NBCH welcomes two new coalitions in Arizona and Philadelphia

NBCH welcomes two news coalitions to its member roster: the Arizona Business Coalition on Health and the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health.

"These organizations join a distinguished group of private and public purchaser-led coalitions focused on value-based purchasing of health care services to drive efforts for safe, efficient, high-quality health care and improved health of their employees and communities," said Andrew Webber, NBCH president and CEO.

Arizona Business Coalition on Health
Founded in the summer of 2011, the Arizona Business Coalition on Health (AzBCH) is based in Tucson, Ariz. and is the first employer-driven (both public and private) membership organization in Arizona to focus on improving the health of employees and their dependents, and reducing health costs for employers as well as improving quality of health care delivery. Later this year, AzBCH expects to expand its work into the Phoenix area, and then across the state in 2013.

“Arizona has, for a long time, been viewed as a bastion of independent thought and behavior,” said Larry Aldrich, AzBCH’s founding executive director. “We are the Wild West. However, we are not ‘independent’ from the trends towards poorer health outcomes and higher health care costs. Our coalition has already been able to work with NBCH’s staff and other member coalitions across the country to identify the better projects to implement in Arizona that will improve employee health and lower overall health care costs, thus improving health value.”

Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health
The Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health (GPBCH), established last fall, represents the employer community in working with health care providers, health plans, and other system stakeholders to improve the value of health benefit spending for its members, by improving health care quality and safety and reducing health care costs. GPBCH has been organized as a program of the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) a nonprofit health institute serving the Greater Philadelphia region.

“The Philadelphia region is long overdue for having a unified voice for the business community in working with health plans and care providers to ensure that employees have access to safe, high-quality, affordable care,” said Neil I. Goldfarb, GPBCH’s founding executive director. “NBCH membership will help us to identify tools and best practices from across the country, and adapt them for our regional needs.”