Latest news with #PBGH
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
PBGH Announces Jumbo Employers' Top 5 Health Care Priorities
Learn what tops the health care agenda for PBGH members, the nation's largest employers that collectively spend $350 billion annually purchasing health care services for more than 21 million Americans and their families Oakland, California, May 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition representing 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S., announced today the results of its member survey on top health care priorities. Cost control and affordability continue to top the list, with health insurance premiums climbing year after year and expected to increase by an average of 7% in 2025, outpacing inflation. Affordability is front and center for employers seeking to purchase care on behalf of their workforce. Rounding out the top five health care priorities are access to care; quality of care and appropriate utilization; RFPs/procurement of partners; and member experience and communications. 'These priorities should be a wake-up call for many health care stakeholders who think the status quo is acceptable,' explained Elizabeth Mitchell, President & CEO of PBGH. "We are not seeing serious efforts to contend with cost and affordability from the industry. But employers and families are paying the bills. Employers bear sole fiduciary responsibility for the health coverage they provide for employees and their families yet even getting access to price and quality data to effectively evaluate whether they are paying a fair price for health care services is still too hard.' After affordability, members cite access to care, and quality of care as top concerns. Employers are using innovative strategies such as direct contracting, centers of excellence, integrated mental health in primary care, and using the PBGH Care Excellence Program to identify high-quality, affordable advanced primary care with high value specialty referrals. Employers are driving innovation absent industry solutions. Many PBGH members planning RFPs during the coming year expressed heightened scrutiny on procurement processes to eliminate barriers to innovation and select aligned consultants and vendor partners. Member experience and communications continue to remain a top five priority as benefits directors strive to provide employees with the best possible health benefits that meet employees' needs, keep employees and their families healthy, and make it easy to use health care services when they need it. 'The survey results affirm our strategic roadmap,' continued Mitchell. 'PBGH's strategic initiatives include programs that focus on affordable, high-quality, whole-person health, such as our Advanced Primary Care program and transparent data to establish fair pricing, ensure accountability and enable fiduciary success.' Other priorities of interest cited in the survey include Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) compliance and legislative updates; data optimization for measuring benefits success; strategies for GLP-1 management; and continued interest in health equity, comprehensive cancer care, and employee well-being. 'While this survey marks the annual checkpoint with our members, we are in close contact throughout the year to ensure the resources, programs, services and education we develop are valuable to them,' explained Randa Deaton, PBGH's Vice President, Purchaser Engagement. 'It gratifying to gain deeper insights into their priorities and challenges and know we are helping to address them. There is power in collective action, and we expect to see more of that from employers in the future.' About Purchaser Business Group on Health PBGH is a nonprofit coalition representing nearly 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S. that collectively spend $350 billion annually purchasing healthcare services for more than 21 million Americans and their families. In partnership with its members, PBGH initiatives are designed to test innovative operational programs and scale successful approaches that lower healthcare costs and increase quality across the U.S. ### CONTACT: Janet Cabibbo Purchaser Business Group on Health 9177510232 jcabibbo@
Associated Press
28-04-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
PBGH Announces Five Bay Area Clinics in Altais Medical Group Have Achieved the PBGH Care Excellence Silver Award
Oakland, California, April 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition representing 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S., today announced five clinics in the Altais Medical Group, which is part of Altais, a healthcare services company focused on transforming care delivery, have achieved the PBGH Care Excellence Silver Award. The PBGH Care Excellence Program sets the standard in health care by rigorously evaluating and identifying top-tier primary care teams based on an employer and purchaser set of standards and shared quality metrics. The PBGH Care Excellence Program evaluates practices on how well they meet employer-defined attributes of advanced primary care, including an assessment of health outcomes, prevention measures, patient safety and satisfaction and other measures of high-value care. All practices nationally are eligible to be evaluated. Dr. Raymond Tsai, Vice President, Advanced Primary Care at PBGH explained, 'Altais Medical Group's achievement of the Silver Care Excellence Award demonstrates they are doing the right things to improve patient health, well-being, prevention and early intervention.' The distinction also enhances the practice's visibility among health plans and employer purchasers that want to leverage high-quality primary care as a strategy for controlling health care costs and improving health. 'We are honored to receive this recognition from PBGH, which affirms our commitment to transforming the primary care experience,' said Nishant Anand, MD, CEO of Altais. 'At Altais, we're dedicated to supporting clinicians and advancing a model of care that is patient-centered, team-based, and sustainable.' The PBGH Care Excellence Program assessment was sponsored by Blue Shield of California on behalf of PBGH members San Francisco Health Service System and California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Results from clinic assessments are used to help employers and patients identify top advanced primary care practices, as well as ensure clinicians are working toward practicing advanced primary care. 'Blue Shield of California is proud to partner with Altais to deliver innovative, value-based care to members of the San Francisco Health Service System,' said Ravi Kavasery, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Blue Shield of California. 'Together, we are creating a more equitable and effective care experience—one that supports our members in leading healthier lives and supports clinicians in delivering the care they were trained to provide.' 'The San Francisco Health Service System is committed to being a leader in driving delivery system transformation that provides our members and their families with whole person care to improve their well-being and health outcomes,' explained Iftikhar Hussain, CFO, San Francisco Health Service System (SFHSS). 'Advancing primary care is a key goal for SFHSS to ensure members have access to quality primary care and integrated mental health at the right time and place they need it to optimize care quality and clinical outcomes.' Read more about the PBGH Care Excellence Program. Primary care practices that are interested in participating in the program may contact Dr. Raymond Tsai. Janet Cabibbo Purchaser Business Group on Health 415-615-6344 [email protected]
