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Integrated health care transparency software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions specialist HealthSparq announced that it has acquired ClarusHealth Solutions, a health care provider search vendor.
Through its Consumer Guidance Platform, Clarus integrates provider search, quality, treatment cost and health information into a single online solution, enabling health plan members and employees to access information in context.
The company said more than 4 million searches are delivered every month through the Consumer Guidance Platform, and Clarus’ health plan clients cover more than one-third of the insured population in the United States.
Together, HealthSparq and ClarusHealth plan to provide health plans and employers with a more robust and integrated health care shopping platform, allowing their members and employees to make informed health care decisions, with the ultimate goal of incurring lower costs.
“HealthSparq’s co-founders are health care transparency pioneers and our solutions are proven in the marketplace,” Scott Decker, president of HealthSparq, said in a statement. “Adding the ClarusHealth team and product offering to HealthSparq’s capabilities will allow us to continue to innovate and provide our customers with industry-leading healthcare shopping solutions.”
The combined organization will be a major player in the integrated transparency and health care shopping space, providing solutions and tools to 60 different health insurance plans that together provide coverage for more than 60 million individuals.
“We’re excited to join forces with HealthSparq to address the escalating needs of our customers,” Mark Menton, CEO of ClarusHealth, said in a statement. “The mission of ClarusHealth has always been to empower informed health care decisions. By collaborating with HealthSparq, we are able to provide our customers with the most robust and innovative solutions available.”
A case study conducted with the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest showed potential savings of $49 million based on usage of HealthSparq’s Treatment Cost Estimator tool for treatments related to specific medical conditions.
In December, HealthSparq unveiled a new product to be offered to employers through the company’s health plan customers nationwide. With the new product HealthSparq will offer employees an online shopping tool that allows them to research and compare their health care options, such as treatments, providers, facilities and costs, before seeking care.
This allows employees to be more informed decision makers about their health care costs without sacrificing quality health care, and can lead to decreasing health care costs.
For example, a Single Search feature lets employees research their health care needs—from treatment options and provider choices to prices, while the Real Prices features allows employees to find out how much they’ll owe for care, based on their health plan’s contracts, benefits and coverage.