Thank You for Sharing Your Perspective–Blog by Deidre Serum, Sr. Director of Benefits, Best Buy

Thank You for Sharing Your Perspective–Blog by Deidre Serum, Sr. Director of Benefits, Best Buy

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” ~Bill Gates

Earlier this summer, The Action Group Board of Directors – your Board of Directors – invited members to provide input via a short, electronic survey. The Board wanted to understand why you engage with The Action Group, how you engage, and what you find valuable. We also wanted to hear your ideas for improvement and your perspective on the most urgent issues facing employers today. The information will guide the strategic planning of our coalition.

We are grateful to the 28 individuals who responded to the confidential survey. The respondents reflect the diversity of our members in terms of types and sizes of organizations as well as length of membership. This blog provides a high-level summary of what we learned.

Addressing meaningful health care issues

First of all, the most common reason that members engage with The Action Group is to collaborate with other employers to address meaningful issues in health care. This validates our purpose and inspires our future planning. The second most common reason is to understand and stay abreast of the vendor landscape and innovations. Other prevalent reasons include network with peer companies, personal/professional development, learn best practices in plan design/management, as well as help increase transparency, affordability, and quality. We’ll keep these reasons at the forefront as we plan initiatives and programs to ensure they are relevant to you, the members.

Opportunities to engage with The Action Group

We also heard from you regarding how you engage with The Action Group today, ways that you are considering engaging, and the most valued ways to engage. The most valued ways are also the most common: special events (such as our Annual Leadership Summit), the Annual Benefits Survey, and regular member meetings. However, two highly valued ways to engage, the Specialty Pharmacy Guiding Coalition and the Mental Health Learning Network, are not as common. So, we see that there is an opportunity to engage more members in these high-value initiatives.

Strong member support and passion

Third, there is strong support and passion among our members. More than 90% of respondents agreed with each of the following statements

  • I believe it is important for employer/purchasers to collaborate on solutions in health care.
  • I value the independent perspective of The Action Group, free of conflicts of interest.
  • I am proud to be a member of The Action Group.
  • Considering the cost of membership, participating in The Action Group is a good value for my organization.
  • I’d recommend that other employers join The Action Group.

As a Board, we are inspired by the strength of these shared beliefs, and we will align our strategy accordingly. In addition, we see that there is an opportunity to communicate this perspective to potential new members so they better understand the unique nature of our coalition.

You also provided detailed suggestions (such as consider starting meetings 30 minutes later) and insights on areas for future employer collaboration.

Finally, we asked you to share a word or phrase that you thought best describes The Action Group. I wanted to close by sharing your powerful words: Unbiased, innovation, energetic, a collective health care voice for employers, dynamic, engaged, educational, well-connected, scrappy, collaborative, health care thought leaders, effective, Minnesota area health care cost and quality oversight/management, knowledge, teamwork, and value in a broken health care system!

Thanks again for sharing your input. It will help us ensure the continued relevance of The Action Group.

Deidre Serum
Sr. Director of Benefits, Best Buy

Deidre Serum is Senior Director of Benefits, Best Buy