Employers have done everything they can to stem their ballooning health care costs—high deductible plans, health plans, centers of excellence where employees can complete certain common but expensive procedures.
None of these strategies reduced overall costs. Employers currently have to cover $7,500 per employee per year for health insurance, said Mark McClellan, the Robert J. Margolis Professor of Business, Medicine and Policy and founding director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University. cost. University, during a panel discussion at the annual virtual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday.
Now, Morgan Health, created by JPMorgan Chase to reshape the employer-sponsored company after Haven faltered, is trying a new approach. One based on responsible care and focused on advanced primary care.
“Today we have about 150 million Americans getting care through their employers. That’s more than Medicare and Medicaid combined, but most of it is largely unmanaged,” Morgan Health CEO Dan Men Delson said during the same panel discussion at JPMorgan. “We pay for quantity. We pay when someone goes to the doctor or to the hospital, but we don’t have much responsibility for population health outcomes. We don’t really pay for quality, and we don’t hold the system accountable for quality improvements. Now It’s the opportunity for employers to come forward and really engage the healthcare system to get more expectations and introduce some of these accountability models, and that’s really our primary focus here at Morgan Health.”
To that end, starting this month, JPMorgan Chase employees in California, about 8,000, will be able to access health care through Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente is widely recognized for its integrated model of care delivery and payment for delivering quality care while keeping costs low.
“Part of responsible care is to be a good financial steward of the resources we have,” Kaiser Permanente executive vice president and chief medical officer Andrew Binderman said during a panel discussion on employer-sponsored care.
The attraction to Kaiser is not only its ability to control costs. Their integrated structure collects data not only from claims, but also from the EHR, providing a more complete picture of the patient. Access to this data is key for Morgan Health, which makes closing health disparities a priority.
A statement forwarded by Morgan Health’s chief spokesperson said: “Our shared goal is that JPMC and KP intend to jointly implement performance assurance related to health equity for a portion of the quality measures of JPMC members in the next calendar year.
Another component of Responsible Care, Bindman added, is “a real commitment to delivering the highest quality to our population…we are [also] We are transparent about our performance and share our performance with our clients so they can see the quality of care provided to their members – they can see data stratified by race, ethnicity and other social factors… “
Better data is what Mendelson sees as a key differentiator in decades of efforts to reform the nation’s healthcare system.
“I think one of the things that makes this moment special is that we do have better data, we can have better data, and that’s one of the reasons I’m excited to work with Kaiser because there’s really nothing like this A better system handles data than Caesars,” he said.
While the partnership with Kaiser has begun in California, one of Mendelson’s pilots Previously said to launch on January 1st, has not yet landed.
Morgan Health’s head of communications, Anne Pace, explained the delay, noting that the company is “trying to get it right” and that most employees are still working from home given the Covid-19 pandemic. On-site clinics are part of that pilot, so unless employees are there, they won’t be used. She expects the pilot to launch “within a few months”.
Through the pilot, Morgan Health will test its advanced primary care model, where patients will be able to access care digitally, while also having the flexibility to “choose specialists outside the immediate system,” Mendelson said.
In Ohio, Morgan Health is working with Central Ohio Primary Care, It claims to be the largest physician-owned primary care facility in the United States. Mendelson clarified that employees with different primary care providers don’t have to switch to doctors in the network, noting that roughly half of JPMorgan’s Columbus employees already receive care in central Ohio primary care.
The pilot will also test the model Vera Overall Health Developed, Morgan Health has invested $50 million.Seattle Vera Overall Health Currently operates a network of primary care centers in 10 states and has an existing relationship with Central Ohio Primary Care.company Recently Acquired Care Navigation Company Castlight Health $370 million as directing employees to the highest-quality but lower-cost providers for their healthcare needs becomes valuable to employers as another tool to control costs.
Of course, none of this is easy and requires a system redesign. Mendelsohn knew very well that nothing would change overnight.
“It will take time,” he predicted. “When looking at our metrics at Morgan Health, we’re looking at a five-year outcome and we can’t be responsible for fixing it in one year.”
Considering the safe haven — JPMorgan has previously worked with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway on employer-based healthcare conundrums — this conservative timeline is sensible Failed.
Photo: Adventurer, Getty Images
