Employers and health plans collaborating around a specific initiative is the way to catalyze the health care system to change and improve. And creating meaningful incentives for physicians to greatly encourage them to focus on the hard task of reengineering their care processes is a key element to improvement. This reengineering is necessary if employers are ever to realize the true value associated with the significant amounts of resources currently spent on health care. Review BTE's savings analyses and ROI Calculator for more information.
The collective action of employers and plans to-date around BTE programs, and now the Partnership for Value Driven Health Care, has even further galvanized the commitment between the public and private sector. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt has issued a broader challenge extending to other purchasers to implement “four cornerstones of value-driven health care”: utilizing health information technology, measuring and publishing quality information, measuring and publishing price information, and creating positive incentives for high quality, efficient health care. The Secretary’s call to action affords employers and other health care purchasers, a unique opportunity to accelerate this movement.
Employers that participate in BTE meet the commitment to the four cornerstones.
With this in mind, Value Driven Health Care - a Purchaser Guide was developed to assist purchasers to quickly identify which initiatives they can undertake to meet each of the cornerstones.
Employers need to know that better quality can cost less and incentives work.
High quality care can be cost effective care. BTE’s analyses of claims data comparing patients that are seen by BTE-recognized physicians and those that go to non-recognized physicians shows conclusively that their average severity-adjusted cost of care is lower by about 10%. In addition, BTE has done a comprehensive evaluation and has published many articles describing the genesis and principles of the programs. A full review of its original four pilot sites is available (Boston, MA, Cincinnati, OH, Louisville, KY, Schenectady, NY), including an evaluation that demonstrates the programs’ effectiveness:
Participating in Bridges to Excellence
BTE’s operational model is essentially administered by health plans that have licensed the program. This makes it straightforward and easy for employers of any size to participate in a BTE program. Just follow these steps:
For more information on how to become a participating employer, contact BTE.