Healthcare research firm Amino has launched a new medical cost estimation tool that helps patients assess procedure costs -- including imaging -- at facilities across the U.S.
The tool allows patients to search by region and calculate what they might pay out of pocket at a particular facility based on their insurance. The estimates are based on the company's analysis of claims data from 129 health insurance companies, including insurers such as Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group, Amino said.
To capture all services that could affect the total price of a procedure -- for example, whether or not a patient receives contrast for an MRI -- Amino uses an "episode of care" model that takes into account the relative frequency of various services, according to the firm.
"We sum the weighted prices of all services and procedures in our episode of care to produce an estimate for the network rate," the company said in a statement. "For example, if 50% of patients who received an MRI also received an injection of contrast medium as part of the procedure, then the relative frequency of the injection of contrast medium during an MRI is 50%. If the price of the injection is $100, the weighted price of the injection is $50."
Amino currently shows cost estimates for more than 14,000 facilities in more than 5,000 cities.
Last year, the company launched a similar tool that allows patients to compare costs for common medical procedures and services by physician. This tool is based on $860 billion in insurance claims from between June 2015 and April 2016, Amino said.
