2020 Annual Report
A Focus on Value
A Year Unlike Any Other
A letter from the Executive Director
To say the least, 2020 was a year unlike any other we have experienced both as individuals and as an organization. For every business, adaptation was the name of the game — requiring a quick pivot to Zoom meetings and virtual gatherings. While we had to do things differently, the momentum built over the past several years continued unabated. We remain focused on increasing the value of the health care we purchase so Wisconsin can be a great place to do business. Highlights of 2020 include:
- Helping employers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic
- Selecting Centivo as our new high-performance health plan and claims administrator
- Continuing the push for health care quality and data transparency
- The second year of our Delivering Value Series symposiums
- Strong membership gains
- Value of our partnerships with best in class strategic partners
- Deferred care communications campaign
- Our annual meeting at Fiserv Forum
- Fourth annual golf outing benefits Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers
Cumulatively, these efforts demonstrating responsible corporate citizenship continue to assist employers in providing competitive health care benefits and positively impacting health care value in our region.
Jeffrey Kluever
Executive Director
Navigating a Pandemic
With the pandemic touching all of our lives and how we do business in a multitude of ways, it is incumbent upon BHCG as a membership organization to provide support and guidance to our member employers during these challenging times. We provided timely webinars addressing the legal and benefits issues related to the pandemic and what employers could do to help stop the spread of COVID-19. We also established a webpage with go-to resources for employers.
Centivo – Health Care Reimagined
As we finalized our strategic planning initiative in 2020, it became clear we needed a different approach to the purchasing of health care. Employers need administrative partners that are committed to better data sharing and transparency, more efficient payment models and a willingness to progressively move the market away from the status quo. These partners should be rewarded for, and committed to, creating this positive change, rather than protecting the current system.
Ultimately, we decided to engage Centivo to develop Wisconsin’s first high-performance health plan and serve as our claims administrator. This will offer self-funded employers a way to deliver high quality, affordable health care to employees and their families by directing patients to high value providers and encouraging coordinated care through the use of primary care physicians.
Effective January 1, 2022, BHCG and Centivo will offer this high-performance health plan solution to self-funded employers in Wisconsin. It includes broad, intermediate and narrow provider networks. It also features fully transparent administrative services, efficient claims processing, advanced cost controls, employer analytics and integrated stop loss.
Teaming up with Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO) & RAND
Without access to reliable and valid data, it is impossible to measure the value of health care employers are purchasing. Therefore, BHCG partners with organizations like WHIO and RAND and encourages employers to provide their data to these entities to advance the collection and publication of health care data. The WHIO data was used as the foundation for BHCG’s collaboration in 2019 with GNS Healthcare to analyze physician performance in Wisconsin. Self-funded employers’ data was critical to the analysis the RAND Corporation performed related to what employers pay both hospital and physician services relative to Medicare.
Delivering Value Series Symposiums
2020 saw the second year of our Delivering Value Series (DVS) symposiums, 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. Several symposiums specifically addressed challenges employers faced in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. These symposiums were open to anyone and free to attend.
Continued Membership Growth
BHCG continued to grow its membership in 2020 in a number of ways. Numerous employers in the area, and beyond, joined BHCG for medical plan management & claims administration, pharmacy benefit management and/or consumer navigation & care coordination services provided by our best in class strategic partners.
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 2020, we identified Centivo as a new best in class strategic partner to develop a high-performance health plan and provide claims administration services. New for 2022, Artemis Health will provide data warehouse services. We also strengthened our relationships with Navitus Health Solutions and Quantum Health, as numerous employers opted to add their best in class services.
Deferred Care Communications Campaign – Seeking Health Care Services Still Critically Important
Data provided to BHCG showed member employers’ employees and dependents were deferring health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, like many others did during these unprecedented times. However, preventive care – such as annual physicals, cancer screenings, immunizations, flu shots and care for a chronic condition – should not be deferred. They are all critically important to maintaining good health.
To address this issue the Business Health Care Group launched a Deferred Care communications campaign with the goal of helping member employers educate employees and their dependents about the importance of not deferring care and helping them feel comfortable seeking out care when necessary, despite the pandemic.
The campaign, in which the vast majority of BHCG member employers chose to participate, included direct mail and email communications.
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 A Forum for Good, at Fiserv Forum on January 28, 2020.
On Course for the Clinic
On August 20 we held our third annual golf outing at Ironwood Golf Course to benefit Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers. With the participation of over one hundred golfers and the generous support of our sponsors, more than $30,000 was raised. This year we also served as the Presenting Sponsor for their annual celebrity roast.
Said Sixteenth Street President and CEO, Dr. Julie Schuller, “The Business Health Care Group is a great advocate and committed partner of Sixteenth Street. All three of their golf outings have supported our work and the health and wellness of our patients. Now more than ever, the generous proceeds provided by the 2020 BHCG golf outing are needed to serve the most vulnerable in our community.”
A big thank you also goes to our premier sponsors including BHCG’s best in class strategic partners, Gold Sponsor Quantum Health and Silver Sponsor Navitus Health Solutions, as well as Silver Sponsor Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health. Check out videos and a photo gallery of the day’s activities.
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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.