Rice University students launch cost-saving healthcare platform

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In a world where healthcare can be a maze, a group of Rice University students is helping everyday people find their way.

"I spoke with doctors and found the true issue with facing healthcare wasn't just making sure the patients are able to live healthy lives, the actual conditions themselves, but in fact, navigating the healthcare insurance system," Arunima Jaiswal said.

Jaiswal is one of nine women who created The Healthcare Navigator, an online platform to save patients time and money.

Kayla Grimes is the Founder and President of the Houston-based startup.

"We give you the ability to actually measure the doctors and the hospital's performance and quality so that you can be assured that the care that you're going to is quality care. We also help with price transparency specifically." Grimes said.

Navigating the healthcare system alone can be overwhelming.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 88% of Americans are health illiterate, meaning they struggle to understand the intricacies of their healthcare needs.

Grimes knows the difficulty firsthand. In her five years working in the healthcare field, she saw the struggles patients-even her own grandmother-went through.

"Seeing her go through her medical issues and seeing the pitfalls and me helping her and guiding her through it, I knew that not everyone is lucky to have someone like that to tell them like, no, you don't wanna do that at all." Grimes shared.

The Healthcare Navigator has six features, including Cost Compass, which pulls and compares prices for procedures. Also, Pocket Doc, where you can find the best doctors that fit your needs. The creators worked with the National Patient Advocate Foundation to gather the data.

"You can filter for so many things so that you don't have to keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Just put in what you want, and that's it," Grimes said.

The Healthcare Navigator is offered to individuals for $15.99 a month. The service is also available to employers and schools looking to empower their employees and students. You can visit the site, here.