January 27 2015
Transparency services help employees make informed health care decisions
CHICAGO –
Consumers have an increasing amount of “skin in the game” when it comes
to medical and financial decisions for their care, and their interest
to access credible information and user-friendly tools and resources
about cost and quality is growing. To help employers provide this
information to their employees, the Midwest Business Group on Health
(MBGH) is collaborating with two leading transparency service providers
– Change Healthcare and Compass Professional Health Services. One of
the nation’s leading non-profit business groups of private and public
employers, MBGH is implementing this program through its affiliate, the Midwest Health Purchasers Foundation (MHPF).
“We
selected two transparency organizations that offer high level services
to provide our members with a range of options to meet the needs of
their unique populations,” said Larry Boress, MHPF president and MBGH
president and CEO. “We understand the health care marketplace is
complicated and people need additional help to understand costs and
evaluate treatment options. MBGH believes our new price transparency
program offers sophisticated technology and expert guidance to help
employees identify quality providers and understand the costs associated
with their medical conditions.”
Change Healthcare
(CHC) is a leader in providing online health care consumer engagement
and cost and quality transparency solutions. It provides employees a new
way to choose and use health care, promoting savings opportunities with
personal messaging and educating them to make elective health care
decisions based on quality, cost and convenience. CHC helps employers
promote their existing care management programs and on-site clinics,
while guiding employees to find quality health care and save costs.
Compass Professional Health Services’ Health
Activation Platform brings together online resources and health care
consultants to provide price transparency, prevention and premier
providers to help companies create sustainable health care savings and
empower employees to make more informed health care decisions. By
keeping it simple for employees, Compass helps individuals to select
high-quality providers and understand the cost variation between
different facilities and physicians, and provides a platform for
companies to incentivize employees to get the preventive care they need.
Reducing medical costs using price transparency services
To
introduce employers to the importance of providing transparency
services to employers and to these new vendor partners, MBGH is hosting a
meeting on Thursday, February 12, 2015 from 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM (Central Time).
Prior to the educational program, a luncheon will be provided to
introduce employers to Compass and CHC Register to attend the lunch
and/or meeting in person or via webinar here. For additional information or questions on how to participate, please contact Mindy McBee (312-372-9090, mmcbee@mbgh.org).
“The last 20 years of my life have been focused on increasing
employee engagement,” said Jan Berger, MD, MBGH medical director and
president and CEO, Health Intelligence Partners. “Initially there were
few tools available to help consumers make thoughtful decisions. It’s
exciting to be working with these two organizations as they support
employers and employees to better understand their health care options
in a consumer-friendly and easy-to-use manner.”
About Change Healthcare
Established
in 2007, Change Healthcare is on a mission to transform the way
Americans purchase and utilize health care services by driving
sustainable engagement at the individual level. With a national customer
base of health plans and employers, Change Healthcare is a premier
national provider of health care consumer engagement and transparency
solutions, enabling consumers to: better understand and use their health
care benefits; make informed health care purchasing decisions based on
quality, cost and convenience; and manage higher out-of-pocket
responsibility and realize savings. This, in turn, helps both health
plans and employers: control their healthcare costs; successfully
migrate to more cost-effective plans; optimize existing wellness
programs; and improve employee satisfaction and retention. For more
information, visit www.changehealthcare.com.
About Compass Professional Health Services
Compass
Professional Health Services is the champion for simpler, smarter
health care. At a time when companies are shifting more costs to
employees through higher deductibles and high-deductible health plans,
Compass’ Health Activation Platform brings together online resources and
healthcare consultants to engage people in their own health. The
Compass platform offers price
transparency, prevention and premier providers to create sustainable
health care savings for companies and empower employees to make more
informed healthcare decisions. Established in 2005, Compass not only
helps employees to select high-quality physicians and understand the
cost variation between different facilities and physicians, it also
provides a platform for companies to incentivize employees to get the
preventive care they need. Today, Compass’ health care solutions are
used by more than 1,900 companies and 2 million members, nationwide. To
learn more, visit compassphs.com.
About the Midwest Health Purchasers Foundation
The Midwest Health Purchasers Foundation
(MHPF) was created as a non-profit, taxable Illinois corporation in
1997 to enable members of the Midwest Business Group on Health to have a
vehicle for the group purchasing of health care benefit programs,
products and services. MHPF provides the due diligence needed to
identify effective, high quality vendors and uses the potential of
multiple employers’ purchasing dollars and covered lives to negotiate
lower rates and umbrella agreements.
About the Midwest Business Group on Health
With more than 120 member organizations, the Midwest Business Group on Health
is one of the nation’s leading non-profit business groups of large,
self-insured public and private employers serving as a catalyst for
community initiatives to improve the quality, safety and
cost-effectiveness of the health care delivery system. MBGH is an
essential resource to support employers in effectively managing their
health benefits through high-quality education, research, networking and
benchmarking. MBGH is a founding member of the National Business Coalition on Health.
For further information about this release and MBGH, contact: Cary Conway, Media Consultant