A key benefit of BHCG membership is the identification of cutting-edge programs that align with BHCG strategies and meet best practices criteria. BHCG offers employers access to exclusive arrangements with strategic programs that drive improved health care value and consumer engagement:

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Best Doctors

The Informed Decision Making (IDM) initiative was implemented by BHCG to:

  • Improve treatment outcomes and reduce the number of unnecessary and excessively invasive procedures
  • Encourage consumers to make health care purchases on an informed basis and based on value (cost and quality)

Best Doctors, BHCG’s informed decision-making vendor since 2012, offers a real solution for the problem of medical uncertainty for the most complex, critical and costly cases. Best Doctors connects employees and dependents facing medical uncertainty with more than 50,000 world-renowned medical experts across 450 specialties and sub-specialties. BHCG member employers have access to an extensive portfolio of employer solutions provided by Best Doctors at preferred rates.

Founded in 1989 by doctors affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Best Doctors helps individuals and their treating physicians make sure they have the right diagnosis and the right treatment plan. Best Doctors offers a decision support service that provides an expert medical consultation when employees and their dependents are faced with a significant medical decision. The whole process takes place over the phone, so members can call in the privacy of their own home.

More than a traditional second opinion, Best Doctors delivers a comprehensive evaluation of a member’s medical condition while promoting consumerism, reducing unnecessary utilization and yielding better outcomes. The program:

  • Provides clinical support to members and their families regarding complex medical issues including second opinion/diagnosis confirmation assistance
  • Educates consumers on procedural benefits/risks, treatment alternatives, preparation for physician discussions, pre- and post-surgical activities to improve recovery and avoid complications
  • Connects employees and their families with the right health care support and treatment plan

Listen to those who experienced the Best Doctors program:

For more information, visit the Best Doctors website or contact Jennifer LaMere at 262-875-3312 ext. 3 or jlamere@BHCGWI.org

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Initiatives

On behalf of its members, BHCG identifies strategic initiatives designed to enhance the value of members’ benefit offerings.  Presently, BHCG supports several initiatives, including:

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Advance care planning, commonly referred to as advance directives, is an important step consumers can take to be responsible for their own health and health care. BHCG is acutely aware of the critical need for advance care planning and is actively involved in promoting it by supporting:

  • The Wisconsin Medical Society’s advance care planning project — Honoring Choices —  which focuses on advocacy, public awareness and community engagement, ensuring patients make well-informed decisions about wishes for the end of life.  BHCG commends the many local health care organizations which have incorporated advance care planning processes into their delivery system.
  • Member employers'  efforts to communicate the need for advance care planning to their employees.

All too often patients do not receive the care they want as they approach their last days. Discussing end-of-life care is difficult for everyone involved: health care providers, patients and family members. It is, however, imperative that these discussions happen.

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Recognizing  behavioral issues are responsible for approximately $18 billion in health care spending annually in Wisconsin, BHCG helped facilitate the awarding of a grant to the Partnership for Healthcare Payment Reform (PHPR) to promote behavioral screening and intervention (BSI) services. The grant, awarded by the Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health (GMBFH), focused on making BSI a standard of care in the health care delivery system.  The 18-month $158,000 grant funded a project manager responsible for:

  • Educating purchasers, payers and providers on the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and feasibility of delivering BSI
  • Aiding in the relationship building between key representatives of provider and payer organizations around the delivery of BSI
  • Facilitating conversation among providers and payers to determine barriers to BSI delivery and gathering suggestions from key stakeholders for purchasers to consider in overcoming such barriers.

Through BSI, patients are systematically screened for excessive drinking, drug use, depression, tobacco, diet, exercise, and obesity. Behavioral screening and intervention is a priority for BHCG member employers.  We:

  • Continue to educate our member employers about this issue
  • Work with UnitedHealthcare to ensure proper payment to providers for screening
  • Work with the provider community to promote behavioral screening and intervention as a standard of care.

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