Associated Press
31-01-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
PBGH Publishes Purchaser Policy Priorities for the New Congress and Administration
Oakland, California, Jan. 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the newly-elected 119th Congress readies to tackle a list of legislative priorities, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition representing 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S., shares a new Brief detailing its health care policy priorities. PBGH members share bi-partisan goals to reduce health care costs while improving quality and access of health care services. PBGH members lead innovative purchasing strategies but need policy change to enable a functional health care market. 'We welcome the new Congress and Administration's willingness to disrupt an industry that has become increasingly consolidated, unresponsive and dysfunctional,' said Elizabeth Mitchell, President and CEO of PBGH. 'The current system does not work for employers, families or most health care providers and the industry has demonstrated it will not reform itself to deliver high quality care at lower costs. Legislative action is needed to curb anticompetitive practices and enable accountability.' To improve affordability, the Brief identifies specific policy actions for Congress and the Administration, including: Lower Health Care Costs by addressing hospital and drug pricing, limiting consolidation, and prohibiting anti-competitive practices. Improve Data Access and Transparency by enforcing hospital price transparency and transparency in coverage regulations and enhancing penalties for non-compliance. Enact Service Provider Reforms by ensuring PBM and TPA transparency, including reporting drug pricing data and prohibiting gag clauses, and extending fiduciary obligations to service providers. Support Direct Contracting and Joint Purchasing by clarifying antitrust guidance allowing multiple employers to join together, and ensuring direct contracts are covered by ERISA's preemption law. Many of these policy recommendations are important to enable employers' ability to meet their fiduciary responsibilities on behalf of employees and families. In addition to affordability, the Brief offers recommendations on improving access to needed high-quality care. PBGH supports efforts to: Improve Maternal and Child Health ensuring access to safe and high quality maternal and post-partum care – especially in rural areas – through a whole person approach and expanding access to care teams including midwives and doulas. Improve Primary Care and Mental Health by removing barriers to advanced primary care, investing in the primary care workforce, and integrating mental health care into primary care. 'The health care market is broken. These common-sense reforms will go a long way toward establishing fair competition and greater transparency will allow the marketplace to work to better control costs and improve access to high quality care,' Mitchell said. About Purchaser Business Group on Health PBGH is a nonprofit coalition representing nearly 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S. that collectively spend $350 billion annually purchasing healthcare services for more than 21 million Americans and their families. In partnership with its members, PBGH initiatives are designed to test innovative operational programs and scale successful approaches that lower healthcare costs and increase quality across the U.S.
Associated Press
29-01-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
PBGH Launches Groundbreaking Health Care Data Project, Tackling Data Transparency Challenges and Strengthening Employer Fiduciary Compliance
Oakland, California, Jan. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amid the untenable healthcare affordability crisis, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition representing 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S., announced the launch of its commercial health care data project to equip employers with vital and unprecedented transparency on the cost and quality of commercial health care and key insights that will enable them to be effective, prudent fiduciaries. In this first deployment, PBGH will aggregate and analyze the actual claims and demographic data from five jumbo employers and public purchasers across ten geographic markets with Hospital Price Transparency rule datasets, Transparency in Coverage ('TiC') payer datasets and provider quality metrics to meet fiduciary requirements under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA). The employers' data will be combined with the transparency files to generate comparative commercial benchmarks correlating cost and quality and provide employer-specific use cases based on their exact data – achieving unprecedented transparency and customized analytics to inform the employers' carrier and network strategy, direct contracting, and more. 'PBGH created this initiative because employers do not have access to the data they need to be prudent fiduciaries,' explained Won Andersen, Chief Operating Officer of PBGH. Under the project, PBGH will analyze cost variations, allowing employers to compare the best 'deal' by hospital, network, and carrier based on actual prices at the service code level, rather than relying on self-reported aggregated carrier data. Additionally, it will correlate price variation data with provider quality data to provide a comprehensive understanding of value. 'We are developing a new level of transparency and analysis that does not currently exist for the commercial market,' continued Andersen. 'This project represents a pivotal step toward enhancing transparency and accountability in health care spending and purchasing, ultimately benefiting employers and their employees and families.' 'The high cost of health insurance is a growing burden on employers and slows wage growth for workers,' said Caroline Pearson, executive director of the Peterson Center on Healthcare. 'Yet companies that are motivated to deliver higher-value coverage for their employees still lack the data, tools, and market influence to stem the rise in health care spending. This initiative will empower employers with critical insights into the cost and quality of care to foster informed decision-making.' The PBGH Health Care Data Project is supported by a grant from the Peterson Center on Healthcare. About Purchaser Business Group on Health PBGH is a nonprofit coalition representing nearly 40 private employers and public entities across the U.S. that collectively spend $350 billion annually purchasing healthcare services for more than 21 million Americans and their families. In partnership with its members, PBGH initiatives are designed to test innovative operational programs and scale successful approaches that lower healthcare costs and increase quality across the U.S.
