No more medical bill surprises

Price Guarantee Procedures programme helps patients to make informed decisions on common medical procedures.

The thought of being wheeled into surgery is often unnerving. What makes the experience even more daunting is not knowing how much the medical bills will amount to.

Parkway Pantai understands the anxiety that many patients have over their medical costs.

To address this concern, the private healthcare provider has come up with a new Price Guarantee Programme (PGP) for selected procedures at its four Singapore hospitals: Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth, Mount Elizabeth Novena and Parkway East.

BILLS COVER RELATED COMPLICATIONS

PGP uses an artificial intelligence (AI) engine to generate a fixed price - instead of a range - for the procedures during financial counselling prior to surgery. 

Thanks to the accuracy of the AI algorithm, the hospital will guarantee the price, even if related complications arise and require additional treatment for up to seven inpatient days.

The programme provides price transparency for patients and gives them peace of mind knowing that their hospital bill size will not change, even if there are complications. 

"We are guaranteeing hospitalisation fees for selected common procedures, even if there are complications. This programme builds on Parkway Pantai's efforts to give patients greater certainty over their medical expense. Parkway Pantai started to publish a price list of common procedures in 2013, going on to work with our specialists to offer over a hundred fixed price packages since 2014," says Mr Phua Tien Beng, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Operations Division at Parkway Pantai.

POWERED BY AWARD-WINNING AI TOOL

Powering the new programme is an AI tool that Parkway Pantai has been using to generate hospital bill estimates since 2018.

The tool takes into account the type of surgical procedure, length of hospital stay, diagnosis and each patient's unique profile like age and gender, to generate an accurate bill estimate tailored to the individual.

Since its launch, the tool has helped the hospitals accurately generate over 40,000 personalised bill estimations. 

Through a process of self-learning, the AI tool has the ability to improve the accuracy of its estimations as it references more data collected over time.

The tool also won the nation's highest accolade for tech innovation at the recent SG Digital Techblazer Awards 2019. 

PGP currently covers six common medical procedures:

• Removal of piles (haemorrhoidectomy)
• Removal of breast lumps
• Removal of ovarian cysts (cystectomy)
• Removal of gallbladder
• Removal of thyroid (thyroidectomy)
• Removal of tonsils (tonsillectomy)

All self-paying and insured patients are eligible for the Price Guarantee Procedures, which are available from doctors who are participating in the programme. 

Visit priceguarantee.sg or call 6812-3789 for more information. You may also visit the following links: Gleneagles Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital and Parkway East Hospital.

*This article is for informational purposes only. Please refer to the specific procedures' financial counselling forms for detailed programme inclusions and exclusions. Prospective patients should always seek independent medical advice.

This article is brought to you by Parkway Pantai.