Convenient, Affordable Care is Only a Parking Lot Away
In August The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram both ran a curious half-page advertisement by HealthFairTM (a health care screening company based in Winter Park, Florida). HealthFair operates a fleet of mobile screening "Health Coaches" that it parks at destinations around the country. The firm, which is JCAHO-accredited, claims to have performed over 1 million preventive screening tests since its founding in 1999.
Their big sellers are preventive screens to assess the risk of heart attack, stroke and aneurism. The 7-test package includes an echocardiogram, electrocardiogram (ekg), an ASI test to detect hardening of the arteries, a stroke / carotid artery ultrasound, a test to detect abdominal aortic aneurysms, a ankle-brachial index and a bone density ultrasound. In some locations, the 7-test package is offered with a full lipid panel, glucose test, and your choice of one thyroid, prostate, C-reactive protein, or ALT/AST (liver function) test.
HealthFair claims this bundle of tests would cost around $2,300 if performed in a hospital setting but its package deal (with interpretation) is only $195 – an 85% discount off the price of having the same tests performed piecemeal at your local hospital. Why so cheap? For one thing, HealthFair streamlines the scanning process, keeping overhead low and offering package deals. But the primary reason the price is so dramatically lower is that patients are expected to pay cash at the time of services. When patients pay with their own dollars, firms must offer value and convenience.
Now that 77 million baby boomers have reached middle-age and beyond, these type of health screening services promise to help assess cardiac health risk at a price all can afford. Just look for the big green motor coach at your local YMCA, Bally Total Fitness, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market or Albertson's. (Appointments are required.)
There are also many home diagnostic tests that can be used to detect everything from high cholesterol to HIV. The tests are available at some pharmacies and at online home health screening companies.
Austin, Texas-based Health Yes! Preventive Screening is another firm that provides screening services at locations around the country.
healthyes.com
I’d love to have the screening performed but Healthfair overbooked both of my appointments (‘we’re triple booked”) and now requires payment in advance, not at the screening site. I decided it wasn’t worth the risk to pay up front for a service that is consistently overbooked. With on-line booking, how can this happen? Something doesn’t smell right here.
I purchased the screening service from HealthFair last fall, as did a colleague of mine. The motor (screening) coach had two exam rooms. And, yes, there were several people in line ahead of me when I arrived. My appointment was scheduled during lunch time and I was in and out in approximately 40 minutes.
I wonder if the triple-booking Mark experienced was due to an over abundance of “no-show” appointments? If this is the case, paying in advance might be an attempt by HealthFair to reduce the scheduling problems caused by no-show appointments.