Employer health care-buying coalition seeks members

The Nevada Health Care Coalition would like to grow, but its executives aren't certain how many possible members remain to come on board.

The Reno-based nonprofit allows employers with self-funded health plans to band together to contract with hospitals and other health-care providers.

The philosophy, says Executive Director Michael Ginder, is straightforward: A bigger coalition can negotiate better deals than individual companies with self-funded health plans could get on their own.

The 20 employers who are members of the Nevada Health Care Coalition have about 16,000 employees and family members covered by health plans.

Membership is open to employers that have at least 250 employees covered by a self-funded employee health plan. Because the coalition negotiates only with hospitals and other medical providers in northern Nevada, membership makes sense only for companies whose employees are entirely within the region, says Ginder.

Members include a combination of government agencies such as the Washoe County School District, Cities of Sparks and Reno and Washoe County, gaming properties such as the Atlantis and John Ascuaga's Nugget and other big private-sector employers such as Scolari's Food & Drug Co.

Associate members, who contract with the coalition for services other than hospital contracts, bring the total number of covered employees and family members at coalition companies to more than 35,000.

The coalition currently has contracts with Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center, Northern Nevada Medical Center, Carson-Tahoe Regional Healthcare and Tahoe Pacific Hospital, a specialized provider of long-term acute care.

It's also reached contracts with a network of 170 dentists in the region and a pharmacy- benefit program.

"We have driven tremendous cost discounts with all of our programs," says Ginder. "Our contracts are all about cost and value."

Not surprisingly, the potential for cost savings holds the attention of members.

"With the cost of health care, it's very worthwhile," says Kris Gilbert, the human relations manager at Baldini's Sports Casino, a member of the coalition.

Another selling point, members say, is the coalition's work to control health care costs.

Coalition members are required to have a utilization-review process as part of their heath plans. The coalition, meanwhile, collects data on claims stripping the data of personal information and sponsors wellness programs.

Working, for instance, with the Health Services Coalition, a similar group in Las Vegas, the Nevada Health Care Coalition will sponsor a one-day summit on obesity prevention and management in Las Vegas on Sept. 29.

Those wellness programs are important to the coalition's members as they seek to control the costs of their self-funded health programs.

"The Nevada Health Care Coalition is an important force in terms of promoting wellness and disease management for northern Nevada employers and the community," says Bob Connolly, the benefits manager for NV Energy and a member of the coalition's board last year.

While the Nevada Health Care Coalition is actively seeking new members, Ginder acknowledges that the group's pool of prospects employers with at least 250 workers, self-funded health programs and employment limited to northern Nevada is limited.

Similar coalitions operate in cities across the country. The National Business Coalition on Health, a group of organizations similar to the Nevada Health Care Coalition, includes 52 independent regional coalitions that represent more than 7,000 employers and about 25 million workers and their dependents nationwide.

The coalition employs three at its office in Reno.