Press Releases

New Officers Elected to Midwest Business Group on Health Board

By MBGH Information posted 25 days ago
CHICAGO – May 27, 2025 – The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), one of the nation's leading business groups of private and public employers, announced its new elected officers for its Board of Directors. “MBGH’s strong and diverse board is essential to our success and continued growth,” said Cheryl Larson, President & CEO of MBGH and Board President. “This dynamic group of human resource and health benefit experts offer critical guidance and support for MBGH initiatives to help employers manage the cost of benefits on behalf of their organizations, employees and families.” The Executive Committee members are: Chair – Carole Mendoza, ...

Thirty-five Hospitals in Illinois Earn an A on the Spring 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

By MBGH Information posted 05-01-2025
Three Illinois hospitals have sustained an A since grades were first implemented in 2012 CHICAGO – May 1, 2025 – The Leapfrog Group , a nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the spring 2025 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. In Illinois, 109 hospitals were graded and 35 earned an A, 18 a B, 40 a C, 15 a D, and one an F. MBGH , a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care, and The Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Leader , annually encourages hospitals statewide to participate ...

Midwest Business Group on Health Announces Keynotes for 45th Annual Employer Benefits Conference

By MBGH Information posted 04-08-2025
Price transparency, vendor accountability, and employer role as a fiduciary among the discussion at May 6-7 event CHICAGO – April 9, 2025 – Illusion vs Reality: Achieving Truth, Trust & Transparency in Health Care Benefits is the theme for this year’s 45 th annual conference hosted by the Midwest Business Group on Health at the JW Marriott Chicago, May 6-7. Keynote speakers include: Sherri Samuels-Fuerst, Vice President, Total Rewards, Sargento Foods Charles B. Williams, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation Lynn Hanessian, Former Chief Science Strategist, Edelman Rachel Hall, Senior Managing Director, ...

The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2024 Hospital Safety Grades Announced: 32 Illinois Hospitals Earn an A for Patient Safety

By MBGH Information posted 11-15-2024
Illinois ranked 23 rd for states with highest number of A graded hospitals CHICAGO – November 15, 2024 – The Leapfrog Group , a nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the fall 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . In Illinois, 110 hospitals were graded and 32 earned an A, 18 a B, 47 a C, 12 a D, and one an F. MBGH , a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care, and The Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Leader , annually encourages hospitals statewide to participate ...

Survey Says: High Health Care Costs Impact Ability of Employers to Compete and Lead to Further Cost Shifting to Employees

By MBGH Information posted 10-31-2024
Midwest Business Group on Health survey provides roadmap for employers CHICAGO – October 31, 2024 – Rising health care costs have far reaching impact with 93% of employers expressing concerns about their ability to remain competitive and 89% noting that it may lead to further shifting of costs to employees. These are among the findings from the latest purchaser survey conducted by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH). The study conducted with the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions and sister coalitions gauged concerns and approaches of employers to address the workforce environment, women’s health, obesity management, ...

New Officers Elected to Midwest Business Group on Health Board

By MBGH Information posted 06-24-2024
Sargento Food’s Sherri Samuels-Fuerst Named Chair CHICAGO – June 24, 2024 – The Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), one of the nation's leading business groups of private and public employers, announced its new elected officers for its Board of Directors. “MBGH’s strong and diverse board is essential to our success and continued growth,” said Cheryl Larson, President & CEO of MBGH and Board President. “We are fortunate to have such a dynamic group of human resource and health benefit experts to offer guidance in our efforts to help employers manage the cost of benefits on behalf of their organizations, employees and families.” In addition ...

The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2024 Hospital Safety Grades Announced

By MBGH Information posted 05-01-2024
24 Illinois Hospitals Earn an A for Patient Safety CHICAGO – May 1, 2024 – The Leapfrog Group , a national nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care , driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the spring 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . In Illinois, 109 hospitals were graded, and 24 earned an A, 29 earned a B, 41 earned a C, and 15 earned a D. MBGH , a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care , and The Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Leader , annually encourages hospitals statewide ...

Employers Acting as Early Adopters and Catalysts for Change as Health Care Purchasers per MBGH Survey

By MBGH Information posted 03-06-2024
CHICAGO – March 6, 2024 – A growing number of employers see themselves as catalysts for change or early adopters in developing innovative health benefit programs for their employees and families (53% up from 42%) according to findings from the latest purchaser survey conducted by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH). “Unsustainable and rising medical and drug and costs have a far-reaching impact on the ability of businesses to remain competitive or offer salary increases for their employees,” said Cheryl Larson, MBGH president and CEO. “As a result, employers are getting engaged in health reforms and more creative in their contracting ...

The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2023 Hospital Safety Grades Announced: 27 Illinois Hospitals Earn an A

By MBGH Information posted 11-06-2023
Illinois ranked 28 th in the country with almost 25% of hospitals achieving an A grade CHICAGO – November 6, 2023 – The Leapfrog Group , a national nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care , driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the fall 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . In Illinois, 109 hospitals were graded, and 27 earned an A, 24 a B, 50 a C, and eight a D. MBGH , a non-profit organization representing employer purchasers of health care , and The Leapfrog Group’s Illinois Regional Leader , annually encourages ...

MBGH Kicks off New Policy Initiative to Tackle High Hospital Prices for Businesses & Families Across the Region

By MBGH Information posted 09-27-2023
Hospital prices are the leading driver of high and rising health care costs for America’s working families and the employers that provide them health benefits. To lower the cost of health care across Illinois, the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) was selected as one of 15 regional business coalitions by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions to participate in the Hospital Fair Price initiative. A cross the country, employers provide health coverage in the commercial market for more than 180 million people . Over the past several decades, hospitals and health systems have consolidated while dramatically raising ...

