Employers should focus on provider quality to cut low-value care in plans, report finds
In the employer-sponsored insurer market, employers play a “critical” role when it comes to quality and outcomes, according to a report by Morgan Health and Embold Health.
Healthcare Dive 8/30/2023
Dive Brief:
- Ensuring workers can find and access high quality providers is key to tamping down healthcare costs and improving outcomes in the employer-sponsored insurer market, according to a study by Morgan Health and Embold Health published in NEJM Catalyst.
- Employers can now access more data on the quality of care provided by clinicians, so they should take a larger role in health plan network design and steer workers toward higher performing providers, according to the report.
- Clinician quality can drive poor outcomes, missed treatments and unnecessary care, the report said. For example, among the top 10% of about 800 cardiologists in Ohio by quality rank, an average of 73% of patients with coronary artery disease were taking cholesterol-lowering statins regularly, compared with only 39% for the bottom 10% of clinicians.
