Driving Health Care Consumer and Purchaser Value

Employer health care purchasers expect the best value from their investments in employee health. Groups such as the National Business Coalition on Health and local health care buyers are leading many initiatives to drive improvement in the cost, quality and safety of health care. While much progress has been made with regard to new strategies, process redesigns, technologies, reporting and reimbursement steps, many health care providers remain unaware, unengaged, or unprepared to support a shared vision for improvement.

Addressing Serious Gaps in Professional Training & Continuing Education

In the 2001 Crossing the Quality Chasm Report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) brought attention to serious gaps in health professions education. The committee concluded that "All health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics." Aside from promising pockets of innovation, and seven years hence, health care professional training and continuing education programs remain largely unchanged.

Supporting Health Care Workforce Readiness

HealthSciences Institute's Chronic Care Professional (CCP) certification program was designed in response to the calls from both the Institute of Medicine and World Health Organization (WHO) to transform health care professional training from discipline and disease-focused, to interdisciplinary and patient centered. The CCP competency model has been aligned with interdisciplinary competency models developed by WHO and IOM. The CCP program has been continuously updated in collaboration with a HealthSciences' interdisciplinary advisory board, and through industry, association, and participant input. Learn more.

HealthSciences Partnership Platform With Employer Purchasers & Consumer Groups

• Support delivery of improved value to health care consumers and purchasers through HealthSciences Institute's partner organizations and CCP participants
• Raise awareness regarding health care workforce competency gaps
• Support inclusion of Chronic Care Professional (CCP) certification as a contractee requirement in health care purchasing and service contracts between purchasers and health plans, disease management organizations, and health systems
• Develop regional interdisciplinary health professional summits and learning communities to raise awareness, support engagement and build patient-centered care competencies

To learn more about HealthSciences employer purchaser initiatives and partnerships, contact us.