It was a 60-degree January day in Geauga County when Todd Golling when for a motorcycle ride. But that ride ended with a trip to the hospital after a low-speed crash near the Chardon Square.
“Ten miles an hour, gave it a little gas, back end kicked out, left leg went down and I broke my ankle in three places," Golling recalled. "Didn’t know it at the time but my foot almost twisted off."
After surgery and therapy to repair his ankle five years ago, Todd still walks with a limp and is facing another surgery to stabilize the injured ankle. In preparation, the doctor ordered an MRI.
But after an injury to his wife left the family with a $1,750 bill after an MRI, Todd took advice from a friend and was determined to find the same service at a fraction of the price. He called the hospital and found out, even with insurance, the procedure would cost more than $800.
After researching online and making calls he found a facility offering the service he needed for just $350.
“I asked the hospital how much it is, like if you had no insurance and wanted to write a check, and they said $5,000,” Golling said.
“Consumers need to know and understand that depending on where you go in your in your network, the price can be very different, anywhere from two to 10 times as much, depending on the building you walk into,” said Bill Kampine, co-founder and senior vice president of HealthCare Bluebook.
His is just one of many services aimed at getting consumers the best possible service for the price in health care.
“Our purpose is to protect patients and expose the differences in price and enable the consumer to make better value-based choices for themselves,” Kampine said.
The company was founded 10 years ago by Kampine and Dr. Jeff Rice after Rice found a huge cost difference for the same service for his own family.
The hospital told Rice a minor procedure for his son would cost around $15,000 but Rice called another location and found the same procedure, performed by the same doctor, would only cost $1,500.
“That’s why we created Bluebook, is to make it easy for consumers to know what they should pay, to understand their local variability, to compare providers on cost and quality, to your point, just the same way you would for a car, a home a boat or anything else,” Kampine said. “If patients are going to go out of network, it is really important for them to negotiate or get the price in writing before they receive care, so they are not billed after the fact."
"There could be people putting off something more severe than my nasty limp and if they knew there was a $350 alternative compared to a $5,000 alternative, or even an $800, whatever is, a small percentage of what they would pay get whatever ails them repaired," Golling said.