If you were to play a word-association game and mention “healthcare,” it’s unlikely that anyone would respond with “employer.” Yet employers are major players in healthcare, providing coverage to more than half the insured population in the United States. They have a huge stake in a well-functioning healthcare market – for their businesses to thrive, they need both high-quality health care for their workers and they need costs to be sustainable. These objectives align perfectly with a more rational US healthcare system. But these market influencers don’t always get the attention they deserve.
That’s why we’re excited about our role in ensuring the employer voice is heard at HLTH VRTL – the conference that brings together players from every corner of the healthcare market with the goal of accelerating its transformation. Employers know how desperately transformation is needed: Health benefit costs have risen faster than CPI and workers’ earnings every year but one over the past two decades. Such a system is simply not sustainable for plan sponsors.
Value must become central to the conversation. The simple equation, “Value equals quality divided by cost,” is key to transformation. When quality and cost are out of balance, it benefits no one. Employers can move the healthcare system toward value by demanding higher quality and putting downward pressure on costs. What would healthcare centered on value look like? Here’s our vision:
With this vision in mind, Mercer has curated an employer track for HLTH VRTL, featuring four C-level speakers:
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