HealthLynked Corp. Releases "Cost Lynk"
A National Healthcare Pricing Transparency Tool for Patients
NAPLES, Florida, Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthLynked Corp. (OTCQB: HLYK), a nationwide healthcare network focused on care management of its members and a provider of healthcare technologies that connect doctors, patients and medical data, today announced that it has released its national healthcare pricing tool, "Cost Lynk."
The Cost Lynk allows patients to compare pricing of healthcare services from their local market to other locations across the nation. The Pricing tool provides national averages for hospital procedures as well as doctor visits. The Cost Lynk tool can be accessed on the HealthLynked website at: https://www.healthlynked.com/estimator/.
Healthcare pricing has long been a problem for patients who are not provided pricing for expensive procedures from hospitals and are often left with sticker shock weeks later when faced with large medical bills. Hospitals have been resistant to provide pricing for medical procedures, but recent legislation has required this information to become available to patients.
Healthcare price transparency goes well beyond meeting federal compliance rules, it's about giving patients what they really want—accurate out-of-pocket costs. By providing accurate estimates prior to service, our healthcare cost transparency solution allows patients to self-estimate their out-of-pocket costs.
The Cost Lynk pricing tool offers:
- National average costs for procedures
- Local average costs for procedures
- Average costs by hospital for comparison
- Commonly grouped procedures
- What to expect from procedures
- How to prepare for the procedures
- Questions to ask your healthcare provider regarding specific procedures
More than most other industries, healthcare is known for its lack of price transparency. While patients generally know how much their co-pays are, they are poorly informed about what their final bill might be. Few hospitals and practices publish their costs for services prior to those services being provided. This puts consumers at a serious disadvantage since they are not provided an option to shop around.
In recent legislation, the State of Florida passed a bill that will require licensed healthcare facilities to not only provide a "good faith estimate of anticipated charges" but also to make available on their website pricing data or tools that will allow policy holders to make estimates of costs and charges. The federal government is confident that the new requirements will increase competition in the healthcare industry, reduce prices and support greater innovation throughout the healthcare sector.
In November 2019, Alex Azar, the HHS Secretary, said, "President Trump has promised American patients' A+ healthcare transparency, but right now our system probably deserves an F on transparency. President Trump is going to change that, with what will be revolutionary changes for our healthcare system. Today's transparency announcement may be a more significant change to American healthcare markets than any other single thing we've done, by shining light on the costs of our shadowy system and finally putting the American patient in control."
The final rule on healthcare transparency is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2021. Under the hospital price transparency rule, hospitals must publish their standard charges online in a machine-readable format. They will need to create at least 300 "shoppable" services, including 70 selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS.
Dr. Michael Dent CEO of HealthLynked, stated: "It is more important than ever for patients to know exactly what they are paying for healthcare services as costs continue to rise. HealthLynked is one of the first companies to provide a national pricing tool for healthcare procedures. Currently, we have more hospital pricing data for our Florida members, but as other states pass legislation that make pricing information available, we will continue to update and expand our data."
"I am confident the Cost Lynk tool will empower our members with the ability to determine pricing for routine procedures and allow them to decide which facility and provider is the best fit for their needs," concluded Dr. Dent.
About HealthLynked Corp.
HealthLynked Corp. provides a solution for both patient members and providers to improve healthcare through the efficient exchange of medical information. The HealthLynked Network is a cloud-based platform that allows members to connect with their healthcare providers and take more control of their healthcare. Members enter their medical information, including medications, allergies, past surgeries and personal health records, in one convenient online and secure location, free of charge. Participating healthcare providers can connect with their current and future patients through the system. Benefits to in-network providers include the ability to utilize the HealthLynked patent pending patient access hub "PAH" for patient analytics. Other benefits for preferred providers include HLYK marketing tools to connect with their active and inactive patients to improve patient retention, access more accurate and current patient information, provide more efficient online scheduling and to fill last minute cancelations using our "real time appointment scheduling" all within our mobile application. Preferred providers pay a monthly fee to access these HealthLynked services. For additional information about HealthLynked Corp. visit www.healthlynked.com and connect with HealthLynked on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Statements
Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results, including as a result of any acquisitions, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by our management, and us are inherently uncertain. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. Certain risks and uncertainties applicable to our operations and us are described in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings we have made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available at www.sec.gov.
Contact:
George O'Leary
Chief Financial Officer
[email protected]
+1-(800)-928-7144, ext. 99
Investor Relations Contacts:
Stephanie Prince
PCG Advisory Group
[email protected]
+1-646-762-4518
Jim Hock
Hanover International Inc.
[email protected]
+1-760-564-7400
SOURCE HealthLynked Corp.
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