UnitedHealthcare is making available an online and mobile cost and quality estimator tool for inpatient medical services, including for knee replacement, spinal surgery and childbirth.
The application, which is free to employers and members at the health plan's website and at its Health4Med app home, helps consumers find high quality care while also estimating the cost of more than 550 services across 220 episodes of care from 4,500 hospitals and 540,000 health professionals.
The personalized estimates reflect the individual's health plan benefits and include what will be owed in out-of-pocket expenses and what their employer will pay for. It also provides account balances when it is applicable and a comprehensive view of what to expect through the course of treatment.
Launched last year, myHealthcare Cost Estimator has ramped up increasingly more services, including inpatient services now, according to the insurer in a news release.
The online and mobile service is more precise than other cost estimation tools that rely only on historical claims data or provide estimates based on geographic average, UnitedHealthcare said, because the application draws from the payer's actual contracted rates with physicians, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers.
The calculator is designed to compute the differences in services and procedures across the country. For example, childbirth, including prenatal and postnatal care, at hospitals in the New York City area can total between $9,699 and $29,076. For lumbar fusion surgery in San Francisco, the cost ranges from $59,090 to $77,390 at area facilities.
"myHealthcare Cost Estimator enables people to make better care decisions, by better understanding their treatment options, comparing services and anticipating future costs," said Yasmine Winkler, chief product, marketing and innovation officer at UnitedHealthcare, in the release.
Adding inpatient services makes the personalized information more relevant and accurate. The tool also presents common alternate treatment options to educate patients on their choices.