(1). American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. How Companies Consider Value in Health Policy and Design: Results of the Survey of Employer Decision-Making for Health and Productivity. 2004. http://www.acoem.org/publication.aspx.

This report reveals the results of a 2004 survey, which asked senior level decision makers from the employer community about how they perceive “value” with respect to their health care costs. The survey examines both direct and indirect costs attributed to health care as well as activities that aid in identifying “value opportunities.” The findings are a call to action as most employers participating in the study had done little to implement value-based activities including analyzing their health care data to improve value. Of note, there was a correlation between the use of data and value-based activities.
Grey literature
Keywords: value-based activities, employee productivity, value

(2) Fraser I, McNamara P, Lehman G, Isaacson, and Moler K. The Pursuit of Quality By Business Coalitions: A National Survey. Health Affairs. November/December 1999;18(6):158-165. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol18/issue6/index.dtl.

The extent to which business coalitions and their employer members are catalysts for improving quality of care is of interest to policy makers, who need to know where and under what circumstances the marketplace succeeds on its own in assuring quality. Using data from the 1998 National Business Coalition on Health annual survey, this paper indicates that most coalitions have an infrastructure in place that could be tapped to advance quality goals. Although the survey data cannot tell us the extent to which coalitions are exercising their enhanced market influence specifically to improve quality, interviews with coalition leaders provide insights about how quality considerations can factor into 158 coalition strategies.
Peer reviewed
Keywords: business coalition, quality improvement, data

(3). LoSasso A, Perloff L, Schield J, Murphy J, Mortimor J, Budetti P. Beyond Cost: Responsible Purchasing of Managed Care By Employers. Health Affairs. November/December 1999;18(6):212-223. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol18/issue6/index.dtl.

This paper explores the extent of “responsible purchasing” by employers— the degree to which employers collect and use nonfinancial information in selecting and managing employee health plans. Most firms believe that they have some responsibility for assessing the quality of the health plans they offer. Some pay attention to plan characteristics such as the ability to provide adequate access to providers and services and scores on enrollee satisfaction surveys. A more limited but still notable number of firms take specific actions based on responsible purchasing information. Because of countervailing pressures, however, it is not clear whether or not the firms most involved in responsible purchasing are signaling a developing trend.
Peer reviewed
Keywords: responsible purchasing, data, non financial information, employee health plan