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Large Companies Form Alliance to Rein in Health Costs

"[The Health Transformation Alliance (HTA)] said its alliance was not a multiple employer welfare arrangement since it didn't assume any financial or performance risk in the delivery of benefits. Instead, the alliance would facilitate contracting opportunities between the alliance members and service providers. And in response to a question on the Affordable Care Act, the HTA said its group was a private sector response to the issue of health-care costs."

New Website: Alliance for an Experienced Workforce

"The Alliance was developed from a National Advisory Council formed to provide input to AARP on their workplace and workforce strategies. The members of the Alliance are committed to collaborating on strategies and to raising the visibility of the importance of workers 50+."

Alliance Seeks Public Comment to Define Six Health Care IT Terms

Excerpt: The alliance's network workgroup is considering definitions for 'regional health information organization' and 'health information exchange,' while its records workgroup is considering definitions for 'electronic medical records,' 'electronic health records,' and 'personal health records' (Health Data Management, 3/25).

CalPERS' Strange Alliance

Excerpt: On Monday, the board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System voted not to fire AllianceBernstein, one of the firms implicated in the mutual fund scandal, but to put it on a watch list pending the outcome of various investigations.

Minnesota's Health Care Gamble with the Smart Buy Alliance of Government and Employers

Excerpt: No one is immune from the problem of runaway costs in the dysfunctional U.S. health care system -- not individual families, not businesses, and certainly not state and federal governments. The universality of the problem is what makes an experiment being launched in Minnesota this month an important national story. Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced on Nov. 29 the formation of the Smart Buy Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of state government and private employers that will[.]

Corporate Alliance Unveils First Steps Toward Cutting Healthcare Costs

"The blueprint includes group contracts to purchase prescription drugs through units of CVS Health Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.; the creation of specialized doctor networks; and a deal to use International Business Machines Corp.'s Watson software to analyze their health-care data. The nonprofit group, called the Health Transformation Alliance, says combining the negotiating heft of its 38 members allows it to win lower prices than any individual company could alone."

Multiemployer Pension Alliance Letter to Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pensions (PDF)

"A well-designed loan program can save the most troubled plans and the PBGC's insurance program.... Interest rate assumption rules did not cause the solvency crisis facing troubled plans and are not an appropriate 'lever' to avoid future crises.... Sound multiemployer plans cannot pay for the administration's PBGC premium proposal without sustaining substantial harm.... PBGC premium increases do not -- and are not intended to -- address the solvency crisis facing troubled plans."

Health Alliance Pushes for Expanded Obesity Care in Insurance (PDF)

"The EveryBODY Covered campaign encourages employers to prioritize obesity within workplace healthcare and equity strategies by: [1] Recognizing obesity as a chronic disease with causes that include those outside of an individual's control.... [2] Reviewing your benefits offerings for opportunities to better support obesity care for your employees and communicate coverage as a priority to your benefits administrators.... [3] Working against weight bias at every level of your company and making sure that this is demonstrated through your company's culture."

Health Insurance Cooperatives: An Alliance for Health Reform Toolkit (PDF)

20 pages. Excerpt: As Congress approaches what may be the final stage of this year's health reform debates, legislators continue to search for creative solutions that will expand coverage and reduce costs with little impact on the federal budget. One proposed solution ? health insurance cooperatives ? has received increasing attention as an alternative to a new public coverage plan. Cooperatives are businesses that are owned by members. A health insurance cooperative is owned and operated by the people receiving health coverage through the organization. Since there are no shareholders, profits and savings in a health cooperative can generate reduced premiums or increased benefits for the consumer.

Twenty Major Companies Form New Alliance to Target Healthcare Costs

"The newly formed alliance of companies, which cover about four million people among them, plan to share information about members' employee health spending and outcomes, with an eye toward using findings to change how they contract for care. Ultimately, some members say, they could even form a purchasing cooperative to negotiate for lower prices, or try to change their relationships with insurance administrators and drug-benefit managers."