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NBCH & Our Advocacy Partners

With its strategic location in Washington, D.C., NBCH monitors federal issues relevant to value-based purchasing and health system reform, as well as collaborates with like-minded organizations to educate Members of Congress and the payer community at large. The following are NBCH's current partners in advocacy and we appreciate the resources they provide which are helping us to accomplish our policy agenda in 2010:

 

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead agency charged with supporting research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost, and broaden access to essential services. AHRQ's broad programs of research bring practical, science-based information to medical practitioners and to consumers and other health care purchasers. AHRQ's mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.

 

NBCH has a relationship with AHRQ which includes training and education sessions for NBCH members on using and reporting health care data. AHRQ also has developed a diabetes calculator as part of support for coalitions to use with employers for diabetes health improvement initiatives. For more information, please visit AHRQ's website.

 

Alliance to Make the US Healthiest
NBCH has signed on to support the Alliance to Make the US Healthiest. The Alliance is actively engaging partners from a variety of fields including public health, medicine, third party payers, business, purchasers, policy, government, and academia, with the following vision:

 

“An integrated national system where the participants value health and work together to achieve optimal health for all. A comprehensive system that priorities prevention, and protects people and communities from emerging threats.”

 

The Alliance's vision aligns with the NBCH/CCHI goals for its Community Health Partnerships (CHP) Project. The overall objective is to support and build the capacity of NBCH members to be leaders of health improvement by providing education, training, mentoring, and aligning coalition leaders with public health to support common goals for population health that advance value-based health and healthcare. The Alliance's website offers information and action steps for business, consumers, and public health organizations and professionals.

 

Ambulatory Quality Alliance (AQA)
In 2004, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), joined together to lead an effort for expediently determining how to most effectively and efficiently improve performance measurement, data aggregation, and reporting in the ambulatory care setting. Originally known as the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance, the coalition is now known as the AQA alliance because its mission has broadened to incorporate all areas of physician practice. The focus is to improve health care quality and patient safety through a collaborative process in which key stakeholders agree on a strategy for measuring performance at the physician or group level; collecting and aggregating data in the least burdensome way; and reporting meaningful information to consumers, physicians, and other stakeholders to inform choices and improve outcomes. NBCH currently is an AQA member. For more information, please visit AQA’s website.

 

American Benefits Council
The Council is recognized as the preeminent advocate of employer-sponsored benefit programs in Washington, D.C. Members either sponsor directly, administer or service retirement, health and stock compensation plans covering more than 100 million Americans. The Council initiates and champions legislation and regulations favorable to our members' needs and interests, and influences policy development within Congress and the White House and executive branch agencies. NBCH has been a member of The Council for over a decade and our President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently sits on The Council’s Advisory Board. For more information about The Council and its resources, please click here.

 

Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the 120,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to assuring excellence in state-based public health practice. ASTHO’s mission is to transform public health within states and territories to help members dramatically improve health and wellness. For more details about the NBCH/CCHI work with ASTHO please contact Suzanne Mercure

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Collaborating to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health – through health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability, and preparedness for new health threats, CDC seeks to accomplish its mission by working with partners throughout the nation and the world to

· monitor health,

· detect and investigate health problems,

· conduct research to enhance prevention,

· develop and advocate sound public health policies,

· implement prevention strategies,

· promote healthy behaviors,

· foster safe and healthful environments,

· provide leadership and training.

 

CDC has funded a multiple year Cooperative Agreement with NBCH/CCHI to work with business-led health coalitions and the business sector. NBCH/CCHI welcomes the opportunity to work with CDC and other public health entities with the objective to build the capacity of members to be leaders of health reform by providing education, training, mentoring, and aligning coalition leaders with public health to support common goals for population health that advance value based health and health care. For more details about the NBCH/CCHI work with CDC please contact Suzanne Mercure or Sonia Kim. For more information about the CDC, please click here.

 

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
CMS has been a strong partner of NBCH's and is playing a significant role in advancing the goal of creating a value-based health care system. Performance measurement, performance feedback, public reporting and appropriate financial incentives are core components needed to transform our health care system into one that delivers appropriate, high-quality, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care. CMS has made instrumental steps in reforming our health care delivery system that improves clinical quality; addresses underuse, overuse, and misuse of services; encourages patient-centered care and care coordination; reduces adverse events and improves patient safety; avoids unnecessary costs in the delivery of care; reduces disparities in health care and encourages the provision of quality care for at-risk populations; and provides meaningful performance information to consumers, providers, and others stakeholders. To access information about CMS’ quality improvement efforts, please click here.

 

Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project
In 2001, the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project organized as a group of leading employer, consumer, and labor organizations working toward a common goal to ensure that all Americans have access to publicly reported health care performance information. The members' shared vision is that with this information, Americans will be better able to select hospitals, physicians, and treatments based on nationally standardized measures for clinical quality, consumer experience, equity, and efficiency. NBCH is a founding member of the Disclosure Project, and its coalition members are active participants of the "Disclosure Project." In terms of alignment with our provider performance measurement and reporting public policy agenda, it is NBCH's primary source of information, resources and direct advocacy. We are grateful for its diligent advocacy for national standardized provider performance measurement and reporting. For more information about the Disclosure Project and its activities, please click here.

