Pittsburgh Business Group on Health awards regional companies for excellence in health care leadership

Organizations recognized for work on improving and advancing health care initiatives among employees and communities

PITTSBURGH – August 28, 2017 – The Pittsburgh Business Group on Health (PBGH), the region’s leading employer-led coalition designed to drive transparency in health care data, cost and quality, today announces the recipients of the 2017 Health Care Excellence Awards in conjunction with the organization’s 18^th Annual Health Care & Benefits Symposium.

The awards will be presented during the 2017 PBGH Health Care Symposium – this year titled, “Health Care at the Crossroads: Where Opportunity and Preparation Meet.” The annual event brings regional and national health care experts into the Pittsburgh region to meet and discuss trends with nearly 400 business, human resources and benefits leaders.

The 2017 awards include:

• Philanthropy Award: Jewish Health Care Foundation (JHF): The JHF’s Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative has been at the center of transforming patient-centered health care; HIV/AIDS funding; integrating behavioral health into primary care settings; readmission reduction and electronic medical records.
• Excellence in Driving Innovations for Employee Health and Wellness (Employer Member): Covestro LLC: Covestro’s health care benefit programs are at the top quartile within the chemical industry and are provided to the company’s employees at a relatively low cost. A new benefits strategy in 2017 resulted in reducing overall health care costs without cost shifting and included the introduction of a comprehensive holistic approach involving physical, emotional and financial components for employee health and wellbeing.
• Excellence in Strategic Partnership for Employee Health (Employer Member): Eat’n Park Hospitality Group: The company is committed to solutions that identify ways to help achieve access to data and cost transparency, and how that has transformed the company’s culture to promote healthy decisions for their team members. Eat’n Park Hospitality Group has cultivated a business model that creates more healthy eating establishments and choices, such as Parkhurst Dining, Hello Bistro, and Delicious Raw within the communities and companies they serve. Also, the brand uses locally sourced ingredients through its FarmSource Program, which has grown to more than 200 local farmers.
• Excellence in Strategic Partnership (Associate Member): Cigna: In 2017, Cigna quickly established its intention to be an asset to PBGH and the region. Cigna offers employers the opportunity to save money through performance guarantees for services, including medical, dental, life and disability. Cigna also participates in eValue8 and supports PBGH employers through data feeds for PBGH’s data initiative.
• Excellence in Driving Innovations for Employee Health – CEO (Employer Member) Ellwood Group: David Barensfeld, CEO and President of Ellwood Group, Inc., (EGI) is being recognized for his ongoing commitment to identify creative and sustainable methods to control costs and improve the quality of health care.  A force in the founding of the Penn-Ohio Healthcare Alliance, he has been involved with Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation reform efforts.  Recently, he has lead the fight to support quality health care through specialty drug management, corporate wellness, company health clinics, and healthcare consumerism through a strategic focus on Health Savings Accounts.  As a founding company in the PBGH Prescription Drug Program, EGI helped lead the way for many PBGH group purchasing initiatives.

 

“These companies are leaders in reshaping health care in their organizations and communities,” said Jessica Brooks, CEO and executive director, PBGH, “and, in particular, they are often disruptors – ushering in a new era of health care across our region where the focus on quality and cost drives improvement for our region.”

For more information, visit www.pbghsymposium.com

 

About the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health

Founded in 1981, the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health is a non-profit organization and business-only coalition representing more than 100 employer-member companies. PBGH promotes health care and benefits strategies through education, collaboration and innovation among members, and in the community, to deliver value and quality for members and their employees. #pbghsymposium @pbghpa