What You Should Know:
- Bain-backed digital health payments company, Zelis today announced the acquisition of Sapphire Digital, a healthcare consumer-centered pricing and navigation software company serving more than 100M members. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
- Sapphire’s platform offers tools for provider search and selection, quality ratings and reviews, pricing data, cost calculators, and more to help consumers find the lowest cost and highest quality care
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Healthcare Transparency
Drug Pricing Transparency: Can Health IT Lower Drug Pricing for Patients?
Certain practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have helped jack up drug prices to the point where many people can no longer afford their medications. For example, PBMs charge health plans considerably more for a drug than they pay pharmacies for the same medication. This “ingredient spread,” which generates much of the PBMs’ profits, results in health plans placing drugs into a higher-price tier. As a result, members’ copayments go up. Sometimes they’re higher than the cash prices for
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5 Considerations to Enable a Modern Healthcare Commerce Strategy
The healthcare industry is facing a number of external market forces that are creating the perfect pricing storm. Industry consolidation, regulation and new demands for transparency are putting added pressure on healthcare manufacturers, with many left wondering about how they can profitably compete. Over the last three decades, more than 1,000 healthcare manufacturers have been acquired due to competitive consolidation. The catalyst for this volatility can be attributed to the lack of
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The “Cashification” of Healthcare
It’s understandable that so many people automatically assume that health insurance provides a benefit. After all, we’ve been conditioned for so long to think that insurance, through some arrangement with our employer, is actually picking up the tab. If that’s true, why not go with the steak instead of the chicken, and for that matter, why not throw in dessert?
For anyone who thinks we haven’t been acting like perfect healthcare consumers for the last 30 years, you may want a refresher on
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Infographic: The Healthcare Transparency Revolution
HealthSparq, provider of healthcare transparency solutions has commissioned a first-of-its-kind benchmark study of healthcare transparency sentiment and plans as reported by health plan executives nationwide.
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