Jackson Health System CEO Carlos Migoya is touting the system's recent rollout of the Care Quote price transparency tool as something that will give them a competitive advantage in the Florida market.
Care Quote, which Jackson began using in late August, is a price estimator tool that provides out-of-pocket spending information to patients seeking healthcare services. It takes the patient's insurance information and provides a more accurate quote based on their plan's design, deductibles, co-insurance and other important details.
"That's what every patient wants to know," Migoya said in a conversation with WLRN-Miami Herald News. "They don't want to know what it will cost the insurance company. They want to know what will it cost them."
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The program also assists patients who currently don't have health insurance by allowing them to research cash prices. The service is available online or by a calling a hotline and speaking to a patient advocate.
"Today, patients do not have consistent access to quality, price and service information when they are choosing a healthcare provider or considering treatment options. This price transparency service enables patients to make more informed choices. Prices for medical services can vary significantly, even for the exact same procedure in the same area, with the same equipment. Jackson will empower you with information to make an informed decision about your care," Jackson Health said in a statement.
Migoya, who has been with Jackson Health since 2011 and previously served as Miami's city manager, has also spent a good portion of his professional life in the banking industry. Not only does Migoya hope the tool will drive consumers to get care at their system, he said the kind of transparency and disclosure that these tools put significant pressure on providers for both price and quality.
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"I hope that five years from now, the healthcare sector gets to a point that it's almost like an Amazon.com environment: You can go in and say, 'This is what I want to get done' and you would have a list of the five providers. Based on your insurance plan, they will tell you what your cost will be and the quality of each one of those providers. You can have complete disclosure. That would be the ultimate on how to do this because I think that's what we as consumers deserve to see."
The nonprofit Jackson Health System is located in Miami-Dade county, Florida and consists of flagship facility Jackson Memorial Hospital, Holtz Children's Hospital, Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital, Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, Jackson North Medical Center and Jackson South Community Hospital.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn