The Massachusetts Employer Health Coalition (MEHC) – a new group consisting of employer associations working with healthcare “strategic partners” – holds its kickoff breakfast meeting tomorrow at The University of Massachusetts Club in Boston.
MEHC’s goal is to engage employers, hospitals, insurers, government, unions, and other stakeholders to reduce avoidable emergency department use, which has been identified as a contributor to rising healthcare costs. The Health Policy Commission has estimated that avoidable ED visits cost $300-350 million annually for commercially insured members alone. MHA is a strategic partner in the MEHC effort.
Among MEHC’s goals, in addition to engaging workers on the issue and improving data measurement, is to “align financial incentives across hospitals, health care providers, health plans, employers, and employees to reward and encourage the timely delivery of care in the most appropriate setting.”
Tomorrow’s meeting will feature new HPC data, and a presentation from the Midwest Health Initiative and the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition (BHC), discussing a multi-stakeholder effort to measure, report on, and reduce potentially avoidable ED use in St. Louis.
View more about MEHC here.