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Covering Managed Care
A resource guide for reporters and editors

 

back to Covering Magaged Care Index.

EMPLOYER COALITIONS AND PURCHASING GROUPS

They buy health care on behalf of corporations and public sector employees. Coalitions can put journalists in touch with employers who have had significant experience offering managed care benefits.

Buyers Health Care Action Group

Northwest Financial Center 7900 Xerxes Ave. S., Bloomington, Minn. 55431, (612) 896-5190, fax (612) 896-5184, e-mail bhcag@isd.net.com. Web site: www.choiceplus.com. Executive director Steve Wetzell. Acts as a purchasing agent for employers in the Minneapolis area. Has devised a new model that calls for direct contracting between providers and employers.

Central Florida Health Care Coalition

4401 Vineland Road, Orlando, Fla. 32811, (407) 425-9500, fax (407) 425-9559. President Becky Cherney. Group has been collecting risk-adjusted hospital data for ten years to assess outcomes and various care interventions.

Colorado Business Group on Health

747 Sheridan Blvd., Lakewood, Colo. 80214, (303) 234-0387, fax (303) 234-0389. Director Donna Marshall. Manages quality-improvement projects on behalf of thirteen employers. Issues an annual report card on area managed care firms to employees.

Gateway Purchasers for Health

8888 Ladue Rd., St. Louis, Mo. 63124, (314) 721-7800, fax (314) 721-6784, e-mail gp4health@aol.com. Does group purchasing for thirty-six employers in the local market. Issues a report card on HMOs based on Hedis data.

Greater Detroit Area Health Council, Inc.

645 Griswold St., Detroit, Mich. 48226, (313) 963-4990, fax (313) 963-4668, e-mail jkenney@msms.org. Web site: www.hiag.org. Vice president corporate communications Ron Beford (313) 965-4123; president J. Sean Kenney. A coalition of employers, unions, health plans, and health systems that promotes change in how health care is bought and used in southeast Michigan. Offers a tool on its Web site that gives information on HMO performance measures, as well as data on how many times certain physicians perform specific procedures.

New England Hedis Coalition

201 Gilmanton Road, Belmont, N.H. 03020. Contact Patrice Jackson (603) 229-2543, e-mail jacksonp@cyberportal.net. It encourages employers to submit comparable Hedis data that buyers can use to choose health care plans. Conducts educational seminars for employers.

Pacific Business Group on Health

33 New Montgomery St., San Francisco, Calif. 94105, (415) 281-8660, fax (415) 281-0960. Web sites: www.healthscope.org (specific data on HMOs); www.pbgh.org (general information on the organization); www.calinx.org (information systems data initiative). Executive director Patricia Powers. The most active of the business coalitions, PBGH represents thirty-four public and private sector buyers of health care. Group negotiates health-care premiums on behalf of its members, and disseminates performance information about health plans.