Startups, Patient Engagement

Consumer-facing LabFinder helps patients locate in-network testing

The site will return a list of nearby labs that are in the patient’s insurance network, and the test can then be scheduled online.

Dr_Robert_Segal

Dr. Robert Segal

Patients who struggle to find diagnostic centers in their insurance networks could find a consumer-facing website, LabFinder.com, helpful. LabFinder, co-founded by Dr. Robert Segal, was designed to help patients find in-network labs and radiology centers, reducing costs for both patients and insurers.

Segal said that the website addresses issues for four “silos” within healthcare: patients, physicians, labs and insurers.

When a doctor orders a diagnostic test or radiological procedure, the patient can go to Labfinder.com, enter the type of test they need, their ZIP code and insurance information. The site will return a list of nearby labs that are in the patient’s insurance network, and the test can then be scheduled online.

The benefit to patients, insurers and labs is clear. For physicians, there are less obvious, yet important advantages.

New York City cardiologist Segal recalled an incident that occurred several years ago in his practice, which, he says wouldn’t have happened if LabFinder had existed. He said the patient nearly died from severe anemia, and though she had had a blood test, she was never given the results, which, he said, “were sitting in the doctor’s electronic health records for over two months” as her symptoms progressed.

Another advantage of the service for physicians is that the results for tests scheduled through the site are stored there. A patient who is seeing multiple specialists or undergoing several tests can access all of the results. Segal said that his anemic patient would have been able to seek treatment much sooner had she had access to her test results. He also contended that when patients have access to their records, “it lowers the potential malpractice risk for physicians.”

Reducing spending is a goal of nearly all recently proposed healthcare reforms and models, and Segal said LabFinder reduces costs for insurance companies by lowering out-of-network expenses. Both patients and insurers save when care is delivered in-network.

The changes that Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) will make to how Medicare and Medicaid payments are made could render services such as LabFinder increasingly important. There are two systems of payment included in MACRA: the Merit-based Payment System (MIPS), which is the default and the Alternative Payment Models (APMs).

Earlier this year, officials with CMS proposed a program called Advancing Care Information to operate within MIPS, which would be “more patient-centric, practice-driven and focused on connectivity.”

LabFinder launched with testing centers in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but it is expanding across the rest of the country. There are currently 5,000 patients registered, and Segal reported that the reviews have been positive from patients, doctors and labs.

 

Shares0
Shares0