At a time when a hip replacement can cost $25,000 to $30,000, and heart surgery averges $62,509, says SelfHelp.com, many consumers are relying on health insurers’ online tools to compare the prices of procedures. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York has gone further by providing its members access to a website, Welvie.com, that provides more than just cost-comparison information about health issues.

Based on the state of their health, members can access Welvie.com via the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York website to learn what treatment options are available, what questions they should be asking their doctor, what they can expect during surgery and how to hasten recovery.

With healthcare expenses and out-of-pocket costs rising, many consumers are looking for new digital tools from health insurers to help them plan better when comparison shopping for treatment.

Most health insurers have responded by offering self-service website features that let consumers find in-network doctors, look up the cost of a treatment or procedure and calculate out-of-pocket costs. With one in four plan members relying on high-deductible plans, the need for a complete understanding of a condition and possible treatments is important, says BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York senior director, health management Jennifer Johengen-Vogel.

“We are helping members look at the long view of an elective procedure and not just the costs,” she says. “This will help our members ask the right questions and feel more comfortable throughout the surgery process.”

Jennifer Johengen-Vogel

Since launching access to Welvie.com in November more than 10,000 plan members have used Welvie.com to research a diagnosis, choose a doctor, evaluate surgical and non-surgical options, and research different types of surgery, such as in-patient versus outpatient procedures.

Plan members can also use Welvie.com to generate to-do lists and fill in event calendars to help them track their pre-surgery appointments and procedures and receive reminder alerts. Based in Chicago and founded in 2002, Welvie.com is a developer of interactive software that provides information on a particular type of surgery tailored to a user’s needs and questions.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York isn’t saying what it pays to use Welvie.com, but the service is free to plan members. The plan says Welvie.com helps members research and think about the before, during and after of surgery. “When considering a surgical procedure, shared decision-making and open communication with your doctor is an important step to ensure you receive the care that’s right,” Johengen-Vogel says.

In addition to giving patients a new research tool, healthcare payers that have used Welvie.com have seen cost savings from a reduction in hospital readmissions and from guiding patients to an alternative to an expensive surgery. For one Medicare program in Ohio the savings amounted to about $138 per case, according to a February 2017 study by Acumen LLC, a Burlingame, Calif., healthcare analysis firm.

Welvie.com is the latest addition to the health carrier’s digital healthcare program. In August Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York rolled out MyHealth, a digital wellness platform, and a cost estimator that enables plan members to compare and research costs on about 300 procedures. The integration with Welvie.com with the plan’s information  technology and web infrastructure went smoothly, Johengen-Vogel says.

Next up is figuring how to integrate Welvie.com with a plan member’s insurance benefits and medical records in a way that enables members and providers to access all cost comparison and procedure data universally, the plan says. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York is the first regional Blue Cross plan to use Welvie.com.

Other Blue Cross plans also using Welvie.com include Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield- Pennsylvania, BlueCross of Tennessee and Anthem Inc.

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