The post What the Affordable Health Care Act Means for You appeared first on Castlight Health.

In regards to the data, Giovanni Colella, M.D., co-founder and CEO of leading Health Care Transparency provider Castlight Health, added:

“We applaud Medicare for making this very important and useful data widely available. Today’s release of Medicare price comparison data for common hospital procedures is a significant first step in addressing the health care cost crisis. This will expose many people, for the first time, to the significant price variation that exists between providers, even within a single geography. The Health and Human Services (HHS) data will also push the hospitals and other providers to rationalize the prices they charge.

“As a next step to improve health care and lower costs for individuals and businesses, transparency needs to encompass both price and quality of care information across health care services. Additionally, the 60 percent of Americans who have private health insurance often pay over 30 percent more than the Medicare prices, impacting both individuals through their out-of-pocket costs and lowered salaries and their employers who pay the majority of the bills. Consumers need access to the actual prices they pay for health care, coupled with quality metrics on providers, so they can make informed decisions. In almost every other market in America, purchase decisions are driven by an understanding of price and quality; it’s time for the same in health care.”

The HHS statement regarding the data can be found here, and a full list of prices can be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

For more information or to speak to Castlight about the data and the future of the health care in America, contact Joan Levy at jlevy@blancandotus.com or 415.856.5110

About Castlight Health
Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.
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Press Contact:
Joan Levy
Blanc & Otus for Castlight Health
jlevy@blancandotus.com
415-856-5110

The post Government Data on Extreme Medicare Health Care Price Discrepancies Only Part of the Picture for Most Americans appeared first on Castlight Health.

SAN FRANCISCO – April 25, 2013 – Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI), a Fortune 150 company and global power leader, is partnering with Castlight Health to offer Castlight’s Health Care Transparency solution to its 24,000 U.S. employees and their adult dependents. The partnership is a major element of Cummins’ continued efforts to bolster health care quality, reduce costs and improve outcomes for its employees.

Through Castlight’s health care management suite, users are able to access valuable information on the cost and quality of medical providers and procedures, empowering them to make well-informed decisions on the care available to them.

An ardent supporter of employee health and wellness, Cummins offers a wide variety of programs to help its workforce take control of their health care. When it launched a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP), Cummins determined that incorporating a Health Care Transparency solution would not only help employees uncover low-cost, high-quality care, but could also drive engagement in other benefits initiatives such as its wellness programs.

“Our business is powered by our employees and we believe that healthy, productive and informed employees are key to our success,” said Jill Olds, Director, Global Benefits Strategy, Cummins Inc. “By adding Health Care Transparency from Castlight to our benefits program, we can further engage our employees and their families in their health care and empower them to become better health care consumers.”

With Castlight, employees can find cost-effective health care providers, services and facilities. In addition, the Castlight tool will help cross-promote Cummins’ nurse helpline, maternity management program and Virgin HealthMiles rewards program. Cummins also plans to integrate Castlight with its pharmacy partner to provide richer data on pharmacies and prescriptions.

“Cummins has long been a visionary in how it approaches employee benefits and in understanding the importance and impact of engaging employees in their health care,” said Giovanni Colella, M.D., co-founder and CEO, Castlight Health. “Forward-thinking employers like Cummins are helping pave the path to Health Care Transparency by showcasing how   innovative new benefits offerings can improve outcomes and reduce costs for their employees.”

About Cummins
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins currently employs approximately 46,000 people worldwide and serves customers in approximately 190 countries and territories through a network of approximately 600 company-owned and independent distributor locations and approximately 6,500 dealer locations. Cummins earned $1.65 billion on sales of $17.3 billion in 2012. Press releases can be found on the Web at cummins.com or cumminsengines.com. Follow Cummins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cumminsengines and on YouTube at http://youtube.com/cumminsengines.

Press Contact:

Jon Mills

Director, External Communications

Cummins Inc.

jon.mills@cummins.com

317-610-4244

About Castlight Health

Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Allen & Company, Cleveland Clinic, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Oak Investment Partners, Redmile Group, T. Rowe Price, U.S. Venture Partners, Venrock, Wellcome Trust and two unnamed mutual funds. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.

Press Contact:

Drew Smith

Blanc & Otus for Castlight Health

dsmith@blancandotus.com

415.856.5127

The post Cummins Partnering with Castlight in Effort to Improve Health Care Quality and Reduce Costs for Employees appeared first on Castlight Health.