The Search for Affordable, Transparent Care

Healthcare executives today face a defining challenge: how to achieve price transparency and deliver accessible, affordable care to diverse patient populations. Patients are demanding clarity on costs, providers are under pressure to demonstrate quality, and payers must justify the value of their services. Yet, despite regulations and industry mandates, many organizations still lack the technology platform to integrate all of this effectively at scale.

That’s where the concept of a shoppable healthcare marketplace comes in. By making healthcare services as transparent and comparable as any consumer purchase, leaders can finally deliver on the promise of high-quality, cost-effective care.

Why Healthcare Needs a Shoppable Marketplace

Most industries already offer customers the ability to compare options by price, quality, and convenience—but healthcare lags. Patients want to know:

• How much will my procedure cost?
• Which providers offer the highest quality outcomes?
• Where can I get care most conveniently?

Healthcare executives are asking the same questions, but from a system-wide perspective. They need the tools to align payers, providers, and patients around a shared view of value. Without a unified platform, efforts to reduce unnecessary procedures, optimize care sites, and improve efficiency often stall.

The Three C’s of Value

A true shoppable marketplace empowers patients and executives alike to evaluate healthcare decisions based on the Three C’s of Value:

1. Convenience: Care options that are easily accessible and available at the click of a button.
2. Clinical Quality: Trusted quality scores at the procedure and provider level, enabling apples-to-apples comparisons.
3. Cost: Transparent, all-in costs for complete episodes of care, benchmarked against local and national averages.

When all three are visible in one place, executives can make better decisions, patients can make more informed choices, and the system as a whole can reduce waste and inefficiency.

The Financial Stakes Are Massive

Industry data shows the scale of what’s possible:

• 24% of surgeries are unnecessary or low-value. Eliminating them could save billions annually.
• Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) are typically 20–40% more affordable than hospital settings, while often delivering a better patient experience.
• Fraud, waste, and abuse collectively contribute tens of billions of dollars to U.S. healthcare costs each year.

For executives, the message is clear: building a platform that connects appropriateness, site of care, and efficiency can unlock enormous savings while improving outcomes.

The Role of Tendo Marketplace

This is where Tendo Marketplace comes into play. Built to power a national-scale shoppable ecosystem, it enables healthcare leaders to:

• Offer episode bundles with all-in pricing for complete care journeys.
• Provide procedure-level quality scores to help patients and payers make informed decisions.
• Integrate with provider EMRs and digital referral systems to streamline scheduling and payments.
• Expose APIs to partners in AI and member experience ecosystems, extending reach and usability.

With this infrastructure, executives can finally close the gap between aspiration and reality — delivering transparent, affordable, and high-quality care at scale.

From Vision to Execution

The shift to a shoppable marketplace isn’t just about compliance or consumer convenience. It represents a fundamental rethinking of how care is delivered, paid for, and experienced. For executives, the opportunity lies in:

• Reducing unnecessary care through better decision support.
• Optimizing sites of care by directing patients to the right setting.
• Aligning incentives across payers, providers, and patients.

By balancing visionary strategy with practical implementation, leaders can position their organizations at the forefront of healthcare transformation.

Why Now Matters

Momentum is building across the healthcare landscape. Patients are more digitally empowered than ever, consumer expectations are rising, and competitive pressures are intensifying. Executives who wait risk being left behind. Those who act now—by embracing platforms like Tendo Marketplace—can lead their organizations into a future where care is transparent, accessible, and affordable for all.

Get started

• Explore the consumer marketplace at MDsave.
• For employer solutions, connect with our team through Tendo Care Connect.