Evolution in the Buyers Health Care Action Group purchasing initiative

Abstract

In 1997 the Buyers Health Care Action Group (BHCAG), a coalition of large employers in the Twin Cities, introduced a new purchasing initiative (called Choice Plus) designed to promote competition among care systems, driven by consumer choices. Our analysis suggests that consumers are playing the role, to some degree, envisioned by BHCAG. However, several issues now have caused BHCAG to dramatically restructure its approach to Choice Plus. It hopes that through this restructuring, Choice Plus will grow in the Twin Cities market and be adopted in other communities as well. The success of this new approach is by no means certain, as it faces a number of critical tests.