SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--McKesson Corporation announced today that it has joined the Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN) to provide its employees increased access to affordable high quality hip or knee replacement care. McKesson joins Walmart and Lowe’s as members of the ECEN, which was developed by the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) to improve the quality and affordability of health care for its members’ employees.
A 2013 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found the cost of a hip or knee replacement varies up to 10 fold with no direct correlation to care quality. To address this unwarranted cost variation, the ECEN negotiated a fixed bundled payment rate for all procedure-related costs at several carefully selected centers of excellence. Employees benefit from access to high quality care at reduced or no cost to them as McKesson and other participating employers will not only cover the majority of the cost, but will also support travel costs for patients and a caregiver. Employers benefit from transparent and predictable costs, and significant downstream savings from reduced complications such as surgical revisions and readmissions.
“We are proud to offer our employees the opportunity to be treated by top surgeons at distinguished medical centers that are committed to the highest quality standards and have demonstrated excellence in joint replacement surgery,” said Gerri Burruel, vice president of benefits, McKesson Corporation. “In addition to cost benefits, the ECEN program provides support for patients at every step, and we expect that our employees will be enthusiastic about the guided ECEN experience.”
To date, the ECEN has selected four centers of excellence for hip and knee replacements that have met rigorous evaluation criteria. Requirements included center and surgeon volume and quality minimums, experience managing travel surgery patients and a demonstrated commitment to evidence based medicine, patient safety and quality improvement. Current ECEN centers include:
- Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Md.
- Kaiser Permanente, Irvine Medical Center, Irvine, Calif.
- Mercy Hospital, Springfield, Mo.
- Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.
Expansion to additional centers and new elective surgeries is underway.
“McKesson’s participation in ECEN further highlights the employer community’s willingness to take action to provide their employees with access to high-quality, accountable care. This approach to delivering exceptional care for employees with transparent and predictable costs for self-insured employers is a model for addressing some of this country's greatest health care challenges of the 21st century,” said David Lansky, PBGH CEO.
About McKesson Corporation
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 14th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. McKesson partners with payers, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit www.mckesson.com.
