PriceCheck Project Helps Make Health Care Costs More Transparent

Ever try to figure out what things cost in health care? There’s a new public radio project here to help.

People and communities across California are joining hands to create a crowdsourced database of health care prices, with the help of two big California public radio stations and a New York journalism startup.

KQED public radio in San Francisco, KPCC/Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles, and New York startup clearhealthcosts.com came up with the groundbreaking idea to make a pricing database so individuals wouldn’t have to wonder what things cost in health care.

The project, called #PriceCheck, launched recently at this KQED page and this KPCC page.

How Does it Work?

People who want to learn more can go to the launch pages for KQED or KPCC. The pages links to a widget that lets people share prices and search for costs of different health care procedures, medications and more.

Right now, the project has data from a pricing survey of California done by the journalists at clearhealthcosts.com, and also shared data from our communities.

The response from our communities was immediate:

• “This is a wonderful project!”
• “First, thank you for doing this!! Something I have wanted for years.”
• “I love what your organization is trying to do.”
• “This was essentially a charge of $1,264.00 to receive a prescription.”
• “Transparency is desperately needed.”

The partners started out by focusing on mammograms in California, with the intent to expand. Dozens of Californians have contributed prices to the database.

The costs charged for mammograms range from $90 to $1,200. The prices paid by insurers for mammograms range from $134 to $1,200.

The comments by contributors are remarkable. They chose not to confine themselves to mammogram prices, and we celebrate that. Below are some comments we received from our contributors:

• “Without Obamacare, I would not have health insurance.”
• “Discount was 25.37. I have no idea what this charge is for and how it's different from Mammogram screening. This is the 2nd of 4 charges for my Mammogram.”
• “Each August I have a mammogram. Each September I get a refusal to pay from Anthem Blue Cross saying they need additional information. Then I call Blue Cross and provide the information they need. Then each January I finally pay the $5 that is not covered by insurance. For the life of me I cannot see why every year we need to go through this dance! If I did not have a family history of breast cancer I might give up.”
• “This was a 5 minute visit, no tests were order or done, doctor was a bit curt and rude, charge seems excessive.”
• “Insurance denied removal of lap-band. Vanderbilt wanted to gouge/charge $25,000 for the same procedure. TRANSPARANCY IS DESPERATELY NEEDED.”
• “The emergency department removed five small stitches from my daughters shin and gave her a prescription for antibiotics. We would have removed the stitches ourselves, but they were infected and sore and she needed the antibiotics which they would not prescribe over the phone. This was essentially a charge of $1,264.00 to receive a prescription.”

Tell Us About the Data

The #PriceCheck data set is expanding all the time, and so far is almost exclusively California-focused.

For non-California data, people can go to clearhealthcosts.com, where the journalists on staff have collected several kinds of data:

• Cash or self-pay prices for 30-35 “shoppable” procedures in seven major U.S. metro areas (the New York area; Los Angeles and San Francisco areas in California; and four Texas metro areas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.)
• Medicare pricing search tools for about 8,400 procedures anywhere in the United States via a simple search tool on the front page. This is valuable because prices vary widely, and the Medicare rates are the closest thing to a fixed or benchmark price in the marketplace.
• Savvy consumer advice on things like saving money on prescriptions, how to shop for an MRI, a sleep study or a range of other procedures.

Each month of the pilot program, funded by a Prototype Fund grant from the Knight Foundation, will focus on one non-lifesaving procedure, encouraging California residents to share not just the charges, but also the prices paid by individuals and insurers. The first procedure for California consumers to share about is mammograms. Consumers can share prices and access the database at kqed.org/pricecheck. Names and contact information for the participants will be completely confidential.

The project does not aspire to being exhaustive or comprehensive, but rather representative. Data shared by the public will allow journalists at KQED and SCPR to look deeply into the issues and develop stories that will illuminate discrepancies and spark conversations. If the pilot program is successful, the project could extend past four months.

How Did the Project Come About?

The partners all have deep experience in health reporting, and they wanted to answer a simple question: Why can’t we know what things cost in health care?

“We are in the early days of the biggest expansion of health insurance in 50 years, and transparency is more important than ever,” said Colleen Wilson, executive director, KQED Interactive. “This project will not only provide a data repository that can be used by our reporters, but also allow the public to make more informed decisions.”

Paul Glickman, KPCC senior editor, said, “Southern California Public Radio is eager to join with ClearHealthCosts.com and KQED on this important project. One of the foundations of our health care coverage is our desire to help consumers navigate the health care system, and anything that pulls back the curtain on medical costs can make a significant contribution to that effort.”

Jeanne Pinder, founder and CEO of ClearHealthCosts.com, said, “People should know what things cost in health care. We'll use the power of our communities to reveal the secrets of the marketplace, and join hands to make this opaque system more transparent.”

The Partners

KQED serves the people of Northern California with a public-supported alternative to commercial media. Home to the most-listened-to public radio station in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and a leader in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration — exposing them to new people, places and ideas. KQED.org.

Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) is a member-supported public media network that operates 89.3 KPCC-FM in Los Angeles and Orange County, 89.1 KUOR-FM in the Inland Empire and 90.3 KVLA in the Coachella Valley. SCPR's mission is to strengthen the civic and cultural bonds that unite Southern California's diverse communities by providing the highest quality news and information service through radio and other interactive media. SCPR.org.

ClearHealthCosts.com is a New York City startup bringing transparency to the health care marketplace by telling people what stuff costs. Using a combination of shoe-leather journalism, database sourcing and curation, crowdsourcing and partnering, ClearHealthCosts.com is revealing the secrets of an opaque marketplace, and seeking to help solve one of the biggest problems we face as a nation. For more, visit clearhealthcosts.com.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.