Twenty of America’s largest companies are teaming together to cut down on rising health care claims costs. Sally Pipes, Forbes contributor, explains how:
“First, companies will have to mine their healthcare data for insight — just as they analyze the numbers for sales, operations and other core business functions.
The Alliance will examine de-identified data on employees’ health spending and outcomes. The hope is to determine which providers are delivering the best care at the lowest cost — and then to direct workers toward these high-performing providers.
The U.S. healthcare sector today is awash with ambiguity and a lack of transparency. A knee replacement can cost $50,000 at one hospital but $30,000 at another. Two hospitals may offer the same price on a procedure — but one may have a higher rate of infection.
Such differences matter. According to a 2013 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, an infection can add an extra $39,000, on average, to a surgery’s price tag.
Second, employers will have to use their combined buying power to secure better deals on healthcare. “If you brought together multiple employers you would have more leverage, more covered lives, more coverage throughout the country in terms of regional scope,” said Tevi Troy, CEO of the American Health Policy Institute, the organizing force behind the Alliance.
In other words, there’s safety — and potentially lower healthcare costs — in numbers.
Third, employers will have to educate their workers about how they can secure better care at lower cost.”