Over the past few years, Independence has introduced several new tools and features to assist our members in becoming more informed consumers and managing their health benefits. In addition, these tools can assist providers as they strive to become more accountable for the cost and quality of care being delivered.

A new tool — Care Cost Estimator — was released on September 12, 2014, to help educate members about covered services, treatment options, and anticipated out-of-pocket costs as they apply to their specific health plan. This tool is currently available for PPO and PHO members who have been migrated to our new operating platform and will be offered to new PPO and PHO members upon their migration to the new platform.

Keeping consumers informed

The Care Cost Estimator tool, available through our secure member portal, helps members better understand their share of health care costs by providing cost estimates for more than 1,300 in-network inpatient, outpatient, laboratory, and diagnostic procedures, as well as provider office visits. By leveraging the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association claims database, the tool estimates cost ranges, takes into consideration a member?s current deductible balance, copayment amounts, and, if applicable, coinsurance.

Members will receive a list of network providers, based on their search parameters, who match their criteria with a range of estimated procedure costs for covered services. They can then compare these estimated costs to help them make more informed decisions about how to spend their health care dollars.

To access the Care Cost Estimator tool, members must log in to their account on our secure member portal, where they can link to the tool directly from the homepage.

If you have any questions about the Care Cost Estimator tool, please call 1-800-ASK-BLUE.