MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The nation's first and only discount health plan with absolutely no monthly fees launches today. Developed by a large group of doctors nationwide, HealthSouk aims to provide Americans with access to health care providers who are offering various treatments and procedures at a discounted price. In addition, patients can receive even greater discounts for going to the doctor's office when the doctor isn't busy.
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Patients have the option to signup for a membership online at healthsouk.com, which is free. They have access to discounted treatments ranging from eye care to dental exams to cosmetic procedures. In addition, patients can also add multiple family members to their plan as a part of their free membership package.
HealthSouk's patent-pending model introduces an innovative feature that helps doctors control the flow of their practice throughout the day and fill unused appointment slots and appointment cancellations with patients seeking discounted care. HealthSouk found that 8 out of 10 doctors struggle with scheduling, appointment reminders and cancellations. Doctors can simply login to their account and configure their schedule from slow to very busy in real-time, which allows them to keep a full schedule and still accommodate their patients.
One of HealthSouk's founders, Dr. Neilesh Patel, has been an advocate of accessible and affordable health care. While in college, Dr. Patel co-founded HealthCare Volunteer, a non-profit organization that enables volunteers around the world to provide free dental and surgical procedures to underprivileged people.
Patel and other doctors started the Healthsouk program after they witnessed health clinics go out of business due to rising unemployment, increased health care costs and cutbacks in employee health coverage. "Due to the struggling economy, there is a major disconnect between patient needs and patient flow in health practices today", said Dr. Patel.
Health discount plans are a multi-billion dollar industry in America. Started several decades ago, the concept requires patients to pay a monthly membership fee to a management organization, which then gives the member a pre-negotiated set of cash-pay fees with any in-network health provider. HealthSouk changes all of this by eliminating monthly fees for both patients and doctors. This novel model guarantees to make part of the healthcare system more efficient and accessible without the risk of price fixing or loss of the doctor's reputation. That's because the prices for procedures are updated every 60 seconds to follow the flow of doctor's offices and because the site is also HIPAA-compliant with complete privacy.
Since there are no monthly fees, HealthSouk will only generate revenue from advertising and other adjunctive services.
HealthSouk also optionally prescreens patients prior to choosing a particular treatment. In addition, patient's have free access to health care providers in a question and answer style format. This process ensures doctors that only qualified candidates can signup for a certain procedure. As for practitioners, signing up is free and easy. They can set their discounted price according to their preference and they have flexibility to update their settings.
With HealthSouk's services, patients and doctors can have an online community that helps them achieve a common goal: access to affordable health care.
For more information about HealthSouk or interview requests, please visit www.HealthSouk.com or contact Maxim Kaplan - Director Of Public Relations at [email protected]. Voicemail: 310-928-3611
Media Contact: Maxim Kaplan HealthSouk.com, 310-928-3611, [email protected]
SOURCE HealthSouk.com