 

eHealth Initiative (eHI)

The eHealth Initiative is an independent, non-profit affiliated organization whose mission is to drive improvement in the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care through information and information technology. It is focused on engaging multiple and diverse stakeholders, including hospitals, clinician groups, consumer and patient groups, employers and purchasers, health plans, health care information technology organizations, manufacturers, public health agencies, academic and research institutions, and public sector stakeholders. It strives to define and then implement specific actions that will address the quality, safety and efficiency challenges of our healthcare system through the use of interoperable information technology. eHI engages the multiple stakeholders in health care both at the national level, and within states and communities across the country, to develop and drive the implementation of a common set of principles, policies and best practices for mobilizing information electronically to improve health and healthcare, in a way that is responsible, sustainable, responsive to each stakeholder's needs, and which builds and maintains the public's trust. NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently serves on eHI's Leadership Council. For more information, please click here.

 

National Quality Forum (NQF)
NQF is a multi-stakeholder organization comprised of more than 350 organizations representing consumers, purchasers, health care professionals, providers, health systems, insurers, state governments, and federal agencies. NQF is playing an increasingly important role in evaluating, endorsing and promulgating quality performance measures. In July 2008, Congress overturned a Presidential veto to make law the "Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008," which among other things establishes the National Quality Forum as the "gold standard" for measures to be used under Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently serves on NQF's Board of Directors. For more information, please click here.

 

Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)
In December 2002, the organizations representing America's hospitals joined with consumer representatives, physician and nursing organizations, employers and payers, oversight organizations and government agencies to launch the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). The HQA is a national public-private collaboration that is committed to making meaningful, relevant, and easily understood information about hospital performance accessible to the public and to informing and encouraging efforts to improve quality.

 

A cornerstone of its collaboration is the Hospital Compare website which publicly reports hospital performance in a consistent, unified manner to ensure the availability of credible information about the care delivered in the nation's hospitals. The HQA, is committed to expanding Hospital Compare, which is updated quarterly, to include additional measures that will help consumers assess hospital quality and value and make informed decisions about their care. For a list of measures adopted by HQA, please click here. NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently is a HQA Principal. For more general information about HQA, please click here.

 

The Joint Commission

The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. To earn and maintain The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years. For more information about The Joint Commission, please visit their website.

National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO)

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is the national organization representing local health departments. NACCHO supports efforts that protect and improve the health of all people and all communities by promoting national policy, developing resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems.

 

The mission of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is to be a leader, partner, catalyst, and voice for local health departments in order to ensure the conditions that promote health and equity, combat disease, and improve the quality and length of all lives. For more details about the NBCH/CCHI work with NACCHO please contact Suzanne Mercure

 

National Coalition on Benefits (Pro-ERISA Group)
The National Coalition on Benefits (NCB) is an organization comprised of several employer-focused organizations, business coalitions and individual employers working to preserve ERISA. The mission of the NCB is to work with Congress to maintain employees' and retirees' access to employer-provided uniform health and retirement benefits across the country and to ensure that federal health reform initiatives and other benefits legislation protect ERISA's vital structure. The NCB mission statement and principles document is available here.

 

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
Since its founding in 1990, NCQA, as a health plan accreditation organization, has been a central figure in driving improvement throughout the health care system, helping to elevate the issue of health care quality to the top of the national agenda. NCQA's programs and services reflect a straightforward formula for improvement: Measure; Analyze; Improve; Repeat. NCQA makes this process possible in health care by developing quality standards and performance measures for a broad range of health care entities. These measures and standards are the tools that organizations and individuals can use to identify opportunities for improvement.

 

Today, accredited health plans face a rigorous set of more than 60 standards and must report on their performance in more than 40 areas in order to earn NCQA's seal of approval. These standards promote the adoption of strategies that we believe will improve care, enhance service and reduce costs, such as paying providers based on performance, leveraging the Web to give consumers more information, disease management and physician-level measurement. NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently serves on NCQA's Purchaser Advisory Committee. For more general information about NCQA, click here.

 

Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative
The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of major employers, consumer groups, and other stakeholders who have joined with organizations representing primary care physicians to develop and advance the patient-centered medical home. The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient-centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the viability of the health care delivery system.

 

NBCH currently serves on the Collaborative's Advisory Board and also has been working with the Collaborative and the National Business Group on Health to develop guides for employers of all sizes to begin integrating the medical home model into their plans with health benefit companies. The final product is the Health Benefits Purchaser Guide, which is available through the PCPCC website. NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently serves on the PCPCC Board.

 

Quality Alliance Steering Committee (QASC)
QASC, formed in 2006, is a collaborative effort among existing quality alliances (AQA & HQA), government, physicians, nurses, hospitals, health insurers, consumers, accrediting agencies and foundations to dramatically improve the quality of health care across the U.S. Together, all of these stakeholders are working to ensure that quality measures are constructed and reported in a clear and consistent way that informs both consumer and employer decision-making, as well as the efforts of practitioners to improve. Many different private- and public-sector groups have designed models for assessing performance and reporting data. QASC helps to harmonize all of these various initiatives and to build the initial components of an infrastructure to collect health care quality and cost data nationwide. NBCH's President & CEO, Andrew Webber, currently is a QASC Member. For more general information about QASC, click here.

 

URAC
URAC works to promote continuous improvement in the quality and efficiency of health care management through processes of accreditation and education. As an independent, nonprofit organization, URAC is a well-established leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation and certification programs. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services that keep pace with the rapid changes in the health care system, and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to validate their commitment to quality and accountability. Through its broad-based governance structure and an inclusive standards development process, URAC ensures that all stakeholders are represented in establishing meaningful quality measures for the entire health care industry. NBCH is represented on URAC's Board by coalition member Marianne Fazen, Executive Director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Business Group on Health. For more information about URAC, click here.