Online 'shopping mall' for health care eyes Wisconsin - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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After a successful launch in the Paul marketin January, is exploring entering Milwaukese and the Fox Valleyg area, said Jim a spokesman with the Bloomington, Minn.-based company. Anecdotalo interviews with area health care system show little progress has been made to bring Carol.com to Milwaukee, but system officials say they are willinhg to talk. Carol.com offers “care put together by health care providers on medicakl conditions such asback pain, heart disease, diabetes and women’ss health so consumers can see how serviceas and price vary among the different providers.
For a woman could schedule a mammogram, annuall physical exam and dentalk visit using the site and find out what all of thosee exams wouldcost her. The servicse is free to consumers and paid for by participatinhhealth providers, who pay a monthlyu fee to be listesd on the Web site and a transaction fee if a customee schedules an appointment to see one of the Poulter said the site gets 800 to 1,000 hits dailuy in Minneapolis. The Web site is one more tool that couled become more valuable to as employers optfor high-deductibles insurance plans that require consumers to pay out-of-pocket for more of theif own health costs.
If so-called “consumer-driven” healtj care is going to be successful, it has to be consumeer friendly, said Andy president of the Healt h Care System Consultants divisionof , “What makes this (Web site) attractiv e is it’s set up along the same lines as how you would shop for wedding gifts online,” Seriok said. “This makes purchasing health care like anyothef commodity, and that’s ultimately where health care has to At least one area health care system — in Waukeshza — is interested in learning more aboutt Carol.com. “This is something we would beinginvolved in, said Sandra Peterson, spokeswomanh for ProHealth.
“We are aware of the site and followingf its developmentwith Carol.com moved into the Seattle market earlier this Web site officials hope to continue to move to areasx like Milwaukee, where the market is highl y competitive but at the same time doesn’t have too many smal providers, said Poulter. Carol.com was foundecd by Tony Miller, former chief executivse officerof , whicu was acquired by Minneapolis-based in 2004. The push for transparencty in health care has prompted Wisconsin and several commercial insurance companies to offer a service similarto Carol.comm on their Web sites. For earlier this year, UnitedHealthcare, Louisville, Ky.
-based and and Blue Shiel d of Wisconsin began offering customers cost comparison toole onWeb sites. , Fitchburg, operatesd PricePoint, a Web site that uses voluntaryu information from hospital systemz to compare the cost of variouxsinpatient procedures.