Could an Alliance with Local Employers Work for You?

Have you considered contracting your services directly with large employers in your area? There is a growing movement to bring employers and health care organizations together to provide high-quality care for patients while managing costs and making them more predictable.

David Lansky, PhD, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health

Changing forces in the health care field are leading organizations to implement a variety of innovative approaches to delivering and managing care for populations, as well as in better managing financial agreements to pay for this care.

One such approach attracting interest is an employer-contracted service agreement, explains David Lansky, PhD, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health. Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the Employers Centers of Excellence Network are just a few of the organizations taking this approach to better serve employees of these corporations.

Lansky says this model attracts attention from health care providers and employer-customers since it removes the middleman (the insurer) from the process and enables employers to deal directly with providers to manage and pay for contracted services. This strategy builds on new reimbursement models that replace fee-for-service arrangements with agreements for global population or set per-episode prices, and that give employers increased control over what they will pay.

The arrangements also empower health care providers to impose some preferences on what they get. “Businesses will increasingly select providers on the basis of quality, outcome, cost, and utilization data as they strive to offer their employees the best possible care while controlling overall medical expenses,” he says.

“Having employers and providers talk directly to each other to work out details based on their own interests can be beneficial,” Lansky says. But he also emphasizes that this arrangement is not a good fit for everyone.

Learn more: Marketers’ Role in Exploring Employee-Driven Health Plans: Good Idea or Risky Business for Your Organization?

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President