Americans have long been deprived of actual healthcare costs. According to KFF, the unknown and high cost of healthcare is a burden for Americans and a significant reason for financial stress. We have struggled and failed to curb excessive healthcare prices, mitigate surprise bills, and reduce medical debts.
The Healthcare Price Transparency issue is real to many of us, but it is especially apparent to me.
For more than 23 years as a physician and a senior healthcare executive, I have seen patients delay or avoid seeking care due to the fear of the unknown or excessive healthcare costs. Delay in care leads to the development of chronic diseases. Many patient families have to spend their entire savings on treating acute diseases. Surprise medical bills have been the old sinner ripping patients off their life savings.
ZeaHealth- The Early Player in Healthcare Price Transparency Scenario
The US administration is now prioritizing healthcare price transparency in magnitude after the Trump administration mandated hospitals to publish their standard rates publicly on their websites in January 2021. But for me, making healthcare affordable and accessible for all was a priority from the beginning.
I was always passionate about disrupting healthcare to make it affordable for all. So, in 2018, I initiated ZeaHealth– my health tech venture committed to innovating and transforming the current healthcare scenario.
We provide structured and transparent data on the cost of care to make pricing data transparent and accessible to patients. We aim to make healthcare shoppable, affordable, and easily accessible for all.
Technology is Key to Achieving Price Transparency
As a fast-paced startup, ZeaHealth uses next-gen technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and analytics to fetch complex healthcare pricing data and convert it into a more straightforward, consumer-friendly format.
Using advanced technologies in healthcare could solve this complex problem- this is what I firmly believe. With this assurance, I created Two Products- ZeaTool and ZeaMed.
ZeaTool
Zeatool is our price transparency tool with an AI-enabled 53 rule compliance engine where hospitals can run their data against the compliance engine and see if they meet the criteria.
We have analyzed data from over 5000 hospitals using this tool and found that more than 85% of hospitals are non-compliant with CMS mandatory requirements and face a penalty of up to $2M.
Through Zeatool, hospitals can publish chargemaster and 300 shoppable services data in a machine-readable format. Zeatool has built-in analytics capability and provides insights to providers about competitor analysis and compares their gross price, cash prices, min negotiated rates, maximum negotiated rates, and each insurance negotiated rate.
ZeaMed
ZeaMed is a consumer-marketplace app that will transform the data collected in Zeatool from hospitals and other healthcare providers into a consumer-friendly format. The app allows consumers to compare costs based on location, select, pay, and book. Consumers can see the quality of providers using CMS quality rating data. Further, self-insured employers can choose low-cost providers through direct contracting or their third-party agency.
The ZeaMed app won the Shoals Idea Auditions in 2018. In 2020, Project healthcare by Nashville Entrepreneur Center promoted the ZeaMed app nationally as the healthcare savings app.
ZeaHealth- Spreading the Awareness About Healthcare Price Transparency
Since 2018, ZeaHealth has been committed to educating Americans about Healthcare price transparency and creating global awareness. We aim to empower consumers with pricing information to help them make well-informed healthcare decisions. We at ZeaHealth have been educating consumers, employers, providers, insurance, policymakers and all healthcare stakeholders through many streams, including webinars, podcasts, blogs, social media posts, newsletters, videos, etc.
Building a Culture of Price Transparency
Social Media:
We have posted over 500+ posts and 100+ Blogs on Price Transparency on all Social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram) to educate Americans about the importance of transparent healthcare prices. We have also been conferring the benefits of CMS Compliance and encouraging hospitals to disclose their healthcare pricing data for all Americans.
Price Transparency Reports:
Zeahealth has collected hospital pricing data from 5,139 hospitals in the United States and determined if each hospital has published its data correctly or not. Read our findings about price transparency data that we collected in 2021 for hospitals and our recommendations to CMS about how a standard form would help to gather data quickly.
We have been posting compliance reports of hospitals in different states and regions.
USA Price Transparency Report 2021: According to ZeaTool Analysis, out of 5139 hospitals analyzed, only 1686(33%) are compliant. While 3453(67%) are non-compliant.
Price Transparency Report 2021 – Northeast Region: According to ZeaTool Analysis, out of 688 hospitals analyzed, only 207(30%) are compliant. While 481 (70%) are non-compliant.
