The CEOs of General Motors, Ford Motor and the Chrysler Group on Monday in a meeting with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt endorsed a Bush administration initiative that calls for U.S. employers to collect and release more data on the quality and cost of health care provided to insured employees, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.
The automakers pledged to provide quality and price information about physicians, hospital and other health care providers for employees in their health insurance programs. In addition, the companies will encourage the use of electronic health records and create incentives for "those who buy or provide high-quality, competitively priced health care," according to the AP/Chronicle.
The Big Three automakers said the federal plan is in addition to the Detroit-area electronic prescribing initiative they launched in 2004 (Karoub, AP/Houston Chronicle, 1/29). The companies partnered with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Health Alliance Plan, Henry Ford Medical Group and Medco Health Solutions to launch the Southeast Michigan E-prescribing Initiative. In July 2006, the automakers pledged more than $1 million to support the e-prescribing program for another year (iHealthBeat, 7/26/06).
Leavitt said the support of the Big Three, as well as 30 other Michigan-based companies, would account for health care provided to about two million people. The automakers said the plan represents one of many "small steps in the right direction" to reduce their health care costs but did not say how much they expect to save through the changes, the AP/Chronicle reports (AP/Houston Chronicle, 1/29).