Federal rules forcing hospitals and insurers to post rates for medical procedures have taken effect, but the data’s so messy that a crop of new startups is rushing in to make a business out of parsing it for whoever is willing to pay.
Silicon Valley venture funds Andreessen Horowitz and Yosemite, the cancer-focused fund launched by Steve Jobs’ son Reed Jobs, are backing the small but growing group of companies eager to sift through complex pricing data to help patients and employers and payers looking to strike better deals.
Dual rules handed down in recent years by the Department of Health and Human Services force hospitals and health insurers to post prices and cost estimates for certain medical procedures. Similarly, the No Surprises Act, which protects patients against surprise out-of-network bills, took effect in 2022.
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