumers will be available in December.
PokitDok, which raised $7.5 million earlier this year to expand, is hoping to appeal to consumers who are willing to pay out of pocket, noting the vast difference in the set-rate pricing between insurers and providers and the quoted price for those who offer to pay cash.
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Accordingly, PokitDok’s Compute will be available for developers to create programs that compare average same-day cash, reimbursed medicare, reimbursed insurance, or all three across a network of 4 million providers.
In addition, PokitDok is aiming for further convenience with scheduling and payment tools, which it says are HIPAA compliant, therefore enabling patients to make appointments from mobile or desktop devices. A unique confirmation code can be incorporated by developers into, say, a Google calendar to help facilitate the billing process.
“PokitDok’s ability to match data and relationships across all aspects of finding, receiving and paying for treatment gives the industry powerful ways to create new digital experiences and drive down healthcare costs,” Ted Tanner, co-founder and CTO, said in announcing the new web tools.
San Mateo-based PokitDok is among numerous companies tackling healthcare pricing transparency, along with publicly-traded Castlight and New York startup Vitals, to name just a couple. UnitedHealth is similarly unveiling pricing data from its massive physician and hospital networks in attempt to better inform consumers.
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