Engaging Employers in Multi-Stakeholder Groups
What are the lessons learned around engaging employers and purchasers in value-based purchasing efforts to improve quality and value? Employers were a key stakeholder group for AF4Q Alliances, with both the incentive and market leverage to drive changes in how care is delivered and paid for and in how employees access care. Employers can serve as a communication vehicle to provide employees information to help them make better decisions and to better manage their health conditions. As purchasers, employers can also engage in value-based purchasing, negotiating with health plans and health systems to pay for value instead of volume, and providing employees with incentives to choose high-quality, low-cost care.Though progress has been slow and inconsistent, these Alliances’ collective experience provides insight into the factors that contribute to employers’ involvement in value-based purchasing.
Resources
In this Spotlight Talk from the November 2014 ALIGN Summit, JB Silvers describes the process of getting collaboration right in Cleveland, Ohio.
This brief also offers several ideas for community collaboratives to consider in assessing the mix of employers in their region and matching their own products or services with the types of employers most likely to value them.
The purpose of this document is to offer quick access to promising tactics based on what AF4Q Alliances have done to attract and retain employers as partners.
Since 2010, the Wisconsin Alliance has worked to support providers and health plans in experimenting with innovative payment models, and this brief describes some of the early challenges associated with payment reform.
The Employee Health Communication Toolkit, developed by AF4Q technical assistance provider American Institutes for Research, provides well-tested, consumer-friendly content that you can use to educate employees or members about finding good health care for themselves and their families.
The Communication Toolkit includes several written pieces that employers, health plans, community organizations, and others can use to educate health care consumers about the costs of care and steps they can take to better understand and manage those costs while still getting high-quality care.