Rising health care costs are the result of a complicated dynamic. But everyone can play a role in addressing the problem by making smarter consumer decisions.

First, however, people need a better grasp of this complex problem. That’s why the Business Health Care Group is developing a series of online education modules, “A Buyer’s Guide to Health Care,” to be available exclusively to member organizations on our website. These interactive modules lay out the issues in a memorable, easy-to-understand format.

The first of the eight modules—featuring “Joe,” an average health care consumer—is accessible via password at our website. In a video vignette, interspersed with short activities, Joe learns about some of the causes behind the health care costs dilemma. Read More

by Dianne Kiehl

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Catalyst, the newsletter from the Business Health Care Group.

As we intensify our efforts to improve the way health care is used, managed and delivered, the BHCG continues on a path of growth. There is strength in numbers, and the more organizations that join our collaborative, the more leverage we have to make a positive impact on health care costs.

Our membership now stands at more than 400 organizations—and we’re continuing to see growth. Much of our recent growth is in the small-business sector, where health care costs represent a dangerously high percentage of operating budgets. Read More

Small Manufacturer Finds Greater Influence with BHCG

With 25 employees, DrillMaster Tool LLC doesn't have much leverage on its own in the health care marketplace.

But in early 2006, the Slinger, Wis.-based maker of work-holding fixtures, special machines, leak test systems and assembly machines joined the Business Health Care Group. And according to the company’s president, the group’s collective power has given DrillMaster a voice in the market. Read More

The Business Health Care Group has received a $25,000 grant from Novo Nordisk, a world leader in diabetes care, to increase the number of area physicians recognized in diabetic care and management by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Read More

President's Executive Order
Extended to Business Community

To sign the Statement of Support
for the Four Cornerstones of
Value-Driven Health Care, contact
Jennifer LaMere at (414) 433-4984.

Transparency is a critical component of changing the way health care is used, managed and delivered. That's why the Business Health Care Group is supporting President George W. Bush's call for employers nationwide to sign letters of commitment to health care transparency. Read More

BHCG members can click here to search by facility for the estimated costs of 56 procedures.

Humana, the Business Health Care Group’s health insurance partner, has added 20 outpatient procedures to its online Hospital Cost Estimator for our region, bringing the total to 30 inpatient and 26 outpatient procedures searchable for cost estimates.
Read More