Alliance of Community Health Plans

2023 Annual Report

achp.org

The ACHP Difference

The Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), quite simply, makes health care better by representing and advancing a unique nonprofit model of health care in which clinical teams and health plans align to better serve their patients and communities. Advocating for practical and commonsense solutions, ACHP and its members drive improved health outcomes for patients and better value for individuals, employers and taxpayers.

ACHP Welcomes Two New Members

Welcome Ochsner Health Plan and Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire! Expanding our membership allows ACHP to further promote the unique provider-aligned model of health care we represent.

We are excited to join ACHP, represent the needs of our members and showcase the value-based journey of Ochsner Health.
Jeff Fernandez
CEO, Ochsner Health Plan

Focusing Today on Tomorrow’s Medicare Advantage

Launched MA for Tomorrow, ACHP’s vision for the future of Medicare Advantage, in June with bipartisan support at a briefing in the U.S. Capitol.
Celebrated a major win in November when CMS issued a proposed rule limiting broker’s total compensation – an ACHP-developed reform that saves plans and seniors millions.
Testified before the Senate Finance Committee on MA broker reform, offering the unique voice of regional health plans.

Discussing MA for Tomorrow with Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA).

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), with members of ACHP's Board of Directors and Ceci Connolly.

ACHP's Dan Jones discusses MA for Tomorrow with Michael Bagel, Security Health Plan's Jenny Shermo, UPMC's Angela Perri and the American Medical Group Association's Dr. Jerry Penso.

MA For Tomorrow...

Advances equity to level the competitive playing field, reduce disparities and address social determinants of health.

Promotes transparency to improve consumer knowledge and empower smart shopping.

Focuses on meaningful measurement and rewards to incentivize high-quality, innovative care.

Accelerates value-based care to end the addiction to fee-for-service.

Reduces burden to allow providers to focus on care delivery and use more of the Medicare dollar for care rather than documentation.

Krista Hoglund, ACHP Board Member and CEO of Security Health Plan, testifies before the Senate Finance Committee.

While fundamentals of the program remain strong, change is necessary to ensure the MA program of the future is equitable, affordable and focused on health outcomes.

Ceci Connolly and Michael Bagel writing in The Health Care Blog

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We should examine opportunities to empower effective insurance brokers who serve as key community-based resources and access point, including in the context of MA plan enrollment.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee

Read about ACHP’s vision at MAforTomorrow.org

Our Five Pillars

Building our Voice in Washington DC

ACHP is the only payer organization endorsing current Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reforms that move the industry toward a cost-plus model and aligns with ACHP’s transparency recommendations.

The Drug Pricing Work Group shaped ACHP’s positions on PBM reform, patent reform, insulin cap in the commercial market and the rise in GLP-1 utilization – aiming to make therapies more affordable.
Significant engagement with the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, HHS and the White House on Medicaid redeterminations, including additional flexibilities for managed Medicaid plans to support consumers throughout the PHE unwinding.

ACHP secured new flexibilities to conduct outreach using various modalities of communication, such as phone, text, email and voice mail, to reach consumers and deter coverage loss.

Nissa Shaffi,
Associate Director of Public Policy,
ACHP

ACHP secured new flexibilities to conduct outreach using various modalities of communication, such as phone, text, email and voice mail, to reach consumers and deter coverage loss.
Nissa Shaffi
, Associate Director of Public Policy,
ACHP

More than 400 meetings by ACHP with members of Congress and staff

46 in-person meetings by 16 ACHP member company CEOs with key members of Congress, including leadership, committee Chairs and Ranking Members

62 meetings with senior Congressional staff by Government Relations and MA executives representing 13 ACHP members

Nearly 100 meetings by ACHP and members with the Biden Administration

25 letters sent to Congress and the Administration advocating for policies supporting ACHP members

8 Action Alerts

1 Congressional briefing

1 Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring an ACHP member company CEO

April Hill Day (24 CEO meetings with members of Congress)

“Build health systems, not sickness systems with a drive to value-based care.” ACHP’s Ceci Connolly moderated an engaging panel at the Total Health 2022 conference, sponsored by Reuters Events.

ACHP’s “Clear as Mud” infographic highlights the value of transparent, fee-based PBMs and ACHP member partnerships.

