Healthcare Bluebook™ helps members find fair prices

Getting a large discount does not always guarantee that you are paying a fair price. This is why Samaritan Ministries offers the tool Healthcare Bluebook™ to members and provides the fair-price reward as an incentive.

Now the unshareable amount ($400 for Samaritan™ Classic and $1,500 for Samaritan™ Basic) on a Need is waived for Samaritan members who can document achieving a fair price! (For further information on the reward, please visit our fair-price reward page or fair-price reward FAQ page.) To receive the reward, simply demonstrate that you chose one of Healthcare Bluebook’s green Fair Price™ providers for a shareable Need, or that you were able to achieve the Healthcare Bluebook Fair Price (as displayed on their website) from a provider that normally does not offer fair pricing. Then submit that proof with your bills. Samaritan staff will review it with your Need to make sure it qualifies for the reward.

You're not on your own

Does the work of procuring a fair price seem daunting to you, though? That is where Bluebook CareConnect™ concierge service can help.

Samaritan member Heather saved thousands of dollars by working with Healthcare Bluebook for a procedure she needed.

“The local doctor only uses hospitals for any of her procedures, and the estimate for the bill was over $14,000 plus the doctor’s fee,” Heather said. “When I got to looking at Healthcare Bluebook, I realized that I could get it much cheaper out of town.”

Healthcare Bluebook helped Heather find a doctor two hours from her who could do everything for less than $9,000.

There was an extra charge for something the surgeon found during the procedure, but Healthcare Bluebook helped to take care of that, too.

If you are scheduling a surgery of any kind, reach out to Bluebook CareConnect at (855) 286-3663. The advocates there will help you find a high-quality, fair-priced provider in your area. Even better, Healthcare Bluebook will schedule that procedure for you and work out payment details with the provider.

It really makes a difference

Each month on average, use of Healthcare Bluebook saves Samaritan members about $925,000. See that impact for each month of 2023.

From time to time, members can also find fair prices that aren’t listed by Healthcare Bluebook. This is not a problem. You are still eligible for the fair-price reward! Just upload the required information detailed on Samaritan's fair-price reward page.

So the next time you go to your provider, don’t just look for a good discount. Make sure you check Healthcare Bluebook to see if you are paying a fair price for the service. For inpatient procedures, the tool also shows a facility’s quality rating so you will know how the provider compares to others.

Together, we can steward our resources wisely, and we can all make a difference.

Health Care Stewardship appears monthly in the Samaritan Ministries newsletter.