Price Transparency Report 2022 – Southwest Region: According to ZeaTool Analysis, out of 690 hospitals analyzed, only 75(11%) are compliant. While 615 (89%) are non-compliant.
Price Transparency Initiatives by ZeaHealth
ZeaPearls
ZeaPearls or Price Pearls are the specific prices for a single care service. ZeaMed has posted ZeaPearls on all social platforms as a gift for Americans. With ZeaPearls, ZeaMed brings transparent healthcare prices close to Americans.
Americans can find ZeaPearls on ZeaMed, our consumer healthcare marketplace, to seek and compare actual prices for healthcare services and procedures. They can enter their location and procedure name and get a list of care providers and transparent prices before seeking care. They can visit our website zeamed.com to make well-informed decisions on care and save their hard-earned money.
ZeaPledges
ZeaPledge is a promise to bring price transparency in healthcare. With ZeaPledge, we encouraged Americans to take an oath or make a promise to ask for healthcare prices and be an empowered healthcare consumer. Each one who takes the pledge has to challenge two more people for the same.
ZeaStar Certificates
We introduced ZeaStar Certificates to appreciate the hospitals that have gone above and beyond to help their consumers with prices. We encourage all hospitals to comply with the CMS rule and support their consumers with upfront prices before seeking care. The certificate recognizes, values, and shows gratitude for hospitals that follow the CMS Price Transparency rule.
Recognition By Media:
November 9, 2021- ZeaMed has been recognized by 10TV as the leading Startup committed to bringing Healthcare Price Transparency. The host, Clay Gordon, was highly impressed by our work and thus, approached me to interview for their channel, requesting an elaborate discussion on how ZeaMed started, our mission, how we collected the hospital’s data, specifics about Ohio hospitals, and much more.
Creating Price Transparency Awareness
If we want complete Price Transparency, it is first vital to educate and inform people about Price Transparency and how it can change the healthcare scenario in favor of Americans.
The levels of transparency still need to be deeper, so there is still a lot of confusion. Educating patients, employers, and care providers and directing them toward financial transparency in healthcare is very important. Many hospitals struggle to comply due to a lack of knowledge and understanding about the CMS Price Transparency mandate requirements.
Since 2018, I have been giving webinars, podcasts, interviews, and lectures to spread awareness about Healthcare Price Transparency.
Podcasts and Webinars
I have been conducting and participating in many Webinars and podcasts on Healthcare Price Transparency.
- Webinar on Price Transparency in Healthcare to Southern Medical Association. – September 20, 2022
- Annual Indiana & Purdue University Pitch Session on the Price Transparency Engine & Healthcare Marketplace. – May 25, 2022
- Webinar with Dr. Herman Williams on Price Transparency By (ASHNHA) – February 9, 2022
- Live Presentation at Tech Alpharetta & Zoom about the most crucial topic in healthcare- Price Transparency in Healthcare & how ZeaHealth is solving the problem. – November 17, 2021
- Webinar with Dr. Herman Williams & Caitlyn Penington- August 27, 2021
- Webinar with William Horton & Dawn Bulgarella. – Nov 12, 2020
- Interview with James Stout & Laven Beard on CMS Hospital Price Transparency. – June 13, 2021
DIO Lecture Series
As the Designated Institutional Official (DIO), I have been giving didactics and lectures to the Internal Medical Residents of the Graduate Medical Education program at North Alabama Medical Center.
DIO Lecture series- Presentation on Health Economics and Price Transparency to NAMC IM Residents. – April 1, 2022
ZeaMed + Project Healthcare
ZeaMed is a proud member of Nashville Entrepreneur Center Project Healthcare Cohort 2021 and 2022.
Annual showcase at Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Healthcare Cohort. – 28 April 2022.
Looking to the Future
ZeaHealth is collecting data from insurance providers to make it publicly available for consumers. With our ZeaTool, we can help insurance companies comply with the CMS Price Transparency mandate.
The detailed data about the negotiated rates prices by insurance companies will make it easy for employers to avoid third-party negotiators and make direct contracts. We look forward to bringing complete price transparency to the US healthcare system. We will continue to educate and motivate patients, hospitals, insurance providers, employers, media, physicians, governing authorities, and all Americans to support price transparency.
We are on a journey towards a financially healthy and informed healthcare nation. We urge all to join us on our mission of transforming healthcare, making it accessible, affordable, and shoppable for all.
