Even as North Carolina continues to secure its spot as one of the best places in the nation to do business, we remain behind the curve in maximizing health care value; our state ranked just 31st nationally in this important indicator in 2015 according to the United Health Foundation. As the NC Chamber Foundation works to build momentum behind our employer-driven Roadmap to Value-Driven Health in order to transform North Carolina into a top-ten state for health care value, we are continuing to utilize our bi-weekly #ValueDrivenHealthNC campaign to recognize proactive champions of value-driven health care across our state.

This week, we wanted to draw your attention to a recent panel event on this topic presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). As many of you know, BCBSNC is one of the largest intermediaries along the health care supply chain here in North Carolina. In addition, they are a valued member of the NC Chamber and one of our Foundation’s key sources of information and experience-based knowledge on current and emerging issues in health care. During the panel discussion, which focused heavily on how employer support for value-driven health initiatives can have transformative impacts in improving the quality of health care for employees while lowering employer costs, Brad Wilson, president and CEO of BCBSNC, emphasized that, “One of our fundamental philosophical principles happens to be that you can always accomplish more working with people and organizations rather than trying to do things to people and to organizations.”

Indeed, it is this fundamental principle that lies at the heart of the NC Chamber Foundation’s approach with the Roadmap to Value-Driven Health, which involves engaging stakeholders along the entire supply chain – from manufacturers of health care devices, to service providers and health plans, and from key purchasers like the business community and families, to innovative entities like health information exchanges – in order to drive real improvement in health care value across North Carolina. Ultimately, we hope to create a system that gives patients the health care they want and need and with minimal wasted costs along each link in the supply chain.

As another participant in the discussion, BCBSNC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Caveney explained, “We’re not talking about some futuristic thing that we’re thinking about may some day happen. We have tons and tons of value-based contracts and arrangements already in market…about 90 percent of our hospital contracts have some element of this already built in. It’s most of our members across North Carolina.” He added that, “Just at BlueCross, we have come up with a host of different curated, digital and mHealth (mobile health), if you will, apps that are either available through our website or that we promote…For example, Duke is trying to integrate some of them within their patient portal and within their electronic medical record perhaps so that a physician could almost prescribe or recommend one to their patient.”

It is exciting to think about the possibilities of these value-driven approaches in continuing to fuel transformative improvements in our state’s health care system. As such, it is important for health care stakeholders in North Carolina, including the entire statewide business community, as well as public and elected leaders, to continue fostering discussions like the one presented by BCBSNC. An essential aspect of the success of value-driven health initiatives, of course, rests on our ability to accurately measure their results; that is, enabling the sharing of information among stakeholders so we can track what works and recognize where these efforts create real improvement over time. This is where engagement from NC Chamber members is essential. You can help us continue building momentum by clicking here and putting your organization’s support behind the Roadmap to Value-Driven Health.

With more than 50 employers already committed to the Foundation’s efforts, we appreciate the broad show of support we have already received from our members across industries. We are confident this support will ultimately be the crucial factor in transforming North Carolina into a top-ten state for health care value. If you know of an innovative program that is already working to increase the value of health care here in our state, we encourage you to share it with us by contacting Cassi Zumbiel at czumbiel@ncchamber.net. It could end up being featured in a future edition of #ValueDrivenHealthNC!

Gary J. Salamido
Vice President, Government Affairs
North Carolina Chamber