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El Camino Hospital has launched an online price estimator tool aimed at improving quality and cost transparency for its patients, according to hospital officials.
El Camino Hospital’s price calculator provides cost estimates for 80 medical services and procedures. The tool allows for people to see the price of a service or procedure, with or without health insurance.
“We wanted to offer an online tool that people could conveniently and easily access to obtain a personalized out-of-pocket cost estimate based on their insurance benefits,” according to Iftikhar Hussain, chief financial officer of El Camino Hospital.
The hospital spent a year making the calculator, launching the pilot version in May. The hospital is dedicating the next few months to revising and improving the estimator. The public can expect to see more services added in the future, including more surgical procedures.
“Since the pilot, we have made several improvements and created a mechanism for feedback,” Hussain said.
Hussain said the price estimator is part of the hospital’s larger strategy of measuring quality of patient care and safety, which is frequently reviewed through public committee meetings.
“Our Quality Committee meetings are public and their meeting materials are posted online,” Hussain wrote in an email.
“Estimates” are nearly useless. Firm price quotations are necessary.
The hospital is obviously trying. Do other hospitals do this?
@ Cafehunk: They cannot possibly give you an exact amount. Were you able to even get an estimate before? When you get your car serviced, you only get an estimate! C’mon.
@ Common Sense Too: You wrote down 9 items…unless each of those have 9 sub-categories, you missed about 71 other items. The article says there are 80 items that they can estimate.
By the way, was there an estimate for even 1 last year? How about at the other hospitals? I have no idea, ‘cuz I have never heard of this before…does Stanford give an estimate online?
Everyone is very negative…even when a company is trying to do something good! What a shame. Why should they even try?
They make you enter all your insurance info (name, group #, individual #) only then to produce the list of services for which they provide a cost estimate!
FYI – It’s ONLY THESE!
Colonoscopy
EKG – EEG
Lab
Maternity
Occupational Therapy
Physical Therapy
Prenatal Diagnostic Center
Radiology/Imaging
Speech Therapy
Would have been helpful if this article or their website had provided this info UPFRONT!