The following post is about how I developed an application named Medgibility, utilizing Python and various API’s, that aims to promote cost transparency to consumers in healthcare.
The Problem – The cost of your healthcare is not transparent or readily available.
According to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, surprise out-of-network billing and related patients’ costs are increasing among inpatient admissions and emergency department visits to in-network hospitals.
Stanford University researchers found that from 2010 through 2016, 39% of 13.6 million trips to the ED at an in-network hospital by privately insured patients resulted in an out-of-network bill. That figure increased during the study period from about a third of ED visits nationwide in 2010 to 42.8% in 2016.
How should you interpret this? Ask yourself the question: Have I ever gotten a bill from my medical provider that caught me by surprise?
MEDGIBILITY – My Solution
Medgibility is an application that allow users to “shop around” with their health insurance. Why is the user experience for shopping, banking or vacationing so easy, but medical care is not? With this application, user’s can see if their health insurance covers a service provided by any registered medical practice in the area or region, whether that practice is in or out of network. As well, it is insurance card agnostic, allowing those with multiple insurance cards to see where the most coverage will be provided BEFORE going to the medical practice.
About This Demonstration
The application presented below is for demo purposes only, and is not the full application. There is one example/scenario that has been made available for use below. However, a full version of this application should be able to be applied to any medical practice in the area, in or out of network.
