RESEARCH UPDATE

HERO Scorecard Validity Study PublishedBy Jerry Noyce
CEO & President
HERO

Ron Goetzel, PhD, and his team from Truven Health Analytics and Emory University have completed a study for HERO to test the validity of self-reported outcomes in the HERO EHM Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer. Over thirty employers were identified who had both completed the Scorecard and had medical claims results in the Truven database. This study compared actual claims experience for those employers over time with the impact of their health management programs on medical claims as they self-reported in the Scorecard. The study did, in fact, determine that there was a consistent relationship between self-reported and actual claims experience, further validating the HERO Scorecard tool. This study was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in February.

HERO/Population Health Alliance Recommended Program Metrics to Be Released

After two years of research and discussion by more than seventy volunteers representing nearly fifty employers and non-profit organizations, the Program Measurement & Evaluation Guide: Core Metrics for Employee Health Management will be released in March.  HERO and PHA (formerly the Care Continuum Alliance) collaborated on this project to identify a core set of metrics that, if adopted by purchasers and providers of EHM services, will provide a set of measures that all employers can use to evaluate program offerings from various suppliers. This work has been vetted by subject matter experts in the field and was posted for public comment in January. These comments are now being reviewed for inclusion in the final work.

As part of the process of creating a level of consistent measurement across the industry, several organizations have joined in this effort by becoming collaborators or endorsers of these measures. This includes:
COLLABORATOR 

Aetna

Alere

AllOne Health

Engaged Health Solutions

Corporate Health Improvement Program (CHIP)

Geneia, Inc.

Health Dialog

H2U - Health to You, LLC

HealthFitness

HealthPartners

Hospital Alemao Oswaldo Cruz (Brazil)

Kaiser Permanente

Mayo Clinic

National Association of Worksite Health Centers NBGH

Optum

Riedel & Associates Consultants, Inc.

StayWell Health Management

Truven Health Analytics

University of Michigan

ENDORSER

RedBrick Health

Viridian Health Management

These organizations will partner with HERO and PHA to continue to develop and enhance this initial work. If your company is interested in joining in this effort as a collaborator, please contact Karen Moseley at karen.moseley@the-hero.org.

HERO Scorecard V4 Nears Completion

The next version of the HERO EHM Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer, the most widely used tool of its type, is nearing completion. V4 will represent the work of over fifty members of HERO, Scorecard Preferred Providers, and industry subject matter experts. Anticipated release date is early May.

About the Author
Jerry Noyce
CEO & President
HERO