Indiana Employers Quality Health AllianceThe Indiana Employers Quality Health Care Alliance strives to provide nationally competitive, high quality health care for all Indiana residents. They work with member providers to analyze and improve the quality and breadth of services they offer and to make information on provider cost efficiency, customer service and quality available to employers to enable them to make the best possible decisions for the programs they offer to employees. Alliance members include both large and small companies representing more than 50,000 people. The Alliance led the formation of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, which has become a model for similar exchanges in other states.

Challenge

Employers want to do the right thing by their employees, but they are confused about the options available to them and the requirements and changes imposed by the ACA (Affordable Care Act). As a result, many employers are considering getting out of providing health care, leaving employees to seek coverage on exchanges.

Indiana Employers Quality Health Care Alliance found that this confusion made the challenge of organizing both for-profit and not for profit health care providers into transparent organizations capable of assuming risks and marketing themselves individually an even more daunting task than before.

Employer frustration was running high, and some organizations stopped paying dues or dropped out of the organization altogether because they didn’t see the cost savings they had anticipated. At the same time, the members were usually from the human resources organization rather than executive leadership, and they had neither the vision nor the ability to effect the necessary changes that could make a difference in the cost and quality of the available health care options.

Experience

Eventually, Indiana Employers Quality Health Care Alliance developed effective messaging that allowed it to clearly communicate its goals and the value the organization could bring to employers. They launched new initiatives to reach members and to monitor and report on quality of care at area hospitals The Indiana Health Exchange numbers thousands of area physicians and medical facilities among its members, and it serves as the model for similar exchanges throughout the country. As Dr. Ned Lamkin, President of the alliance stated, “We are totally invested in our support of the Indiana Health Information Exchange and in the pursuit of this delivery system quality performance measure.”

Results

The major benefit to employers from membership in organizations such as the Indiana Employers Quality Health Care Alliance is the leverage they achieve with scale. With scale, they can achieve a major impact on delivery systems and their intermediaries. Membership in the alliance helps enable them to purchase health care more effectively and affordably. The united front provides enhanced leverage with the provider community that allows them to enact reforms that will give them a better quality of care for all employees.

Over time, the Indiana Employers Quality Health Care Alliance has seen its efforts bear fruit in the form of improved patient outcomes and better care at the hospitals it monitors. In addition, it led the formation of the Indiana Health Exchange, which provides data about patient outcomes and care to area physicians in a secure, private, electronic format.

Scott Foster/Wellco Value

Ned Lamkin, Indiana Employers Quality Health Alliance“Scott Foster’s understanding of healthcare strategies, challenges and opportunities is exceptional.  His initiative and enthusiasm are amazing and tremendously valuable attributes that aren’t found anywhere else. Scott’s contributions have generated new engagement for our efforts, a fact which is greatly appreciated. His presentations are thoughtful. He skillfully engages participants in the subject matter.
E. H. Lamkin, Jr., MD, FACP, President
Indiana Employers Quality Health Alliance

About the Indiana Employers Quality Health Alliance

The Indiana Employers Quality Health (IEQHA) member organizations employ over 50,000 people  in Indiana. Established in 1994 to address employer concerns about health care costs and quality, IEQHA’s initial approach was to focus on gathering and sharing information about provider performance with providers for self-improvement efforts and with employers to assist purchasing decisions. This focus continues today, with added emphasis on improving the overall health care system in Indiana, and with expanded numbers of programs and services. Learn more by following this link.

About Scott Foster and Wellco
Scott Foster is President of Wellco. Scott is a frequently-invited expert and speaker regarding making sense of employer health care strategies and the effectiveness of health and wellness programs. Scott and Wellco provide award-winning, results-oriented systems to measurably improve organizational health costs and conditions. Contact Wellco.

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