What if doctors bid for your medical care?

Every day, consumers make purchasing decisions based on price and quality. That is true in nearly every market – other than health care. In the traditional PPO environment, the only question has been, “Is this provider in my network?” Our ShiftShaper this week, Chris Hobbs, believes that the traditional PPO model is broken and that consumers need to know more than that to make informed purchasing decisions.

Chris is the CFO of MediBid, a company that is shaping a very unusual and effective tool for health care consumers. As a Canadian who immigrated to the United States, Chris’ perspective on the issue of health care transparency, payment and quality is a bit different. After completing a Request For Pricing, doctors bid on patients’ non-emergent care. Patients receive that data along with quality and other metrics to help them make informed decisions that result in better outcomes and savings for the plan.