Geisinger doctors author Harvard Business Review article on direct employer-purchasing of bundled care

DANVILLE, Pa. – A pair of Geisinger physician leaders are among the authors of a new article published by the Harvard Business Review entitled “Why GE, Boeing, Lowe’s, and Walmart Are Directly Buying Health Care for Employees.”

Jaewon Ryu, M.D., Geisinger executive vice president and chief medical officer; and Jonathan Slotkin, M.D., director of spinal surgery for Geisinger’s Neuroscience Institute and medical director of Geisinger in Motion; joined Olivia Ross, associate director of the Employers Centers of Excellence Network at the Pacific Business Group on Health; and M. Ruth Coleman, BSN, founder and chief executive officer of Health Design Plus; as authors. 

The article details development of bundled payments in U.S. healthcare and how large employers are now directly purchasing bundled care for their employees through selected providers. Lowe’s, Walmart, McKesson and JetBlue Airways have recently partnered with the the Pacific Business Group on Health and Health Design Plus to launch the Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN). It helps employers identify quality providers and negotiate bundled payments.

The network provides employees of participating companies with 100 percent coverage for all travel and medical expenses at carefully selected healthcare systems. Patients pay no out-of-pocket costs. 

The article reports that the ECEN program has led to lower patient out-of-pocket costs and excellent patient satisfaction. The average Lowe’s associate who has joint replacement surgery performed by one of the network centers saves approximately $3,300 in copayments and other fees as compared to those patients who get the same care under traditional insurance. Twelve-month analysis also found that 100 percent of Lowe’s joint surgery patients reported that they would refer co-workers or family to the program for a similar surgery. 

Geisinger Health System began partnering with Walmart around cardiac surgery in 2012, and joined ECEN for spinal surgery in 2015. Fewer than 5 percent of healthcare systems initially identified for participation in ECEN meet all of the quality requirements for consideration. In 2016, Geisinger also began providing destination care for bariatric surgery patients.

The authors conclude that employer purchased bundled payment innovations continue to expand and prepared healthcare systems are pursuing these relationships.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.