Regional Leader Information
Website: www.healthactioncouncil.org
Region: Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon
Covered Counties: Ohio (all counties); Minnesota (all counties); Oregon (all counties)
Primary Contact: Noelle Reinhart
Title: Project Coordinator
Phone: 216-236-0363
Email: nreinhart@healthactioncouncil.org
Secondary Contact: Patty Starr
Title: Executive Director
Phone: 216-236-2200
Email: pstarr@healthactioncouncil.org
Health Action Council is a non-profit organization, a voice for employers that offer health benefits and wellness services to employees, dependents and retirees.
Why did your organization apply to become a Leapfrog Regional Leader?
Health Action Council Ohio (HAC), a non-profit 501(c) (6) organization, is a voice for purchasers that offer health benefits to employees, dependents and retirees.
HAC provides value to members by facilitating common projects to improve the quality and moderate the cost of health care members purchase by administering programs, providing forums, and collecting information and sharing data to inform our membership and their advisors.
Health Action Council Ohio will take collective action to:
- Improve the health and productivity of our employee, retiree and dependent populations.
- Extend our group purchasing power to affect the delivery and price of services in the marketplace.
- Refine our educational programming and best practice sharing to maximize the effectiveness of our members.
- Strengthen our network of employers and advisors and
- Focus attention on important patient safety and healthcare quality initiatives.
Leapfrog is the gold standard for national patient safety and other hospital quality information that is unobtainable from any other source. We are pleased that Health Action Council Ohio can help deliver the importance of the message about transparency and bring actionable data to our members who are the biggest purchasers of health care.
What kind of impact has Leapfrog had on your market and stakeholders thus far?
Participation has grown over the years, and each year we welcome new hospitals as first-time participants. Purchasers - whether employers, individuals or health plans -- continue to focus on the value of health care, which we can only ascertain by first determining quality and safety. Leapfrog continues to provide this critical information for hospitals and purchasers alike.
How does your organization and members utilize Leapfrog data?
Health Quality Forum (President, Tim Kowalski, MD), a subsidiary of Health Action Council, leads HAC quality initiatives by working with other healthcare industry stakeholders: hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical industry, health plans and public agencies. Leapfrog data drives many discussions within these groups. Employers are using Leapfrog data to inform employees throughout the year, others time their hospital quality communication to coincide with open enrollment.
Market Information
Geographic coverage: Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon
Number of employer/coalition lives in region: Over 2 million lives are covered by the members of HAC
List of area’s largest employers:
Employers in Ohio are varied across many industries, and are both public and private; some prominent HAC members in our area include:
American Electric Power
American Greetings
Cleveland Clinic
Danaher
Franklin County
Joann Stores
Lubrizol
Nationwide
Parker Hannifin
Progressive
The Ohio State University
Sherwin Williams
State of Ohio