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Background research on a Company
Greetings! Thank you for your question about Pratter's value proposition and competitor comparison. The most useful sources I found to answer your question were a slide share from Pratter, Crunchbase, and Owler. In brief, Pratter offers some features that none of its direct competitors do like working with smaller employers and being an independent company with no ties to insurance companies. The competitors compared in this inquiry are Vitals, Castlight, Change Healthcare, Healthcare Bluebook, and Medlio. A summary of those findings are in this spreadsheet. After an exhaustive search, we were not able to locate data on the number of subscribers for any company, and for one company we were unable to locate pricing data. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
We focused on reputable sources such as corporate websites, industry reports, and trusted media sites. A thorough review of Pratter's website and LinkedIn Page revealed enough details about Pratter to determine its value proposition. In addition Pratter identified 3 of its direct competitors. Further research in news articles revealed additional competitors. Two were chosen to round out this comparison.
The corporate websites, Owler, Crunchbase, and news stories on each of the companies were reviewed. Owler and Crunchbase are trusted sources that report investment and financial data on companies. Using these sources we were able to compile the all the requested data for the competitor comparison with a couple of exceptions. Our exhaustive search did not uncover information regarding the number of subscribers for any of the companies. Also, pricing data for one company was not available. Instead of number of subscribers, we have provided the estimated annual revenue for each company.
ABOUT PRATTER
Pratter, which stands for "price matters", is based in Pittsburgh and positions itself as an employee benefit as it allows employees to "search and save money on medical care...before the time of service". Founded in 2015, they are a privately held company that has received only one round of funding, according to crunchbase. On May 20, 2016 they received an undisclosed amount of seed money from Innovation Works. According to Owler, they have 32 employees and an estimated $3.8 million in revenues. According to the company's financial projections they anticipate revenues growing to over $104 million by 2020.
Pratter uses patient invoices to create a price list for medical procedures that are performed nationwide. Such a service is needed because of the rising cost individuals pay for insurance premiums and copays and the complete lack of information that would allow healthcare consumers to do comparative shopping based on price before seeking treatment.
Deductibles can be as high as $5-$10k (even with employer-sponsored plans), and according to Kaiser the yearly average health insurance premium a family pays is $17,000. According to Nerdwallet.com, the top cause of bankruptcy is medical bills. The prices for medical care are purposefully kept secret and can vary widely (in the $1,000's for the same care).
Pratter offers employers and their employees the opportunity to search for and compare medical costs before seeking treatment. An employer dashboard (not offered by all of their competitors) lets the client know which costs have been searched and the % of their employees who are engaged with the system. Reports are available that indicate the medical cost savings that have occurred, categorized by procedure. This is a feature that some of their competitors do not offer.
PRATTER'S VALUE PROPOSITION
Pratter's value proposition can be viewed in full on the company's website. In summary, employers spend a lot on medical with the majority going to 12-15 of the most common outpatient procedures. Pratter monitors 600 of the most common procedures and provides employees the opportunity to shop around. By doing so, as an organization, the company can save thousands to millions of dollars. The company gives the following examples.
COMPETITORS
Vitals offers a mobile and web app that allows consumers to compare the cost of healthcare and shop around.
Castlight, founded in 2008 in San Francisco, offers employees a web platform that "engages employees to make better healthcare decisions and enables employers to communicate and evaluate their benefit programs".
Change Healthcare. According to their website, they use their Intelligent Healthcare Network to "help connect the dots between payers, providers and patients, leveraging the data needed to deliver predictive insights to clients".
We found this direct competitor:
Healthcare Bluebook, a Nashville, TN-based company was founded in 2007. Their product uses data from lots of employers and health plans to calculate what a fair market price is for a given procedure.
Here is another competitor we found who offers a similar product to individual consumers, but may not be a direct competitor:
Medlio, based in Durham, NC, has a mobile app cost transparency tool called Common Cents. In addition their app allows you to store medical data, pay with your mobile device, see up-to-date insurance info, find providers, and check-in at the doctor's office.
COMPETITIVE COMPARISON
Employers are Pratter's main customers. They offer per employee per month pricing plans (PEPM), which tends to be about 1/3 the cost of their competitors at $2.50 PEPM. They are not tied to an insurance company, whereas their main competitors are. They also offer these features that their competitors do not: medical biller concierge service, search and compare engine, and display of actual charges & reimbursements. According to Pratter's website, here are some items they provide that no one else does:
~a medical cost saving analysis that shows employers the potential medical cost savings
~employer data is revealed so that it can be leveraged
~community hospital and surgery center data are revealed
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, in this spreadsheet you can see a summary comparison of the 5 of Pratter's competitors. Pratter's main value proposition rests in its independence from association with insurance company.
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