A national organization focused on bringing pricing transparency to healthcare has launched its first mobile app, designed to give consumers instant access to information on procedure and care costs and insurance coverage.
FAIR Health, based in New York, unveiled the FH Consumer Cost Lookup app on April 1 through Apple's iTunes store and will soon have a version available for Android devices. The app is a mobile version of the organization's consumer website and focuses on medical and dental costs.
"We hear from many consumers that they are using a computer in their doctor’s or dentist's office to look up cost information for procedures,” said FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd in a press release. “Often, patients have to decide whether to undergo procedures recommended by their healthcare provider without the information to know how that treatment might impact them financially. By creating a mobile application that provides the same information offered on the FAIR Health consumer website, patients can easily access data that can help inform their conversations with their doctors and dentists and make more educated decisions about their healthcare.”
Officials say consumers can use the app to look up typical charges for office visits, imaging tests and lab tests, as well as surgical procedures and emergency department costs, based on the consumer's location. The app also offers a glossary of common medical and dental terms and access to articles and videos on health insurance reimbursement. It's designed to help consumers determine treatment and care plans as they're talking with their doctors, as well as providing information on out-of-pocket costs and out-of-network options.
FAIR Health's website contains a database of more than 15 million billed medical and dental procedures performed since 2002, officials said, and covers more than 500 geographic regions in the United States.
The organization was launched in 2009 as part of a collective settlement reached by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who targeted conflicts of interest among health insurers who were calculating reimbursement for patients outside their health plan's network.
