The approach uses technology to take data from the plan and put it through a data warehouse, apply predictive modeling that shows, based on the data, that the company has a number of people at high risk in the workforce.
"You now have information you didn't have before when you just renewed the contract every year and paid the increased amount. This is a way of becoming active in the management of your health plan rather than passive," Pantos said.
The approach is best for large and medium-sized companies that can access their data; generally more than 500 workers.
The Institute has issued a concept paper and will also come out with other reports to advance application of its approach to helping executives
tackle healthcare costs.
"The whole idea of health performance management is to create a way in which the top level of a company, CEOs, CFOs, CIOs can have access to data and information that gives them at their fingertips a better chance of controlling costs by making changes in plan design and policy of their health plans that will lead in the right direction. This is the new dimension and the transformative aspect of using technologies for health plans."
He noted that the approach is in compliance with the HIPAA health data privacy standards because the law allows business associates to access plan data. "Part of administering a health plan is to identify risks and take action," Pantos said.
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