How to Reduce Health Care Costs and Improve Access: What Unions Can Teach Us

Monday Jul 1, 2019 01:00 pm EDT
United States
The State of New Jersey is saving $1.5 billion on prescription drug costs for its unionized employees over the next three years and health costs for members of Nebraska’s food workers union are down 5 to 15 percent. In our webinar next week, you’ll hear how these savings were achieved and what we can learn about controlling health care costs and increasing access to good care from efforts led by unions and their employer partners.
 
Find out what lessons these efforts hold for other employers, health plans, and providers. The webinar follows our recent issue of Transforming Care on this topic.
 
When: Monday, July 1, 1:00–2:00 p.m. EDT
 
Presenters:
Mark Blum, executive director of America’s Agenda, an alliance of labor unions, businesses, health care providers, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies, will describe the landscape of union–employer health care partnerships and explain how New Jersey’s public unions worked with the state to lower pharmaceutical costs by $1.5 billion. 
Kathy Silver, president of the Culinary Health Fund, a Taft-Hartley plan for union members working in Las Vegas casinos, will describe how the fund set up advanced-access primary care clinics and urgent care centers for members. The Fund has also been able to negotiate capitated payments for its primary care clinicians and specialists. 
Ken Stuart, former administrative manager of the health trust for the San Diego chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, will explain how the trust created narrow networks to steer members toward high-value providers and what tools it offers to help members choose evidence-based treatments.  


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