32BJ Labor Industry Cooperation Fund Launches New Tools to Reduce Costs for Employers

The 32BJ Labor Industry Cooperation Fund released two tools — the Healthcare Savings Calculator and a model contract template — on Thursday to help lower healthcare costs for employers and unions.

The organization works with employers and members of 32BJ (a union of property service workers) in New York City and surrounding areas. It is focused on addressing healthcare costs and is an advocate for hospital price transparency.

The Healthcare Savings Calculator is available for any employer or union. It can help a purchaser “identify how much it could save if it paid hospitals what they need to break even, based on their reported costs,” according to the website. Users answer a series of questions to receive a savings estimate.

“For our calculator, as long as an employer knows how many members they have in any given state or how much they spend on healthcare, or a solid estimate, in that state, they will be able to see how much they could save by lowering hospital prices,” said Cora Opsahl, director of 32BJ Health Fund, in an email. “For example, the tool will show an employer how much they would save if prices were reduced by even a small amount relative to the prices Medicare pays. This is particularly important for explaining why this matters to C-Suite executives.”

The 32BJ Labor Industry Cooperation Fund also released the Healthcare Administrator “Contract-first” Template. This is a model contract template that purchasers can use when negotiating with health plans and third-party administrators. It is meant to help employers establish “more fair and favorable terms” with their carriers and third-party administrators, the website stated. These terms include owning their own data, allowing for direct contracting and managing the audit process.

Opsahl said the 32BJ Labor Industry Cooperation Fund recommends that all employers use a contract-first strategy during the medical request for proposals (RFP) process. In this strategy, employers include the template contract and “ask for it to be redlined as a mandatory component of the RFP bid,” she said. 

“This ensures that what is promised in the sales pitch shows up accurately in implementation and the contract,” Opsahl stated. “All too often employers are promised things during the sales cycle that cannot be implemented or are later deemed in ‘violation of provider contract.’ By putting the contract first in the RFP process employers are able to ensure that what they see is actually what they get, and that vendors are able to support the benefits as designed. We also encourage purchasers to start with their own contract rather than waiting to use the vendor’s contract to ensure that it reflects purchasers’ needs rather than the vendor’s. Any changes made by the vendor become immediately obvious to the purchaser.”

By releasing these two tools, the organization hopes to “empower employers to manage their benefits more effectively [and] demand lower prices,” Opsahl added.

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