TALON (TALONhealthtech.com), a leader in helping companies comply with the newly-enacted Transparency in Coverage Rule, was highlighted along with its Founder and CEO, entrepreneur Mark Galvin, in recent Forbes.com piece by Wayne Winegarden.
The article, entitled, Transparency is a Necessary First Step Toward a Better Healthcare System, quotes Galvin, who was instrumental in the U.S. Government’s creation of the historic Health Care Price Transparency regulation, which took effect last July.
“It’s been a long road, and I must say it is an honor to see TALON’s leadership recognized by an esteemed publication like Forbes,” said Galvin. “We are working very hard every day to educate and help bring companies into compliance with the Transparency in Coverage Rule so that they can avoid the potential $100 per person daily penalty against their health care plans. For a company with 2,000 employees, that can add up to over $400,000 in fines per day from the federal government when considering that each employee generally represents 2.2 covered individuals, once spouses and children are considered, so this education and compliance is an urgent matter. Perhaps more importantly is that employers and their employees can save substantial costs by leveraging these new mandates to stop overpaying, on average, 41% for their care.”
The Transparency in Coverage Rule requires plan sponsors (employers) to give 212 million consumers ready, geolocated access to the prices of virtually every medical test and procedure on the market so they can decide for themselves whether to choose, for example, an $800 MRI of the lower back or the $6,000 one being offered across town. (The prices for an MRI of exactly the same quality can be that dramatically different, within a 10 miles radius—or less. The price for the simple blood tests can vary 1,000 percent or more). The required consumer facing tool must also show anticipated out of pocket costs for the employee.
TALON is the leading software solution that provides consumers with all the information now required by the federal rule right on their mobile devices (think the Good Rx model or Google of Healthcare)—accurate prices for virtually every medical test and procedure from every provider with their specific network discounts considered.
“In the past—and it will soon seem like the distant past—consumers didn’t much care about pricing,” TALON CEO Mark Galvin said. “They weren’t paying, anyhow. But that’s over. Lots of consumers have high deductible health plans and just aren’t going to pay $5,000 for something that they can get for $400—especially when companies like TALON make that data accessible on-demand for them right on their smart phones. For others, on health plans that have removed consumer optics with structures like “co-pays,” our MyMedicalRewards shared savings reward system provides the needed economic benefit to subscribers to care about costs.”
Galvin says that more and more companies are contracting to provide their employees with TALON since the rule took effect on Jan 1—and not just to avoid fines. “They’re providing it because if they are self-insured, then the savings achieved through Price Transparency go right to the bottom line,” he said. “And if not self-insured, then the savings soon result in decreased health care premiums paid to insurers. That’s a win-win, and big step forward in the quest to give consumers a bigger seat at the healthcare table.”
