CoPatient

Hospitals and physician groups better gird themselves to deal with the likes of Boston-based CoPatient, which studies and negotiates patients’ healthcare bills — which are often incomprehensible — to reduce their costs.

The Boston Globe says the the startup is working with Alegeus Technologies, “which sells software for managing individual healthcare plans such as health-savings and flexible-spending accounts. Alegeus claims some 400 clients that process more than $7.5 billion in annual payments.”

“Many consumers lack the fluency to sufficiently scrutinize healthcare expenses and advocate on their own behalf,” said John Park, chief strategy officer at Alegeus. “Advocacy services, such as those that CoPatient provides, give consumers tools to play a more active role in their healthcare – breaking the cycle of passive ‘auto-payment’ of healthcare expenses.”

Another why the age of extreme healthcare inflation may really be over, despite the flood of sick Baby Boomers.