The National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions 2024 Coalition Strategy Summit brought together regional coalitions, like the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative (KHC), employers and other healthcare purchasers, and affiliate members to focus on driving the future of healthcare to be more efficient and equitable. Jenny Goins, KHC President and CEO; Natalie Middaugh, KHC Director of Programs and Health Strategies; and Jane Gilbert, KHC Board Co-Chair and Senior Federal Strategy Liaison, Teachers’ Retirement System Kentucky all participated in the Summit.
The Strategy Summit engaged regional coalition staff and their employer board member representatives in sharing programs, successes, and challenges in each coalition. Hearing from other coalitions allows the KHC staff to find areas to collaborate on current or new projects that would be of value to KHC’s members. The conference also ensures we stay up to date on innovative ideas and solutions. Examples of concepts shared include:
· Transparency initiatives – use of the RAND Study and SAGE Transparency data, understanding costs with hospitals and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and claims database services
· Policy and advocacy – legislative roundtables, grant-funded hospital finance study, and contract review services for members
· Disease management – oncology, mental health, obesity, and women’s health initiatives
· Benefits – Advance Primary Care (APC), Employer Healthcare College, and ethical benefit designs
· Coalition member engagement – videos to share member perspectives, and offering purchasing services such as pharmacy and medical benefits
The Strategy Summit also provided learning opportunities from panel discussions related to innovative therapies, women’s health, mental health, and a consumer-centric health insurance model.
Jane shared that she had a light bulb moment, “Public and commercial healthcare purchasers have so much in common. We need to all worry about keeping employers in the healthcare game from an affordability perspective.” Three key
takeaways for her were drug pricing, keeping employers in the game, and the costs of GLP1s.
The National Alliance’s new President and CEO Shawn Gremminger overviewed the National Alliance’s strategic planning process incorporating several hours of the Summit to allow coalitions and their employer members to provide input and share their priorities to the development of the National Alliance strategic plan. The strategic plan will be released at the November annual meeting. You can learn more about the National Alliance on their website at:
