2019 Annual Report
Demonstrating Responsible Corporate Citizenship
Impacting the Community
A letter from the Executive Director
2019 was a successful year for the Business Health Care Group (BHCG), highlighted by:
- The initiation of our Delivering Value Series symposiums
- Spearheading our first statewide physician value study
- Strong membership growth
- Positively impacting cost trend
- Continued strengthening of our relationships with our best in class strategic partners
- Our annual meeting in the Fiserv Forum atrium
- Commencing a multi-year campaign to address medical homelessness
- Our second annual golf outing to benefit Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers
- Sharing our Opioid Communications Toolkit free to all employers in the state, including non-BHCG employers
Cumulatively these efforts of responsible corporate citizenship continue to assist employers in providing competitive health care benefits and positively impact health care value in our region.
Jeffrey Kluever
Executive Director
Delivering Value Series Initiated
2019 saw the initiation of our Delivering Value Series Symposiums (DVS) designed for employers, their advisors, providers and other health care and benefits stakeholders to gain in-depth knowledge about the value of BHCG membership and innovative employer solutions in BHCG’s portfolio. These symposiums were open to anyone and free to attend.
Statewide Physician Value Study
A top priority of BHCG and its member employers is to purchase high value health care. We also strive to demonstrate responsible corporate citizenship. To those ends, BHCG, with generous support from the Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health, commissioned a study from GNS Healthcare to evaluate the value of care provided by primary care providers and select specialists throughout Wisconsin, using claims data from the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO).
Continuing Growth
BHCG continued to grow its membership in 2019, with gains via employers utilizing UnitedHealthcare, our single plan medical administrator and through member employers adding pharmacy benefit management services via our strategic partnership with Navitus Health Solutions. Here is a list of employers who joined us in 2019:
For claims administration:
- Creation Technologies
- NPS Corporation
For pharmacy benefit management:
- Baird
- City of Kenosha
- Masters Gallery Foods
- Paragon Development Systems
- Sargento Foods
Positively Impacting Cost Trend
Health care cost results in the fourth year of our partnership with UnitedHealthcare remain strong. By utilizing the UnitedHealth Premium® designation and Tier 1 programs (which utilizes benefit differentials to encourage the use of Premium providers), employers are motivating employees and their dependents to seek care from high value providers. These efforts yield cost savings for the employee and the employer, as well as improved health status for the employee and their dependents.
Strengthening Relationships with our Best in Class Strategic Partners
BHCG provides an array of solutions for employers to more effectively manage their health care benefit programs. These solutions offered by our best in class strategic partners have been selected because of their alignment with our mission of improving the quality and cost efficiency of health care for our member employers, their employees and the community.
During 2019 we strengthened these relationships in several ways, from creating a new standalone BHCG membership at a reduced fee to any employer nationwide, to offering our strategic partners the opportunity present their solutions to employers and their advisors at our DVS symposiums.
Annual Meeting
With employers (both members and non-members), providers, brokers/consultants, sponsoring organizations and our best in class strategic partners in attendance, we conducted our annual meeting, entitled Game On, at the new Fiserv Forum on January 23, 2019.
Medically Homeless Campaign
Research has consistently shown the medically homeless – those without an established relationship with a primary care physician (PCP) – tend to seek care from higher cost options (e.g., emergency departments, urgent care facilities) and are less likely to have recommended health care screenings. To address this issue BHCG collaborated with Engagement Solutions to develop a communications campaign to identify and target medical homelessness among employees and spouses of member employers.
In the fourth quarter of 2019 BHCG initiated Phase I of a multi-dimensional campaign to address medical homelessness among employees and spouses of its member employers. The campaign addressed the following objectives:
- Build member awareness of the importance of having a PCP with an added focus of choosing a Premium Care Physician/Tier 1 provider
- Bring awareness to the need to routinely obtain preventive care, including an annual physical and recommended screenings
- Highlight the value of seeking care in the most appropriate setting (redirect inappropriate ER or urgent care use to a PCP visit)
Phase II of the campaign will commence in 2020.
On Course for the Clinic
On August 22 we held our second annual golf outing at Kettle Hills Golf Course. Through a combination of greens fees, hole sponsorships, donations of raffle baskets, auction items, and raffle ticket purchases, we were able to make a $15,000 contribution to Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers. This year we also served as the Presenting Sponsor for their annual celebrity roast in November.
Sixteenth Street Clinic Community Health Centers, a Milwaukee area-based Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), is a vital part of the health system and our community, filling a gap in access to primary care. The Clinic provides quality, patient-centered, family-based health care and supportive services to tens of thousands of people – saving our local health care system millions of dollars each year.
Opioid Communications Toolkit Made Available to All
In 2018 BHCG developed a toolkit of opioid communications materials for use by member employers, with a more limited set of materials made available to non-members. The materials focus on workplace and safety issues, education, prevention, employee benefits and assistance related to opioid dependence. Offered in a variety of media options, the communications materials include posters, business cards, window clings, table tents, video monitor content and presentations. In 2019 we made our complete opioid communications toolkit available to all member and non-member employers at no cost
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Our Mission
The Business Health Care Group leverages member employer purchasing power and knowledge to lead change. We create value through innovative shared strategies to improve health care quality and cost efficiency for employers, employees and the community.