"STATE OF HEALTHCARE"

Solutions Driven By Health Pass

Good morning everyone! I hope you are all having a great start to your Thursday. I sent out an update yesterday and have sent some of my connections an invitation to our formal introduction of a healthcare membership program called SPMG Health Pass. Based on some of the feedback that I received, I wanted to provide a few more details regarding the membership plan. Writing an "article" on LinkedIn may not be the best way to get the word out to the masses, as articles most often reach hundreds, while one of my LinkedIn updates typically hits an audience of 10k plus. However you don't get many characters on updates, therefore a lot of times those updates are left vague.

There is no question that the costs of healthcare in every sector have been rising. There are many factors, legislation, more people less staff less access, different economies different areas. Lately we place blame on insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, because there has been a huge influx in both of those costs and they affect us more often then going into the doctors office. The average person goes into their primary physician's office less than 3 times a year, usually quite sick, so money is not always the first thing on mind during those times. Also, insurance companies are good about offering their clients a copay, so the initial visit is sometimes as inexpensive as $25 to $35 bucks. That feels good, until 3 weeks later you get your mail after a 10 hour workday only to find a bill from the clinic for $500 plus. Most insurance plans you have to reach $6,000 to $10,000 dollar deductibles before you ever actually get to see the benefits of belonging to an insurance plan. So unless you consistently break a limb badly each year, odds are you are paying $1200 a month for a family of 3 plus copays, and you are still stuck paying healthcare facilities' retail costs.

Unfortunately there isn't going to be a miracle solution to every existing problem with costs associated to healthcare. Hopefully it gets better, but it's not going to be overnight.

In Southwest Oklahoma where Southern Plains Medical Group currently has 3 clinics and a surgery center, with more coming soon, I have personally witnessed these costs really affect families, individuals, that simply can't afford to take care of their #1 asset in life....their health. Local businesses in manufacturing, oil, farming, in this part of the country can't afford to offer healthcare, and since most of them are under the employee amount that mandates providing benefits, they have left employees having to go to the exchange and or grab a self funded insurance plan. Hourly wages under $20 an hour, part time workers, a lot, have just decided that they would face the small fine for not carrying insurance. Or leave family members uninsured.

There has to be something out there to fill the gaps. To somehow provide some type of benefits, some type of healthcare. For those businesses that simply can't offer, what would it do for your moral, for your retention, if you could offer something. Something that wouldn't break someone's back just to afford to see a doctor, or to take their child in for a well child exam, or if they had a cold. Something that won't break the company's bank.  Legislation and regulations are going to have to fix the insurance market place, same with pharmaceuticals. This lengthy process can't be the only solution. We can't allow it to be.

So Southern Plains Medical Group has created something that will dramatically decrease the cost of actual medical services. In our area of Oklahoma compared to Oklahoma City, we have created a membership plan that will allow us to have a fee schedule for members, that will cut their actual medical services costs by up to 70%. Businesses will only have to incur a one time sign and set up fee of $100.00. Individuals won't incur a set up fee. The cool part of this program, is that it will only get better in time thru membership activity.

I would again like to invite and welcome anyone in business, hr, admin, owner, to individuals to attend our information meeting Tuesday Dec. 13th 5:30pm at Canadian Valley Tech-Chickasha, OK Campus. I know it's after work, we will have drinks and light food.

Here are some examples of cost difference, our membership program "Health Pass" vs avg. cost of like services in OKC: (average OKC cost comes from Healthcare Blue Book and New Choice Health)

 Service                                   OKC Avg Price                       SPMG Health Pass

 Office Visit                                         $130.00                                              $75.00

 Office Visit with                                 $175.00                                              $100.00

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel

 Digital X-Ray                                      $75.00                                                $50.00

 MRI                                                   $750.00                                              $300.00

 MRI w/ Contrast                                $1100.00                                            $400.00

 CT                                                       $700.00                                              $200.00

 CT w/ Contrast                                  $800.00                                              $300.00

 Well Child Visit                                   $190.00                                              $100.00

 Well Child Visit (adolescent)            $209.00                                              $115.00

 Eye Exam                                           $264.00                                              $75.00 

Lipid Panel                                         $40.00                                                $25.00

 General Health Panel                        $105.00                                              $40.00

 Bone Density                                    $90.00                                                $55.00

 Ultrasound                                        $285.00                                              $190.00