Sapphire Digital Says Health Shopping Support Services Really Saved Money
The firm says helping patients shop cut colonoscopy bills by about 25%.
A company with a health care shopping support service says it can show that the service saved money.
Sapphire Digital — the Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based parent of the SmartShopper program —says the program helped members of employer-sponsored health plans cut the total amount spent on five common types of procedures an average of about 25% to 40%.
(Related: Health Care Shopping System Firm Gets New CEO)
The program gives users digital shopping information, along with help from live humans. In 2019, the program allocated $33.5 million in savings to the plan sponsors and $4.7 million to the patients, in the form of cash incentives, according to Sapphire Digital.
The program cut spending on colonoscopies to an actual amount of about $15 million, from a projected amount of $20 million, according to Sapphire Digital figures, and calculations based on Sapphire Digital figures.
Colonoscopy savings averaged $1,062 per shopped procedure, the company says.
The program cut spending on lab work to $3.4 million, from a projected amount of $5.7 million, or an average of $209 per shopped procedure.
The overall average savings on a shopped procedure was $654, Sapphire Digital says.
— Read Consumer Advocate: Shopping Not Easy for Medicare Enrollees, on ThinkAdvisor.
— Connect with ThinkAdvisor Life/Health on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.