Top Board-Certified Doctors and Specialists in Alpharetta Partner with HealthGate.com to Offer Savings, Free Procedures and Video Bios

Patients attracted to filling coverage gaps and reducing out-of-pocket costs

Top board-certified doctors and specialists in Buckhead and Atlanta’s northside communities are partnering with HealthGate.com, an online resource that helps the insured and non-insured lower out-of-pocket expenses for medical, health, dental and beauty services.

Tanya Mack, HealthGate president, noted that approximately 70 percent of Americans don’t meet their deductibles, meaning they are paying hundreds to thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for medical care. Additionally, most insurance plans have coverage gaps and rising premiums, shifting the burden of non-covered expenses to the consumer. In this case, many are faced with choosing to have a non-covered procedure or not, based on information they’ve gathered and costs.

“With consumers paying more out of pocket for healthcare, they’re increasingly taking more responsibility for their own healthcare decisions and healthy lifestyle choices,” Mack said. “With gaps in coverage, consumers want more transparency in advance of their visit regarding the doctor they’re seeing, procedure details and costs. We’re offering all that and a way to save money on healthcare expenses.”

HealthGate helps consumers lower out-of-pocket costs by 25 to 75 percent through savings on health, medical, dental and beauty services. Services include well woman exams, travel physicals, sports physicals, allergy testing and rush-rapid treatment, wisdom teeth extraction and natural weight-loss programs. HealthGate.com features provider videos, procedure details and ease of service selection that directly links consumers to top local healthcare professionals.

In the spirit of creating goodwill, many HealthGate providers also give back to local communities by donating select procedures and services at 100 percent savings.

Kim Hedzik of Cumming needed a sports physical for her then 14-year-old daughter who plays basketball for a local Forsyth County High School. Although her pediatrician could have completed the physical, scheduling the appointment during office hours would have involved missing school or shifting busy afternoon activities. “Weekdays are hectic, but with this offer I could go anytime. No appointment was necessary. I went on a day my daughter had off from school.”

She purchased the sports physical offer for $20 through www.healthgate.com with Dr. Richard Dukes, medical director of Physician’s Express Care in Johns Creek. Normal fee: $40.

“I simply went online and purchased the offer,” she said. “The office was clean and Dr. Dukes had a great bedside manner. And I was in and out of there in 15 minutes.”

Hedzik liked that she could get to know the doctor via HealthGate’s video bio before the visit. Once paid, she printed out a HealthGate certificate that she presented at the time of her visit. Hedzik, who has three children, said she was new to the area and it gave her a chance to get to know the doctor. She said it was likely she would return to the office when she needed medical care again.

Dr. David Redding, an allergist with Redding Allergy and Asthma Center in Atlanta, said that HealthGate provides cost savings to consumers, especially those with high-deductible plans and young people who may not have insurance. Redding and his twin brother, Alan, also an allergist, offer two services through HealthGate: allergy testing and a new, faster allergy treatment called Rush Immunotherapy.

“There is a lot of complexity and confusion about how much healthcare services cost due to the complex way that medical services are paid,” Redding said. “This is a way to let the healthcare consumer know upfront how much a medical service costs without having to decipher complex billing statements involving terms they don’t understand.

“It also allows them to pay for services at a rate lower than what most other doctors would charge (for the same service) because the money is collected upfront and doctors don’t have to send paper bills weeks, sometimes months, after the service is provided, which can be costly and time-consuming. It reduces the patient’s anxiety and stress if they know how much a procedure costs upfront.”

About HealthGate, LLC

HealthGate, LLC, an Alpharetta-based company, is an online healthcare resource that provides savings for out-of-pocket healthcare costs and direct access to board-certified doctors and specialists, a variety of services and innovative products covering medicine, health, dentistry and beauty.  In the spirit of community goodwill, many HealthGate providers also give back by donating selected procedures and services. HealthGate’s primary mission is to provide pricing transparency and selection ease to directly link top, local healthcare professionals to consumers to fulfill healthcare needs. For more information, please visit www.healthgate.com.