Consumers enter what type of service they’re seeking, be it primary care services for a year or a joint replacement, and providers across the country and throughout the world can bid. The consumer reviews the bids and the providers’ profiles — which include information on experience, training and outcomes — and can schedule the service if one seems a good fit.
The consumer then pays the provider directly. Under Medibid’s business model, the consumer pays a fee to place a call for bids ($25 for one-time use or $4.95 a month) and the provider pays an annual fee for the opportunity to place bids. Many employers also use Medibid to accept global bids for preferred provider status or to provide access to the service for individual employees.
More than 6,000 providers use the site, and the number is growing, says Mr. Weber.
The most popular services up for bid are elective procedures, including joint replacements and colonoscopies. Users can expect to receive steep discounts on pricing. A study performed by the company found rates booked through the site were, on average, 80 percent less than chargemaster rates and 50 percent less than payer-contracted rates.
Despite concerns that such a site would only reward the lowest-cost provider, Mr. Weber says this isn’t the case. “The people that use Medibid are not necessarily just looking for the lowest price,” he says, explaining that Priceline users don’t only book at Motel 6 or Microtel. Instead, their seeking value — their desired level of quality at the lowest possible price.
Medibid users can include preferences, such as how far they’ll travel for a procedure. However, any provider on Medibid still has the opportunity to answer the call for bids — a function that turned out to be a benefit for George Law, a Chicagoan who had opted to go without health insurance but needed a colonoscopy.
Using Medibid, he told providers what he was looking for, and noted he’d prefer an Illinois provider. When he received a big from a gastroenterologist in Portland, Oregon, for $800, his travel distance became more flexible. With the going rate for a colonoscopy in the Chicago area at $3,500, Mr. Law was able to fly to Oregon, stay in a hotel, rent a car, pay for the procedure and still save roughly half, compared to what the procedure would have cost him in Chicago, according to a KATU news report.
For patients, Medibid offers the same benefits Priceline does for travelers: steep discounts, with easy comparison of quality and cost.
For providers who offer a good value, Medibid could be yet another way to attract patients. For those who haven’t yet mastered the value equation, the growth in sites like Medibid could me trouble ahead.
