Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Kumba Health developed a direct-pay platform for patients to pay for their healthcare. Leo Treyzon, MD, clinical chief of gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Philip Klaparda co-founded the startup.
Here are five takeaways:
1. Kumba intends to create a transparent marketplace, where patients pay for healthcare at the time of service, without submitting claims to insurance companies.
2. In this marketplace, physicians do not deal with insurance reimbursement codes. This is intended to encourage physicians to offer more immediate appointments.
3. With increasing out-of-pocket healthcare costs and more high-deductible health plans, some Americans are trending toward paying directly for medical services.
4. Kumba Health bases its platform on transparency, quality, prompt service and better pricing. By removing insurance companies, patients won't be surprised by extraneous medical bills.
5. The startup plans to expand in Southern California in early 2016, reaching San Francisco and New York markets by late 2016.
"We don't just show you a peek behind the curtain of healthcare pricing — we tore down the curtain," said Jay Goss, chief operating officer of Kumba Health. "Gone are the days of not knowing what a procedure is going to cost you."
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