Different doctors and hospitals may charge different amounts for the same service, so it pays to shop around and compare costs of available providers…

• Finding Care and Comparing Costs

• Step-by-step guide to estimating your healthcare costs

• Transparency in Coverage (TIC) regulations require health insurers and group health plans to provide machine readable files (MRFs) that contain the negotiated rates for in-network providers and allowed amounts derived from historical claims for out-of-network providers. In accordance with these regulations, you may access these files here: https://www.anthem.com/machine-readable-file/search. Once at this site, you’ll need to search for the LSS files using our Employer Identification Number (EIN), which is 43-0654862.

In addition, different doctors and hospitals may provide higher (or lesser) quality care when delivering those same services as well. Below are some links to help you find the highest quality of care available to you.

• Guide to Health Care Quality: How to Know It When You See It (This overview of important quality metrics to understand when choosing a medical service or provider was compiled by the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research.)

• Consumer Guide to Hospitals in St. Louis (A report showing variation in hospital readmissions, infection rates and other measures of safety.)

• Your Disease Risk (A free tool developed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis that can help survey takers understand their risk of developing five of the most important diseases in the United States and get personalized tips for preventing them.

• Choosing Wisely (Some tests and procedures may not be needed. Choosing Wisely, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, can help patients and their physicians determine what care evidence suggests is needed and what can cause unneeded worry and cost.)

• Health Finder (A government website with health care information for consumers including a Guide to Healthy Living and Personal Health Tools.)

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (A government website with ways to help patients and families ask questions of physicians and other health care providers.)