With more healthcare costs being shifted onto the consumer, payers, providers and policymakers alike are particularly interested in consumer patterns, but so far little research exists beyond the notion that increased choice and price transparency are important benchmarks.
UnitedHealthcare, which itself launched its myHealthcare Cost Estimator in 2012 as part of that shift, sought further understanding, and in a study released today said people who use its estimator are more likely to select high-quality providers than those who don’t use the tool.
The study compared more than 425,000 users and nonusers of the online service and defined high-quality care providers based on the UnitedHealthcare’s Premium physician designation program.
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Individuals who select physicians that United determines high-quality play an important role in controlling healthcare costs for individuals, employers and the healthcare system on the whole, according to United, noting previous research that showed using the premium-designated physicians helped improve health outcomes and reduce costs by 10 percent. And in a 2012 claims analysis, that figure for orthopedic surgeons was 19 percent better for using the premium-designated surgeons.
Interestingly, the study found that younger plan members were far more likely to use myHCE, with nearly 50 percent of the users being age 40 or younger, compared to 40 percent of nonusers.
“This may be an indication of overall comfort in using online tools being higher among persons of younger ages,” the study said.
Users also differed depending on what type of plan they have – nearly 40 percent of myHCE users were enrolled in consumer-driven health plans, including HSAs and HRAs, compared to 30 percent of nonusers. The most notable difference was with users with HSAs, the study said.
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With mind-numbing variations in healthcare pricing, United said the shift toward price transparency is all the more important in helping consumers leverage available information.
For example, the total cost for childbirth, including prenatal and postnatal care, at hospitals in the New York City area range from $9,699 to $29,076. For back surgery, specifically lumbar fusion, the cost ranged from $59,090 to $77,390 at area healthcare facilities in San Francisco.
The mobile version, Health4Me, has been downloaded more than 1 million times on both Android and Apple platforms. To date, United said cost estimator users have received more than $2.8 billion in estimates for both mobile and web versions since 2012.
All consumers can comparison shop for medical services using a “guest” version of cost estimator. Healthcare cost estimates are based on actual contracted rates with UnitedHealthcare in-network care providers; in cases when that information is not available, estimates are based on historical claims with the care provider.