News Release

Companies Signal Support for Administration Initiative to Improve Health Quality, Reduce Costs

More than 100 employers have committed in the past month to goals that will improve health care quality and lower costs for employees and their families, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today.

Since the Secretary's call to action at a November 17th summit of hundreds of business leaders, companies like General Motors, Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler, IBM, Xerox, Starbucks, Aetna, Humana Inc., General Mills and Dow Chemical Company have all joined. In addition, the Commonwealth of Virginia recently became the latest state to express support for the initiative. Other states like Georgia and Texas have taken significant steps to promote value driven health care.

"I am proud of the substantial progress we have made in the past month. More than 100 companies have committed to helping their employees get better care and better value from their health care," Secretary Leavitt said.

Fundamental information about health care quality and costs of services is largely unavailable today to consumers, to payers, and to providers alike. Without this information, it is difficult to make informed choices and seek out the best quality at the most affordable price. This contributes to higher health care costs overall.

Last August, President Bush signed an executive order committing federal health care programs to the four "cornerstone" goals. Medicare, the Veterans Affairs health system, the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program and certain other federal health care programs will begin delivering on the four goals in the coming year.

Employers are the largest source of health coverage for Americans. If a significant number of employers also commit to the four goals, common standards for health IT, quality measurement and cost reporting would quickly become the standard throughout the health care system.

Secretary Leavitt called on employers to make a similar commitment to these four goals, including:

• Standards for connecting health information technology, making it possible to share patient health information securely and seamlessly among health care providers.

• Quality of care reporting, so that health care providers as well as the public can learn how well each provider measures up in delivering care.

• Providing costs of health services in advance, so that when patients choose routine and elective care, they can make comparisons on the basis of both quality and how much of the total cost they will have to pay under their health plan.

• Providing incentives for quality care at competitive prices, as in payments to providers based on the quality of their services, or insurance options that reward consumers for choosing on the basis of quality and cost.

By spring of next year, when payers put out their requests for proposals for 2008, the Secretary's goal is to have more than 60 percent of the marketplace include these cornerstones as a significant part of their purchasing criteria.

More information is available at www.hhs.gov/transparency.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: December 20, 2006