The Pittsburgh Business Group on Health (PBGH), the region’s employer-led coalition that advocates for cost-effective, quality health care and benefits, recently received a two-year grant to implement the Pittsburgh Health Strategy Project. The initiative will allow PBGH employer members to develop a targeted health and benefit strategy to improve employee health and impact overall health care costs.
PBGH was selected as one of 20 coalitions to apply for this value-based benefit project and is one of five coalitions awarded the grant provided by the Washington-based National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) in collaboration with Pfizer, Inc.
The Pittsburgh Health Strategy Project is part of the American Health Strategy Project, a national initiative sponsored by the NBCH. The health strategy project was designed to improve the health of employees and their families, promote wellness and prevention, and better manage health care costs. The project will help employers implement a value-based approach to benefits that incorporate principles of utilizing actionable data to drive decision-making around health, wellness and benefit offerings.
“This new project will assist our employer members in creating more affordable plans for their employees while at the same time promoting healthy lifestyles – equally important in managing costs,” said M. Christine Whipple, PBGH executive director. “It’s a win-win for both employer and employee.”
Other employer benefits of the project include:
- Identify, aggregate and integrate cost and utilization data, from both internal and external sources, to identify needs and direct informed health care and benefits decisions
- Developing a more robust corporate health strategy to engage employees in health and wellness
- Receiving customized employer-specific results from data analytics teams highlighting areas of opportunity
- Comparing data results with national benchmarks to assess current employee health and productivity
- Obtaining strategies and support for adoption of health or benefit design change
- Improving overall employee health
- Measuring and benchmarking outcomes
- Reducing overall health care costs through strategic health and benefit design
“Being selected as one of the participating coalitions in this project has not only enabled the PBGH to provide more opportunities for our employer members, but is also meeting the board’s goal of developing a value-based health project,” said Whipple. “This collaborative process will allow participating employers to evaluate which value-based health strategy will best motivate their employees to make the best lifestyle and health care decisions.”
Visit www.pbghpa.com for more information.
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