Just as it made strides in how we receive medical care, Rockford Ambulatory Surgery Center is embracing innovations that are sure to change the way we pay for our care.
Access to Zero Card, a new healthcare network option, in conjunction with Rockford Ambulatory Surgery Center (RASC), is dramatically reducing outpatient surgery costs in northern Illinois. In recent years, already high healthcare costs have continued to climb, costing employers – whether big business or small business owners – and their employees lots of money. Self-insured employers in the Rockford area now have the option of adding Zero Card to their employee healthcare benefits for no upfront costs. Zero Card is a simple tool that cuts through the complicated, usually expensive tangle of modern healthcare because there are no deductibles or co-pays, and none of the hassles associated with insurance billing.
Zero Card provides a transparent medical network, a healthcare marketplace that offers employees and employers quality choices. For employees, it makes healthcare simple and free through this new benefit included with their company health insurance plan. For self-insured employers, Zero Card means saving up to 70 percent on more than 270 outpatient procedures, while reducing out-of-pocket costs for their employees and families to $0 on those procedures.
“Offering Zero Card as an option for self-insured employers in our community fits perfectly with our mission,” says RASC CEO Dr. Steve Gunderson. “Zero Card gives us yet another way RASC can stay a step ahead in offering quality healthcare at the most affordable prices possible.”
The Zero Card is for planned, scheduled procedures and is easy to use for all concerned – employers, patients and physicians. Employers have no upfront costs. Using Zero Card, patients pay absolutely nothing for surgical procedures, some 1,200 generic mail order prescription medications, and medical imaging, x-rays and lab tests. RASC is Illinois’ premier Zero Card provider and understands through experience how simple it is to get started with the card in order to lower healthcare costs and still offer high quality medical care.
When the doctor says a patient requires a procedure, Zero Card takes care of the details. Zero Card is easy to access via the web, a downloadable app for mobile phones, or a simple phone call. Patients interface with a personal health assistant at Zero Card who answers any questions, sets up appointments, transfers medical records, and helps with any other needs.
Zero Card is a marketplace for healthcare where people can shop for healthcare like they shop for everything else. There’s a huge menu of medical services that Zero Card includes – from MRIs to rotator cuffs, hernia repair, hysterectomy, ear tubes, tonsillectomy, CT scan, ACL repair and lab services. All services have a flat fee, so employers and employees can see the actual costs upfront so they know how much they will save with Zero Card.
RASC, the leader in outpatient surgery, has been serving Rockford and the surrounding communities since 1994, and is well known for providing the highest quality surgical and pain management services at the lowest possible prices to its patients, customers and community. Since it opened its doors, more than 90,000 procedures have been performed in its state-of-the-art facility.