Self-pay patients are able to pay for healthcare through Galen.me, an online service that promises full payment to doctors within five business days
CHEYENNE, Wyo., July 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A new service aimed at simplifying the way doctors are paid for providing medical care is now inviting healthcare providers to sign up. This service, called Galen.me, provides an integrated technology platform that allows medical professionals to register and list their services for prospective patients. Prospective patients have access to web-based and mobile technology that allows them to search these physician offerings by location and price. They have opened up an online registration tool through their website http://galen.me.
Started by two brothers, the service is designed to bring mobile convenience and choice to patients paying cash for their healthcare. This includes not only the obvious uninsured population, but also appeals to insured households with high-deductibles. Physicians who list through the service have been able to offer discounted rates because of the speed and simplicity the service offers them in getting paid. Some of these savings are passed along to prospective patients making Galen.me a very attractive and convenient way for cash buyers of healthcare to find medical care.
Galen.me promises to pay a provider for the service they provide within 5 business days of completion of the service. This is in stark contrast to the delay and cost-of-collection that many providers experience today. According to research findings by Galen.me, it is common for providers who serve so-called 'Self-Pay' patients to wait as much as five months before collecting their fees. This is compounded by the additional costs of collecting the money and leads to decreased net collections of less than 50% of what they performed. For insured patients who have not satisfied their insurance deductible, a similar problem exists. Healthcare providers must submit a claim to the insurer, which adds many weeks of delay before the invoice for service actually reaches the patient for payment. Galen.me is only for use with privately insured or uninsured patients and specifically prohibits use by beneficiaries of government benefit plans.
The company is quick to emphasize that this is not health insurance. Galen.me is designed to help anyone who pays some cash out-of-pocket for healthcare services. While it will obviously help uninsured patients to price shop for medical service from a choice of offerings in their community, Galen.me can also help those with insurance whose medical plan deductibles are high enough to effectively make them cash buyers for the first several thousand dollars of their costs. People with such high-deductible plans may also find benefits from using the Galen.me service.
Because this is a cash transaction, there is no insurance card or approval. Galen.me claims that patients will see prices as much as 50% off of normal prices for routine visits. "The power of simplicity allows doctors to price their services without having to include the hidden costs of all the third party payment problems that exist in other healthcare arrangements," says Dr. Eric Hoyer, Chief Medical Officer for Galen.me.
About Galen.me
Galen.me is operated by H2 Technology LLC, which is headquartered in Cheyenne, WY. It was conceived to bring the power of the marketplace to bear on the complexity for patients looking for medical care. Drawing inspiration from the Roman physician Galen of Pergamon, the company is built around one guiding principle: medical care occurs between a patient and a doctor. Started by two brothers, Galen.me is a fusion of a doctor's insights into the world of healthcare, with a technologist's experience in bringing web and mobile convenience to consumers.
Twitter: @galendotme
Facebook: www.facebook.com/galen.me
Web: galen.me
For more information or to schedule an interview with Gustav Hoyer, please call (818) 939-9518 or Email