About Simple Healthcare.
Simple Healthcare turns published healthcare prices into something an employer, an advisor or a patient can use.
This started ten years before the rules did.
In 2012, David Muhlestein started asking what hospitals charge. He looked at 474 hospital websites and found that 1.3% of them posted a price, and he published that in 2013. It was a decade before the federal rules existed. We didn’t start this company because the rules created an opening. We started it because the data we’d been asking about for ten years finally showed up.
We’re independent, and paid by the plan sponsor.
No insurer or health system owns us, and we don’t take commissions or pay for referrals. We’re paid by the plan sponsors and licensed advisors who use the platform.
An independent price and access platform.
The rules made the prices public. They didn’t make them usable. The files run to hundreds of gigabytes, the formats fight each other, and a large share of the rates are for services the provider has never performed. Making them usable is the whole job.
The whole continuum runs on one dataset.
Most tools in this market solve one slice: a rate database, a member lookup, a benchmark file, a plan-strategy dashboard. Simple Healthcare spans the whole continuum: plan, strategy, and member. On one integrated dataset, with one peer-reviewable methodology.
Our contribution.
A consumer-facing shopping tool, open to the public, coming soon. It’s free and you don’t need an account. Everything else we build sits on top of it.
The paid layer for plan sponsors and advisor firms, Simple Healthcare Roadmap, is how we fund the consumer tool and make it better every quarter.
Who we are, and how to reach us.
Full leadership profiles, backgrounds, publications, contact, are coming with our next site update.
David Muhlestein
Founder & CEO. PhD, JD. Former Chief Research Officer at multiple national healthcare consulting firms, including Leavitt Partners. Peer-reviewed research background in value-based care and health policy. Nationally recognized voice on healthcare policy and price transparency.
Research team
Methodology, peer review, and data-layer oversight. See the Research & Methodology page.
Talk to us
Plan sponsor, advisor, journalist, or curious member. info@simplehc.com. We read every email.
Talk to us.
Plan sponsor, broker, journalist, or curious member. We read every email.
Frequently asked questions.
Why does Simple Healthcare exist?
Federal price-transparency rules made prices public, but the raw files are unusable. David Muhlestein has been researching healthcare pricing since 2012, a decade before the Transparency in Coverage rules existed. Simple Healthcare turns that raw material into something plan sponsors, advisors, and members can actually use.
Who is David Muhlestein?
Founder & CEO. PhD, JD. Former Chief Research Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Leavitt Partners; former Chief Research & Innovation Officer at Health Management Associates. Founder of Torch Insight. Visiting Policy Fellow at Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy. Peer-reviewed research background dating to 2013.
Are you owned by an insurer or a healthcare provider?
No. Simple Healthcare isn’t owned by an insurance carrier or a healthcare provider. Independence is a structural commitment: we’re paid by plan sponsors and licensed advisor firms.
How are you funded?
By our customers. Self-insured plan sponsors subscribe directly; advisor firms license the platform for their book of business. No broker commissions, no kickbacks. Full model on the pricing page.
What makes Simple Healthcare different from other price-transparency tools?
Most tools solve one slice: a member lookup, a benchmark file, or a claims dashboard. Simple Healthcare covers plan strategy, member shopping, and the analyst workspace on one integrated dataset with one peer-reviewable methodology. See the Savings & Access Continuum for the tier story.
What is the consumer tool?
A consumer-facing tool that helps people shop for care, coming soon. Plan sponsors and advisors can get a first look now. See what's coming.
How do I get in touch?
info@simplehc.com. Every message reaches a human. Plan sponsors, advisors, journalists, curious members. All welcome.