Memphis Medical News Reports on MBGH Leapfrog Rewards

Click here for the Memphis Medical News article on MBGH's April Annual Awards Luncheon where we recognized hospitals for their national performance and "best odds of survival".

MBGH Recognizes 5 Memphis-area Hospitals for "Best Odds of Survival"

Click here to read about MBGH's Leapfrog awards to 5 Memphis-area hospitals that have "best odds of survival" in the Memphis Daily News.

Click here to read the press release which talks about other Memphis-area findings from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, including how Memphis hospitals compare to hospitals nationally on COST of care.

MBGH Has a New Look

Look at that. It’s our new logo. MBGH is actively engaged with our members and the community, and we wanted a logo that reflects the spirit of MBGH today - bold, strong, focused.

We also have a new way of describing ourselves.

“MBGH is a coalition of employers sharing solutions and providing tools to manage the cost and quality of health benefits in an ever-changing environment. We do this by providing access to critical market data, facilitating best-practice sharing among the market’s leading employers, and offering practical tools for successfully managing healthcare benefits.”

Our new tagline sums it up, we are about “Connections. Tools. Solutions”

Connections. MBGH programs and initiatives support our “sharing solutions”.
• Topic-focused in-person meetings
• MBGH’s Annual Conference
• Webinars addressing health and benefit issues identified by our members
• Newsletters, blogs and social media for networking and learning
• Publication of a membership directory so members can contact each other directly.

Tools. These are the resources MBGH provides our members to help improve performance of health plans. In 2010, we’ll launch a new website with a resource and tool kit section addressing:
• Benefit design
• Vendor management
• Worksite-based programs
• Employee engagement.

Solutions. In addition to sharing tools and solutions targeting what employers can do to improve health benefit plan performance, MBGH remains committed to health care system reform in Memphis and nationally. Our members’ health plans perform best when the health care system is cost-efficient and provides high-quality care. MBGH will continue our leadership in measuring and reporting cost and quality performance and implementing employer-based programs/approaches to facilitate improvement in:
• Hospitals (Leapfrog)
• Physicians (Aligning Forces for Quality through Healthy Memphis Common Table)
• Health plans (eValue8)

We are developing tools for you and your employees to use this information to improve the performance of your health benefits through employee engagement, health plan contracting, and network selection.

It is exciting to have this new look, especially as we enter a new decade. We look forward to working with you in 2010 and beyond.

2009 Was a Great Year for MBGH!!

2009 was great for MBGH..celebrating hospitals, health plans & physicians that are improving quality & efficiency of care in Memphis, holding our first annual conference, hosting the NBCH Board at Graceland & NBCH meetings in Memphis, and representing Memphis employers in Nashville, DC, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Phoenix, Philadpelphia and beyond..We look forward to 2010!!

MBGH Had a Full House at our Health Reform Update

Andy Webber, CEO and President of the National Business Coalition on Health, updated a capacity crowd at this morning's MBGH "Health Reform: How It Affects Employers" breakfast meeting at the Crescent Club.

Andy focused on the major provisions that impact employers:

• The employer mandate and "pay or play" proposals, including the federally mandated minimum benefit design
• The development of insurance exchanges and the public option
• Excise tax on "cadillac" plans and
• Workplace health promotion incentives.

Andy believes that there will be some type of health reform passed and signed into law by the first quarter 2010, perhaps as early as the President's State of the Union Address in January. According to Andy, there is just no other option for the Democrats but to pass SOMETHING. The exact shape of that "something" is still to be determined, especially the fate of the public option.

Click here for a copy of Andy's slides.

MBGH to Present at GMEBC on November 5!! Plan to Attend.

MBGH's CEO, Cristie Upshaw Travis, will present at the November 5, 2009 meeting of the Greater Memphis Employee Benefit Council. She will speak to:
Value Based Benefits: Aligning Health Benefits with the Total Picture for your Company.

PLACE: The Crescent Club
6075 Poplar Ave

TIME: 11:30 A.M. Registration
11:40 A.M. LUNCH (served immediately upon arrival)
12:15 P.M. Program

COST: Please note: If you are not a member of GMEBC, you will need to pay the non-member fee.
$30.00 per person for GUESTS and NON-MEMBERS Of GMEBC
(Cash or Check, which is payable at the meeting)

RESERVATION Friday October 30, 2009 (by Noon)
DEADLINE: Call: Leigh Ann Alexander 901/820-5829
Email: leighann.alexander@fedex.com

Reservations are required for members, non-members and guests. We greatly appreciate your timely response.


CANCELLATION Monday, November 2, 2009 (by Noon)
DEADLINE: Cancellations must be received by the above deadline to avoid meal charges, or you can send someone in your place. This applies to members, non-members, and guests.

MBGH Hosts Health Reform: How Does It Affect Employers?

Andy Webber, President/CEO of National Business Coalition on Health, will be in Memphis on November 24, 2009 to bring us the latest, hot off the press information on health reform, focusing on how reform will impact employers. Click here for additional program & registration information.

MBGH Hosted Successful Employer Preparedness Webinar re: H1N1

MBGH just finished hosting a national webinar on Employer Preparedness for H1N1. The webinar was coordinated through the National Business Coalition on Health and over 140 coalitions and employers from across the U.S. particiapted. Presenters included Lisa Koonin, Senior Advisor for the Influenza Coordination Unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Liz McKee of Baker Donelson and Salomon Mizrahi of Frist Horizon, both MBGH members. A summary of the webinar and links to presentations and webinar recording will be posted soon, so check back. If you have any questions, contact Cristie Travis at ctravis@memphisbusinessgroup.org .

Make Your Own Health Reform

In the midst of all of this health reform hubbub, I was struck by the simple message of an article by Rick Johnson for HealthLeaders Media, published July 28, 2009. He states:

"But whatever comes out of the other end of the health reform debate, insurers and employers should not count on the eventually watered down version of health reform - assuming some plan actually becomes law - to help change the direction of healthcare's cost curve. No, it is wiser to exhaust the tangible options at hand. A truly progressive employer is striving today for a mix of employee wellness efforts and contracts with health care organizations - both at home and abroad - that bring down the cost of some of the most pricey and common procedures....One day this health reform movement seems to gain momentum, and then the next day it loses traction..... So work today to bend your organization's cost curve. No one is going to do it for you tomorrow."

When we developed the theme for our recent August 26 conference, "Do It Yourself: Health Benefit Tools for Employers", we didn't know the twists and turns health reform would take. As it turned out, that was a perfect theme as the conference focused on what Memphis-area employers CAN do to bend their own cost curve. Actions around benefit design, vendor management, work site clinics, and activating your employees are all within your realm of control. You don't have to wait on Congress for changes in these areas. You don't have to wait for the health care delivery system to improve quality and become more efficient to take these steps.

Put these strategies that employers can do now together with local efforts to measure and report on provider performance, create systems to help providers improve the quality and efficiency of their care, and engage consumers across the whole community, and we have a recipe for our own local health reform.

Let's learn more together about ways we can bend our own cost curve and reform our own system and not wait for the federal government to make that happen. The more of us that take these types of actions, the faster we will see the difference.