Transparency in healthcare is becoming a major topic of discussion among healthcare providers, government agencies and insurance companies. The reason for this is that more and more persons studying the U.S. healthcare industry are recognizing that it is the only industry where the fees charged for medical services vary according to who is paying, and are also hidden available from the public. It seems that healthcare providers are reluctant to publish their prices for fear of having to justify them. However, there is data available from government sources about hospital prices, but these are only of historical significance. Unfortunately, it's not useful to patients looking for affordable medical care.

The SHSmedical.net family of web sites will be the first to provide consumers and employers with up-front posted fees charged by physicians, laboratory tests and diagnostics imaging. More importantly, the fees will reflect the negotiated savings SHS passes through to the public. Consumers and employers will for the first time have a source for price comparison and choice of medical providers.

The medical fees charged by doctors, labs, imaging centers and hospitals are each identified service has an assigned identifying number called a CPT code (Current Procedural Terminology). A charge is assigned to each CPT code