Illinois Spring Leapfrog Hospital Patient Safety Grades Announced

By MBGH Information posted 05-03-2023
Data reveals the average risk of three of the most harmful healthcare-associated infections spiked to a 5-year high during COVID-19 pandemic CHICAGO – May 3, 2023 – The Leapfrog Group , an independent national watchdog organization representing the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the spring 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . In Illinois, 111 hospitals were graded, and 29 earned an A, 30 a B, 44 a C, seven a D and one an F. Hospitals earn a letter grade reflecting how well they protect patients from ...

Midwest Business Group on Health Announces Keynotes for 43rd Annual Employer Benefits Conference

By MBGH Information posted 03-22-2023
Reshaping Today’s Health Benefits is focus of May 9-10 event CHICAGO – March 22, 2023 – Health care market disruption, changing employee needs, economic volatility and evolving fiduciary legal requirements are among today’s challenges faced by employers. These themes and strategies to address are included in the Midwest Business Group on Health’s annual conference at the JW Marriott Chicago, May 9-10. Keynote speakers and topics are: William Shrank, MD, Advisory Partner, Andreessen Horowitz and Visiting Fellow at the Duke-Margolis Health Policy Center – Are We Still Paying for Waste and Low Value Care? What Employers Can and Should ...

Check out The Center for Biosimilars' article on Employer Playbook Strategies for Biosimilar Adoption

By MBGH Information posted 03-09-2023
A new resource from the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions aims to help plan sponsors adopt biosimilars into their pharmacy benefit plans. View Full Article on The Center for Biosimilars

Employer Priorities Include Employee Engagement, Health Benefit Communications and Managing Costs

By MBGH Information posted 03-01-2023
CHICAGO – March 1, 2023 – Key threats to employer-provided medical coverage include high-cost pharmacy and medical claims, medical inflation, and million-dollar treatments being approved by the Federal Drug Administration. These are among the findings of the latest survey of employers conducted by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH). “Employers are faced with a growing number of fiduciary responsibilities and must pay attention to the value of services they purchase,” said Cheryl Larson, MBGH president and CEO. “As a result, we see a greater focus on efforts to improve prescription drug and healthcare prices and transparency. Employers ...

Check out the 2023 biosimilar trends update report from Cardinal Health

By MBGH Information posted 02-28-2023
From the publisher of this report : In this report, we analyze the perspectives of more than 350 providers in the therapeutic areas with the most potential for disruption in the year ahead:rheumatology, gastroenterology, dermatology and ophthalmology. Combined with perspectives from leading experts, we give a view of the industry and the imminent market shift that will come from competition with Humira™ and biosimilar utilization. We also analyze the latest industry data on utilization, government pricing reform, and payer coverage. View Report

Illinois Fall 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Patient Safety Grades Announced

By MBGH Information posted 11-16-2022
State falls to 28 for US ranking of states with highest number of A graded hospitals CHICAGO – November 16, 2022 – Marking the 10 th anniversary of the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, The Leapfrog Group , an independent national watchdog organization representing the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the fall 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . The Leapfrog Group has a 10-year history of assigning letter grades to general hospitals throughout the United States, based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm ...

Check out the 2022 biosimilar trends update from Amgen Oncology

By MBGH Information posted 07-31-2022
From the publisher of this report : Amgen’s 2022 Biosimilar Trends Report is a point-in-time overview of key trends in the US biosimilars marketplace, and it is intended to be a resource to help stakeholders better understand the current and future state of the biosimilars marketplace, and key considerations related to the evolving biosimilars landscape. The information provided in this report is for background and informational purposes only and is not intended to promote Amgen’s products or any other products. View Report

Illinois Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Patient Safety Grades Announced

By MBGH Information posted 05-10-2022
State falls to 27 for US ranking of states with highest number of A graded hospitals CHICAGO – May 10, 2022 – The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit representing hundreds of the nation’s most influential employers and purchasers of health care, and driven in Illinois by the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH), announced the spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades . The independent grading system assigns letter grades to general hospitals across the US based on over 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm. Statewide, 107 hospitals ...

Midwest Business Group on Health Hosts 42nd Annual Employer Benefits Conference

By MBGH Information posted 04-21-2022
Beyond the Pandemic: Employers Uniting to Accelerate Change in Health Care & Benefits focus of May 4-5 event CHICAGO – April 21, 2022 – Employers continue to be challenged by rising health care premiums and structuring benefits to support a changing workforce. The Midwest Business Group on Health’s annual conference will offer strategies and practical solutions to help employers achieve high-quality care while making progress towards equity, transparency and better health for their employees and families. The event has returned to in person at the JW Marriott Chicago, May 4-5. “We are so excited to once again host our annual conference in ...

Specialty Drug Costs, High-cost Claims & Medical Inflation Among Greatest Employer Threats in 2022 Per MBGH Survey

By MBGH Information posted 02-27-2022
CHICAGO – February 28, 2022 – When asked about their role as purchasers of health care, the majority (46%) of employers said they are following the leader, while 32% identified as early adopters, and only 5% as catalyst for change (down from 18% last year). These are among the findings of the latest survey of employers conducted by the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH). “The reduction in employers that see themselves as catalysts for change from our last survey is likely due to competing priorities brought on by the pandemic,” said Cheryl Larson, MBGH president and CEO. “They also face what is being likened to as another pandemic – the ...