Looking for a physician? Want to rate a physician? BHCG members can now easily link from Humana’s online Physician Finder and MyChoice tools to a web site called Vitals.com. Vitals.com aggregates public and private information about all 720,000 physicians that practice in the United States. Read More

by Dianne Kiehl

As the national health care reform debate continues to rage nationally, often overlooked are quieter, but equally important, health care reform initiatives happening right here in Wisconsin. Due to forward thinking and innovative leadership, we have five multi-stakeholder organizations poised to make a significant impact on the cost and quality of health care delivered to our state’s citizens. The BHCG plays a crucial role in all of these organizations and I serve on the boards of each.

These initiatives hold great promise to truly reform health care delivery in our state and serve as a model for national reform activities. That promise can only be realized however, if we, as health care purchasers, understand, nurture and support these initiatives. What are these organizations and what are they striving to accomplish? What can we do to support them? Read More

What roles can comparative effectiveness research (CER) and value-based benefit Design (VBBD) play in designing and providing cost-effective, competitive health care benefits for employees?

During 2009, the BHCG sponsored or co-sponsored two seminars with nationally known speakers to address the integrally related topics of CER and VBBD. Here are the highlights of those presentations and the implications of these topics for employers.  Read More

• BHCG membership continues to grow Read More
• Best practice report card findings Read More

• BHCG Consumer education modules are drawing interest from other coalitions Read More
• The BHCG joined The Leapfrog Group Read More
• You can do more to engage employees in health and wellness efforts Read More

As the need to engage, inform and educate employees and their dependents grows ever greater, the BHCG has looked for ways to offer turnkey communication solutions for our members. We’re pleased to announce the launch of a “Web2Print” website for BHCG employers to easily and affordably access, customize, and order or print employee benefit communication materials. Read More

Major provider groups and health care systems participating in the Humana Preferred (BHCG) network agree to the development of action plans focused on cost reduction through efficiency and quality of care improvements. Since its inception, the BHCG has engaged numerous network provider groups in the development and implementation of these provider action plans. One such action plan resulted in efficiencies gained by a network provider group – efficiencies that allowed them to help control their costs.Read More