Clearity Health, a new organization created by successful local founders and medical doctors, launches today in Austin. Its namesake healthcare cost search engine will show users exactly what other patients with similar conditions have paid at local hospitals and medical offices, including information about what services may be required. Because it is powered by a crowdsourced dataset of real patient experiences, Clearity is calling for anyone who has sought care at an Austin-area facility to submit anonymized copies of their medical bills via their secure website. With this cost information, Clearity promises to create true transparency in healthcare and give power back to patients while resolutely protecting the privacy of all uploaders.
“I had to have my appendix out, and even though I had no complications and left the same day, I was surprised by nearly $70,000 in bills, most of them from the hospital facility itself. Over the course of a year spent fighting those bills, I was shocked to learn about vastly different costs for the same services at different hospitals. If I’d have known what each hospital charged for my procedure, I might have gone to a different facility and saved thousands of dollars and weeks of time and stress. I started Clearity to give people the transparency in healthcare costs that I wish I’d had.” – Albert K, Clearity Co-Founder and CTO
Actual out of pocket healthcare costs can vary dramatically between different facilities and providers, with some patients paying more than 10 times more than others receiving similar care just blocks or miles away. Despite this, only about 3% of US patients effectively price-compare before seeking treatment. It is currently nearly impossible for everyday people to find out what others are paying for treatment from different providers, so patients often go in blind and then get surprised with large bills.
Clearity aims to change that. When a patient uploads a bill through the secure portal, they empower other others in their community with valuable information that can have a profound impact on their lives. Future patients simply log into Clearity, choose their condition, and browse through local providers to see what they’ve charged others for treatment.
By sharing past medical bills at www.clearityhealth.com/fight-back, anyone can help make true transparency in healthcare a reality.
SOURCE Clearity Health
