Don’t yelp your doctor. Study finds quality ratings are all wrong: Bloomberg

Jeanne Pinder September 9, 2017

Don’t yelp your doctor. Study finds quality ratings are all wrong: Bloomberg

“If you’re looking for the best doctor, online ratings are unlikely to be much help,” Zachary Tracer writes over at Bloomberg. “That’s the determination of researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who compared reviews of 78 of the medical center’s specialists on five popular ratings sites with a set of internal quality measures […]

Appealing a denial, or how to turn ‘no’ into ‘yes’: Part 3 of our series on billing

Jeanne Pinder September 8, 2017

Appealing a denial, or how to turn ‘no’ into ‘yes’: Part 3 of our series on billing

So your insurance company denied a treatment or a medication, in advance, and you want help. This is part of our series on billing advice (see below for other entries.) Here are a few steps. Understand the reason for the denial. Ask that it be clearly stated, in writing, and that the appeal process for […]

View Post appealing a denial David Belk Dollars for Docs Patient assistance plan ProPublica

Hey, Humana! Can we help you figure out how much an X-ray costs?

Jeanne Pinder September 5, 2017

Hey, Humana! Can we help you figure out how much an X-ray costs?

Humana, the big health insurer, came visiting the other day to ask ClearHealthCosts how much an X-ray costs. They spent 8 minutes and 46 seconds reading this blog post. You can see on the screenshot here of our analytics program. Interestingly, they came to us via the sketchy informationvine.com search. They came lots of other […]

View Post Aetna Cigna HCA Healthcare hernia how people use our data

How we can help you — without individualized consultations

Jeanne Pinder September 3, 2017

How we can help you — without individualized consultations

We know more than anyone how frustrating this is and how you — and many others — wish for us to solve this mess. Sadly, as a small startup, we are not able to give individualized consultations. But! We have some great resources. Start here: How to find out what stuff costs in advance How to argue […]

View Post how people use our data

A behind-the-scenes look at how contracts are made in health care

Jeanne Pinder September 2, 2017

A behind-the-scenes look at how contracts are made in health care

“An Open Letter to My Patients Who Have Insurance Coverage Through EMI” is the headline of the blog post, by Randy G. Delcore, M.D., medical director, Cedar Orthopaedic Surgery Specialty Clinic, on the Cedar Orthopaedic Surgery Center web site, describing to patients the end of a contract with an insurer. The blog post ends with […]

View Post anti-trust regulations Cedar Orthopaedic Surgery Specialty Clinic contract rate contracts Employers Mutual Insurance

How ClearHealthCosts Helped New Orleans Newsrooms Save Money for Readers

Jeanne Pinder August 31, 2017

How ClearHealthCosts Helped New Orleans Newsrooms Save Money for Readers

“During a 2013 Morning Edition broadcast, Brian Lehrer and Soterios Johnson asked female listeners to complete a survey on the WNYC website on the cost of routine mammograms,” Bianca Fortis writes about us over at MediaShift, the destination site for insight and analysis at the intersection of media and technology. “The appeal was part of a collaboration with […]

View Post Cracking the Code Lee Zurik Manuel Torres MediaShift New Orleans

We take your questions on Reddit: The ‘Cracking the Code’ AMA (Ask Me Anything)

Jeanne Pinder August 25, 2017

We take your questions on Reddit: The ‘Cracking the Code’ AMA (Ask Me Anything)

I went on Reddit on Aug. 24 with our partners, investigative reporter and anchor Lee Zurik at WVUE FOX 8 Live and Jed Lipinski at NOLA.com I The Times-Picayune, to do an “AMA” or “Ask Me Anything” open forum. To read the whole AMA, go here. Here’s one exchange: [–]B4UGOTHERE 1 point 20 hours ago Where did you get the big […]

View Post Cracking the Code Jed Lipinski Lee Zurik NOLA.com I The Times-Picayune Reddit

Yes, of course, people ARE shopping for health care. And they are saving money.

Jeanne Pinder August 21, 2017

Yes, of course, people ARE shopping for health care. And they are saving money.

Every time people try to tell us that no one is shopping for health care, we object. People are shopping for health care. It’s surprising that so many people cannot see this. A pair of recent studies concluded that little or no active or effective shopping around is getting done. Both are described on the blog of the […]

View Post Bipap cost Castlight Dexa scan cost genetic testing cost Health Affairs

Top 10 health conditions costing organizations the most: HuffPost

Jeanne Pinder August 19, 2017

Top 10 health conditions costing organizations the most: HuffPost

“More than 30 million people, or 9.4 percent of the U.S. population, have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2017,” writes Julie Stich over at HuffPost. “Managing this epidemic is a growing concern for workplaces — Not only are employers thinking about the well-being […]

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How to read a bill or explanation of benefits: Know the tricks

Jeanne Pinder August 10, 2017

How to read a bill or explanation of benefits: Know the tricks

The insurance company’s “explanation of benefits” explains nothing. In fact it often confuses matters more. Also: People believe their insurance companies are paying more than they really are, because quite often the explanation of benefits leads to that conclusion. When I founded this company, in fact, a major impetus was the fact that no one […]

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Category: Patients