Biotechnology Healthcare - June 2008 - (Page 6) EDITORIAL The Savvy Shopper David B. Nash, MD, MBA W e hear you! We know that purchasing biologics at thousands of dollars per dose for scores of employees is a situation fraught with anxiety and stress. We know that the long-term benefits of many of these products is still being evaluated. We also appreciate that healthcare costs are unlikely to go down and that managing this critical employee benefit has become a sophisticated science unto itself. I am proud to join Mike Dalzell and our editorial board to bring you a refocused, redesigned, and ready-to-go-forthe-future issue of BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE. As long as the majority of healthcare spending is through the workplace, employee benefit managers and others who make purchasing decisions on behalf of employees will be important consumers of healthcare. The biotechnology industry has a lot of explaining to do about the value of its products. Benefit managers, brokers, chief financial officers, and rank-and-file employees are not scientists, yet they deserve to know the value proposition biologics bring to healthcare — and they deserve the best opportunity to become savvy shoppers for healthcare services. CAMHB provides practical, intensive education and training for those who purchase healthcare benefits for their organizations. The training focuses on value-based purchasing techniques, giving participants skills that help them improve the quality of healthcare services received for the resources expended. The college targets its programs to midsized employers that have virtually no other source for this type of specialized training and assistance. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER The Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia is perfectly situated to assist this journal in helping readers become better buyers. Our agenda for research, education, and publishing enables many different stakeholders to assess the value of healthcare interventions when making purchasing decisions. One of our current projects illustrates the alignment between our work and the path of this journal. In conjunction with the National Business Coalition on Health, a national association of employer-led coalitions representing more than 7,000 employers and 34 million workers and dependents, and HealthCare 21, a businessled collaboration of employers, health plans, hospitals, and physicians dedicated to improving the quality and affordability of healthcare in Tennessee, the Department of Health Policy has created the College for Advanced Management of Health Benefits (CAMHB). Over the past three years, the Department of Health Policy has successfully held CAMHB sessions 10 times. Across the country, we have trained more than 300 human-resource professionals, business leaders, and benefits consultants. CAMHB is recognized as a national leader in teaching purchasers of healthcare how to become savvy shoppers. 6 BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE · MAY/JUNE 2008 APPLICABLE TO REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE The curriculum helps participants build benefitspurchasing knowledge and skills. This is accomplished through presentations by expert faculty, case discussions, and small-group workshops. As the program progresses, participants develop a customized action plan to implement when they return to their organizations. The college has a pragmatic bent, and the faculty are battle tested and uniformly receive outstanding evaluations from attendees. These evaluations also ensure that the material is current. The curriculum for 2007, for example, included a review of the U.S. healthcare system, pay-for-performance models and case examples, managing the pharmacy budget, and managing employee health and disease. These sessions were interspersed with small group discussions that helped participants shape their action plans. In a final college session, participants had an opportunity to present their action plans to the faculty and fellow participants, obtain feedback, and ask additional questions. This energized participants to begin the implementation process immediately upon return to their organizations. Faculty remained available to answer questions and committed to ready communication by phone or e-mail after the program closed. Maybe one day you will be able to attend CAMHB; it would be my great pleasure to meet each and every one of our readers. If you would like to learn more about CAMHB, please e-mail Neil Goldfarb, vice chairman for research in the Department of Health Policy, at «neil.goldfarb@ jefferson.edu». If you cannot attend, I suggest that you pay close attention to this important journal, as we strive together to create the savvy healthcare shopper of the future. As always, I am interested in your views. You can reach me at «david.nash@jefferson.edu».
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