Pacific Business Group on Health

Jan 27, 2021

01/27/2021 | 12:16pm EST Message : *Required fields San Francisco, Jan. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Pacific Business Group on Health, a nonprofit coalition of nearly 40 large, private employers and public health care purchasers committed to transforming health care nationwide, today announced a rebranding initiative centered on the organization’s new name, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH). “Our new name reflects PBGH’s evolution since its founding in 1989 from a small but mighty organization with roots in California — the country’s largest and arguably most influential health care market — to one with a national impact,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, PBGH president and chief executive officer. The rebranding includes a new website and logo and is designed to provide PBGH members and other stakeholders with a powerful resource for health care innovation by delivering improved ease of browsing for strategic insights, program-specific data, tools and important event information. Importantly, it also underscores PBGH’s role as the nation’s sole purchaser-only organization. Maintaining a membership exclusively made up of large private employers and public purchasers has been critical to PBGH’s success in pushing for health care system change. PBGH is widely recognized as having made some of the most pioneering and notable improvements to U.S. health care, including launching the first public website displaying health plan, hospital and medical group quality and patient experience data; influencing the drafting of the Affordable Care Act; developing the country’s first consumer-directed health plan; creating a purchaser alliance that achieved double-digit reductions in health insurance premiums; establishing breakthrough specialty care contracting; and helping form one of the country’s highest-quality and most cost-effective centers-of-surgical-excellence networks. “As health care becomes an increasingly important issue, PBGH remains on the forefront of helping employers develop and implement innovative strategies to improve health care quality and control costs,” said Lisa Woods, Walmart senior director for Benefits and PBGH board chair. “Together, PBGH and its members are addressing systemic challenges to health care access and delivery and making it easier for millions of Americans and their families to receive affordable, quality care.” In the coming months, PBGH intends to roll out a handful of initiatives, including a new suite of services to help mid-size companies access higher-quality health care for employees and their families. “Our rebranding initiative will support PBGH’s mission to provide innovative solutions that will sustain the employer-sponsored health insurance market and enable our members to purchase benefits they are proud to offer their employees,” Mitchell concluded.