Large Employers Aim to Redirect Healthcare Spending, Boost Quality

Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) has announced a series of goals to help large employers redirect healthcare spending and improve care quality for its members over the next five years.

“Our new goals reflect the need and interest of large public and private purchasers to adopt modern ideas and novel partnerships so that savings can be spent in areas that foster better health,” Elizabeth Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBGH, said in a press release emailed to HealthPayerIntelligence.

“We’re very hopeful about the improvements to healthcare PBGH members, who represent a strategic group of leaders, can collectively make on behalf of American workers and families.”

PBGH is a nonprofit alliance of 40 large private and public employers that purchase healthcare services for more than 21 million Americans. The coalition strives to test new approaches to lower healthcare costs and improve care quality across the country.

PBGH’s series of strategic goals will focus on addressing affordability, health, and equity to improve the overall healthcare experience for members.

The organization plans to improve affordability by reallocating current healthcare spending to high-quality, equitable, and evidence-based care. PBGH aims to keep total healthcare costs flat during this redirection.

Annual healthcare spending in the US has increased to $4.1 trillion, or 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). However, care quality is low compared to other countries, according to a Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

Additionally, large employers have reported that the cost of providing healthcare benefits to employees will likely become unsustainable within five to ten years.

The collation also plans to redirect purchasing to support medical, behavioral, and socioeconomic needs and create accountability for health and wellbeing outcomes, according to the press release.

PBGH will address equity by working to eliminate disparities in care delivery and health outcomes, the coalition said.

In addition to the strategic goals, PBGH is launching a new public purchase advisory committee to help align public and private purchasers. The committee will focus on addressing the needs of public purchasers while integrating the work of public and private sectors.

PBGH’s Advanced Primary Care Practice Transformation Initiative leveraged public and private purchaser engagement to boost primary care investment, which improved wellness, prevention, and early intervention, according to the coalition.

The organization plans to use the public-private relationships to help further healthcare payment reform as well.

Research from the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) found that employer-sponsored health plan costs for single and family coverage rose in 2021. Premiums and deductibles each increased by around 3 percent.

Data from NORC at the University of Chicago also found that health equity was lacking in employer-sponsored health plans. Racial minority groups had higher rates of diabetes compared to their White counterparts, while lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals had higher rates of behavioral healthcare diagnoses than straight individuals.