The Business Health Care Group grew out of the frustration felt by several CEOs of large Milwaukee-based employers concerning health care costs in southeast Wisconsin as compared to their other locations, particularly other areas in the Midwest.

A study commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee Business Foundation on Health found that in 2003, health care costs in southeast Wisconsin were 39 percent above the Midwest average. The founding CEOs realized that something needed to be done to support the economic viability of our area and maintain jobs in our market.

The CEOs also understood that no one employer was large enough to influence the health care market. It would take a number of large employers, speaking with one voice, walking in unison with a common strategy, to impact the costs of health care in southeast Wisconsin. Ultimately, 11 corporations with headquarters in southeast Wisconsin and two other existing coalitions founded BHCG as a member-owned Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) in 2003 to explore alternatives to contain health care costs in the region. They soon established a goal to get costs at or below the Midwest average within five years.

More information about BHCG and its mission is available on this site.

BHCG's primary service area consists of 22 counties in eastern Wisconsin including: Brown, Calumet, Dodge, Door, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Jefferson, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Rock, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara and Winnebago.

Additional standalone reduced-fee membership opportunities are available on a nationwide basis for access to BHCG's best in class strategic partners.

BHCG’s Strategic Plan: Analytics + Informed Guidance = Increased Value

Core Elements

BHCG’s initiatives over the next three to five years will focus on two core elements that will have a significant impact on improving health care value:

• Analytics to identify high and low value providers and services; and
• Informed guidance to motivate patients to consume (and providers to supply) only necessary, high value services

Analytics: The analytics component is designed to identify high value providers and to enter into dialogue with health systems about adopting more effective practice patterns and value-based pricing. BHCG and its strategic partners need to understand how and where the best care is delivered to support its mission to improve health care value.

Informed Guidance: Armed with data identifying high value providers, member employers can help individuals make good choices so they consume only necessary, high value services. Guidance can come from a number of different places, including BHCG’s best in class strategic partners.

The value of membership in BHCG is succinctly summarized in this video.

BHCG is a coalition of self-funded employers, primarily located in eastern Wisconsin. A partial list of BHCG members is available on this site.

Integral to the BHCG value proposition is its ever-growing number of solutions to help employers more effectively manage their benefit programs. Working with best in class strategic partners, BHCG’s diverse portfolio of employer solutions in benefit delivery, advocacy and patient decision-making aligns with BHCG’s mission to improve health care value. Presently BHCG's strategic partners include:

• Centivo – high-performance health plan and claims administration
• Teladoc (formerly Best Doctors) – informed decision making
• Navitus Health Solutions – pharmacy benefit management
• Quantum Health – consumer navigation and care coordination
• Welldoc – diabetes management

BHCG is involved in several initiatives at the local and state levels to enhance health care information  transparency including:

• Promoting participation in RAND’s Hospital Price Transparency Studies to all self-funded employers and health plans in the state to improve health care value
• Encouraging all medical plan administrators to share their data with the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO), a partnership of health insurers, hospitals, doctors and employers that analyzes millions of health insurance claims to assess which doctors and hospitals are the most efficient
• Sponsoring the Physician Value Study, in collaboration with GNS Healthcare and WHIO, to evaluate primary care physician and select specialist performance throughout the state
• Encouraging all health systems and provider groups to become members of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) to share best practices with other providers and publicly report their quality performance for consumers to access