Mobile app helps find healthcare prices, track HSA spending

A financial firm has developed perhaps the first mobile application to help people with high-deductible insurance and other consumer-directed health plans ferret out elusive prices for health services. The Mobile CDH Application, from San Francisco-based Canopy Financial, is an iPhone app that relies on published Medicare and Medicaid rates to list an estimated price for a given procedure, based on the user's Zip code. Although the prices are not exact, the idea is to help patients figure out healthcare costs and even negotiate lower rates for themselves.

The app, which costs $4.99 through the Apple App Store, also links to health savings accounts to help track actual spending. Expect versions for other mobile devices later this year.

To learn more about the Mobile CDH Application:
- check out this San Francisco Chronicle article