Please allow me to briefly introduce myself. I am a new member appointed to your IARP section board for life care planning. I am serving as Member at Large and liaison to Fair Health.
As many of you know IARP now offers, in addition to subscriptions to American Hospital directory, a subscription to Fair Health. We now have about 20 members who have purchased this Fair Health subscription. The Board wanted feedback from members on their subscription so we conducted a brief phone survey with several members who had purchased search packages.
6 members have purchased 2200 searches
11 members have purchased 775 searches
1 member purchased 385 searches
- Of the 6 members surveyed, 4 have used Fair Health extensively. One had not yet used it, and one member was using it in combination with other directories/services.
- The overall feedback was that Fair Health data was helpful to very helpful. The learning curve was still fresh for some: "Still trying to figure out what I'm looking for".
- All felt that the service was worth their time and investment.
- In terms of assistance required from Fair Health: Members requested that Jeff be available in Pittsburgh for conference. (Fair Health will be exhibiting at conference and will have a round table for discussion as well)
- There was a suggestion for a private panel of participants for feedback and troubleshooting, request for case histories, and feedback from other members on how they are faring with the service.
- Members had some reluctance about sharing their experiences in a forum with others about the program, however. The option of free webinars was mentioned as a more anonymous mechanism to field questions and feedback. There was concern about an open forum.
Fair Health offers charge data for inpatient, outpatient, dental, medical and anesthesia services by CPT, DRG or HCPCS coding and provides prices in the range of 50% to 95%. The search is conducted by geo zip. Fair Health is slightly different from AHD in that the data is collected from 19 BILLION billed procedures nationwide from 2002 to the present, including both government and private health insurance. AHD data is sourced from Medicare. Over 700 insurers, claims administrators, government agencies and medical providers use this same data.
I personally have found the tool easy to use. I am a sole proprietor with a full time life care planning practice in California. I have used well over my allotted 775 searches in a 4 month period. I have saved each of my searches for use in cases where the same code or procedure is called for in another case. For the first couple months, I compared the cost information with other data sources to understand how I intended to use the data. It will be up to you as an individual expert to determine how you will use this information, but thus far I have hit only one dead end in terms of getting a price: orthodontia. I am attaching a screenshot of the search interface for those of you who are curious.
For more information about the program follow this pathway from the home screen:We would love to field questions, should you wish to use this forum. You may also respond to Carl
- Section: IALCP Life Care Planning
- Locate the Left margin listing and select Membership Information and Benefits
- Select Fair Health listing
At the bottom of this information page are links to the pricing and to a contract that you can download and forward to Fair Health should you wish to proceed.
We would love to field questions, should you wish to use this forum. You may also respond to Carl Wangman (carlw@tcag.com), or me (liz@lcpnurse.com) privately with any questions or concerns. We will do our best to be of assistance. You may also contact Jeff Newbauer directly at
Jeff Newbauer
Consultant
FAIR Health, Inc.
O: 440.247.5720
C : 216.849.5590
jnewbauer@fairhealth.org
Your feedback and questions will help us and Fair Health to develop an information webinar for the IARP website.
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Liz Holakiewicz
Owner
liz@lcpnurse.comCarlsbad, CA United States
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