MADISON, WI. (Sept. 2, 2021) – The Alliance and the Northcentral Employers Healthcare Alliance (NEHA) have announced that their members will unite under the umbrella of The Alliance, furthering their shared goal of improving the value of health care. Planning is underway to provide a seamless transition for the 2022 benefit year.
“We are excited to unite the employers from both business coalitions to work together on our common mission of controlling costs, improving quality and engaging individuals in their health,” said Cheryl DeMars, CEO of The Alliance. “NEHA shares our commitment to market-based health care reform and we are impressed by what NEHA has accomplished over the last twenty-five years on behalf of Northcentral Wisconsin employers and their employees.”
The Alliance, headquartered in Southcentral Wisconsin, has been growing in size and geography as an employer coalition since its founding 31 years ago. Structured as a not-for-profit cooperative, The Alliance has over 300 self-funded employer-owners who join together to contract directly with over 135 hospitals and 32,000 doctors and clinicians in five states. In addition to the network of providers, The Alliance supports its member employers with analytics, cost and quality reporting, education and networking opportunities and policy advocacy.
NEHA has found success in Northcentral Wisconsin since its founding 25 years ago, with similar objectives of owning its own networks, collaborating with providers, and using data to make informed decisions. That is not all the two organizations have in common. Both were founded by employers who wanted more control over health care costs while maintaining flexibility.
“Uniting NEHA and The Alliance members will help employers be more effective. It’s the right thing to do for Wisconsin employers,” said Mike Tomsyck, CFO of Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork, President and founding member of NEHA. “By uniting our members, we will be able to make faster progress to improve health care value on behalf of our employees.”
He continued, “The Alliance understands the importance of maintaining choice and flexibility for employers. They aren’t trying to fit employers into a one-size-fits-all model, which was important to us in our decision.”
Both organizations say they are excited about the opportunities this brings to member employers. “We are honored to welcome NEHA employers to The Alliance,” said Alliance Board Chair Diana Clark of Promega Corporation. “The more employers, employees and other purchasers work together, in partnership with providers who share our commitment to high quality, affordable care, the faster we can make progress.”
The Alliance serves as the voice for self-funded employers who want more control over their health care costs. They provide transparent, creative approaches to network and benefit plan design to unlock savings where others can’t – or won’t – using Smarter Networks℠ and sophisticated data mining and analysis. The Alliance is owned by more than 300 employers across the Midwest and remains a trusted, objective partner for employers and their brokers who seek improved access to high-quality health care.
NEHA is a member-owned group of employers with a unified goal of improving their employees’ health and controlling the rising costs of health care. NEHA, formed in 1997, leverages their group purchasing power to negotiate directly with area health care providers to obtain lower costs for their employers and employees.
