Comment by ageitgey
3 years ago
I'm a co-founder of Turquoise Health (https://turquoise.health/). We are working to improve US healthcare by exposing the prices that are negotiated at all levels of the insurance billing process and building tools where price negotiations happen in a competitive market instead of in secret.
The goal is to drive down healthcare prices using the levers that are available. Right now, there are often 10x price differences between two providers for the same service (or even between two patients at the same hospital) because all pricing is negotiated in a vacuum separately by every insurance company. It leads to a very distorted system with little downward price pressure.
We don't have a magic wand that we can wave to "fix healthcare", but we feel like we are driven by having a positive impact in the most pragmatic way possible. The premise will sound strange to people outside the US where heath care prices aren't defined by what insurance plan your job provides, but it is a huge market in the US where a ton of GDP is mis-spent on healthcare and ripe for disruption.
(And yes, we are hiring!)
This is really interesting, but given the price discrepancy I almost find it hard to believe? lol
A colonoscopy in NYC could cost me as low as $440 or up to $11k - cash price. Same providers with insurance are 1500 or 9000.
For some folks it's almost worth it to say you have no insurance and get the cash price at the same provider. I understood it was the other way around (negotiated rates). What a world we live in.
Price transparency is definitely an important aspect to make the US system a little less insane.
One thing is to expose the negotiated prices but I think another important aspect would be to collect actual bills and publish what got actually paid.
I once attended a presentation of a startup that was providing this service but focused on prescription drugs (with large companies as their client). Their first step in the process was to open and run a pharmacy so they could gain that perspective.
Do you have any ideas on jobs for an RN that would like to change the healthcare world. Particularly an RN that was worn down pre-pandemic from the cost optimization that leads to nurses having 2x+ the ideal patient load, and families treating them like waitresses? Asking for a friend.
My employer, Aledade.com, runs ACOs and provides analytics and an app to help primary-care practices keep better track of their patient population. It's not necessarily revolutionary -- we're doing conventional things like reducing blood-pressure, just trying to do so conscientously. Our careers page is at <https://www.aledade.com/current-opportunities>.
Oh, hey akuchling, Sean here, LTNS! If you're working there, it's got to be good! I'll take a look, thanks!
I really wish I had some good advice, but I don't unfortunately.