Employer groups often struggle to obtain a competitive direct discount, through their established relationship with many hospitals and providers, Tethys is able to offer transplant customers the opportunity to access deep discounts through any Tethys Health Network Center of Excellence or direct negotiation with a Tethys Health Network contractor.

Recently, Tethys Health Ventures has partnered with Johns Hopkins HealthCare (JHHC) forming an innovative online platform offering transparent bundled prices for medical procedures, called Accarent Health.  This website simplifies the evaluation and comparison of healthcare quality and costs with defined episodes of care at top academic medical centers and highly rated provider partners.  By combining Tethys Health Ventures administrative capabilities with JHHC’s expertise and reputation, Accarent is the premiere network for healthcare consumers seeking pricing transparency and global bundled rates (GBR).

The Accarent program works with any health and benefits plan, and can save large and small groups a significant percentage of their overall healthcare expenditures and significantly reduce the risk of a patient being balance billed for a procedure, with no access fees or PMPMs. Accarent’s new avenue of exchange of healthcare pricing, answers today’s more savvy healthcare consumers’ call to action and refusal to submit to the status quo for their medical service payment methodology. The Accarent Health free market system will be the model of the future.  Visit Accarent to begin comparing costs and quality for over 120 procedures at www.accarenthealth.com.

Negotiation in Action

Advance notice of an impending procedure is the absolute best time to contact Tethys for a deeper discount.  A partner TPA contacted Tethys several months before a member was to have an invasive procedure performed for a high risk pregnancy.  The TPA was not contracted with the provider; however, the center was a Tethys Transplant Center of Excellence.  Tethys made a referral to the center notifying them that the patient’s charges were to be filed under the Tethys rate.  By the end of the case, the total billed charges reached $2,017,748.60. With the Tethys discount, the group realized $705,414.80 in savings.