AHCPR report shows businesses can negotiate quality as well as lower costs from their health plans

Connecticut Nursing News, Jun-Aug 1998

Employer market power can be a major force for promoting quality and value of health care for Americans, according to a new report by the federal government's Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).

Theory and Reality of Value-Based Purchasing: Lessons from the Pioneers-prepared as part of the agency's research initiative on employers and health care-describes how a number of major corporations, as well as business and health coalitions, are using their market power to promote quality by collecting data on quality as well as cost, using the data to select health plans and providers, and offering employees financial incentives to enroll in plans with good performance records. Some of the organizations are even working directly with providers to identify and implement best practices.

"Employers have been and will continue to be the major drivers of change in the health care marketplace," said John M. Eisenberg, M.D., AHCPR's administrator. 'The information in this report will help employers follow the lead of these pioneers and use their purchasing power to promote quality as well as contain costs. Its a smart investment."

Free, single copies of the report (AHCPR 980004), are available from the AHCPR Publications Clearinghouse, POB 8547, Silver Spring, MD, 20907; tel: 1-800-358-9295. For a summary of the report and other information on the agency's research, visit AHCPR's new user-friendly web site at http://www.ahcpr.gov.