North Carolina’s job creators are the number one purchasers of health care coverage in our state, be it through premiums, self-insurers or state and federal taxes. Yet, they have limited ability to control costs and demand higher quality care – a likely reason it remains a top concern for employers and the one issue they feel they can control the least. Considering that quality and cost of health care are significant factors in hindering job growth and limiting competitiveness for business in North Carolina, the NC Chamber Foundation prioritized making North Carolina a top-ten state for value-driven health care. Last week, the NC Chamber Foundation published Transforming Health Care Value: A Roadmap to Value – the third installment in our insert series running in the Charlotte, Triad and Triangle Business Journals – which analyzed how health care is impacting business in our state and what must be done to fix it. As history has proven, monumental issues that require transformational change are only solved when business takes the lead.

Within this insert, Dale Jenkins, CEO of Medical Mutual Holdings, Inc., outlines the five strategies necessary to drive successful change in North Carolina’s health care value, while other industry leaders answer how their companies are taking steps to improve health care quality and value. Each article makes clear the need for the business community and key stakeholders on the health care supply chain to work together to accomplish comprehensive reform. From developing a common definition of value to collaborating across the supply chain to identifying ways companies can provide value, the pieces examine the necessary steps to achieving value-driven health care and efforts already in progress to bring that value to North Carolina’s taxpayers and businesses.

For too long health care professionals and the business community have talked past each other in defining value and improving quality. In order to establish high-quality care with predictable costs, business can no longer sit on the sidelines. Instead, we must work with stakeholders on the health care supply chain to ensure health care quality and cost are improved and in turn, made valuable assets in improving North Carolina’s competitive business climate.

We encourage you to take a moment to read the various articles in Transforming Health Care Value: A Roadmap to Value. Each highlights the initial conversations we’ve had as the NC Chamber Foundation works to develop its Roadmap to Value-Driven Health. If you are interested in finding out more about the NC Chamber Foundation’s efforts to transform North Carolina’s health care, contact Cassi Zumbiel, policy development manager, at czumbiel@ncchamber.net.

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