The MCO checklist is a tool Medicaid managed care organizations can use to minimize coverage loss during the redetermination process.

2023 Federal Advocacy by the Numbers

MORE THAN

meetings by ACHP with members of Congress and staff

in-person meetings by

ACHP member company CEOs with key members of Congress, including leadership, committee Chairs and Ranking Members

meetings with senior Congressional staff by Government Relations and MA executives representing

ACHP memberS

ACTION ALERTS

letters sent to Congress and the Administration advocating for policies supporting ACHP members

NEARLY

meetings by ACHP and members with the Biden Administration

Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring an ACHP member company CEO

Congressional briefing

Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), third from left, meets with ACHP members and staff, including members of ACHP's Board of Directors.

President Biden takes a selfie with ACHP's Michael Bagel during a White House event announcing the 10 drugs selected for price negotiation as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Meena Seshamani, Director of Medicare at CMS, addresses ACHP's Board of Directors.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) with UPMC's Ally Thomas, ACHP President and CEO Ceci Connolly and UPMC's Angela Perri and Mary Beth Jenkins.

Ceci Connolly and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) at a White House event on food insecurity.

Ceci Connolly, ACHP Board Member and CDPHP President & CEO Dr. John Bennett, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and CDPHP's Eileen Wood.

ACHP presents Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) with the 2023 Legislative Champion Award.

Dr. Sanjeev Arora, Founder & Director of Project ECHO, joined the CEO Summit in Santa Fe and discussed his efforts to reduce health disparities in underserved populations.

ACHP's Board of Directors in Washington, DC.

ACHP's Ceci Connolly, Select Health's Rob Hitchcock and Intermountain Health's Ryan Wilcox present Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) with the 2023 Legislative Champion Award.

Select Health President & CEO Rob Hitchcock and ACHP's Ceci Connolly, with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

HealthPartners President & CEO Andrea Walsh and UCare President & CEO Hilary Marden-Resnik.

CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure with Michael Bagel.

Members of ACHP's Tiger Team meet with staff from the House Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means Committees.

ACHP members pose during February's Fly-in meetings.

Clinical Innovation

All ACHP Founding Members signed the Chronic Disease Pledge, with commitments to prevent and address the complications of diabetes and heart disease in their communities by 2030. Goals are tailored to specific populations and involve targeting related social drivers, such as food insecurity, housing or transportation.

Today, as we recognize Chronic Disease Day, ACHP is excited to support our member plans as they work toward their Pledge commitments in the coming years, and we look forward to seeing how they harness their collective innovation to significantly and measurably impact chronic conditions in communities nationwide.
Jen Lee, M.D.
, writing on Chronic Disease Day.
ACHP Blog

Representatives from ACHP member plans met 10 times across four cohorts working to advance the pledge’s goals on:
- Childhood obesity
  Hypertension
  Prevention of diabetes and its complications

With PCORI funding, hosted daylong forum on maternal health focusing on the impact of toxic stress on Black women.

People are dying as we sit here talking about people dying.

Kay Matthews,
Founder & Executive Director,
Shades of Blue Project

Today, as we recognize Chronic Disease Day, ACHP is excited to support our member plans as they work toward their Pledge commitments in the coming years, and we look forward to seeing how they harness their collective innovation to significantly and measurably impact chronic conditions in communities nationwide.

Jennifer Lee, M.D.
Writing on Chronic Disease Day
ACHP Blog

ACHP hosted "Driving Action and Impact: A Maternal Health research Forum" in October as part of its PCORI funding award. The day-long gathering included special presentations, panel discussions and roundtable conversations.

New Member Resources

Launched a Duals Work Group and introduced a new Duals SnapShots Dashboard tool.

Launched ACHP’s Education for Boards, a workshop for board members of non-profit regional health plans designed to build on their understanding of major health insurance concepts and on trends impacting the health care industry and the payer-provider model.

The Education for Boards workshop provided health plan board members opportunities to deepen their knowledge of concepts and trends impacting provider-aligned plans.

Trust, Transparency & Transformation:

The three T’s of value-based health care.

Events

Hosted 175 attendees at ACHP’s Annual Symposium in Washington, DC, featuring Administration officials, thought leaders and a powerful quartet of African drummers! The Symposium brought experts together to share insights on hot topics, specifically the role artificial intelligence will play in health care, Medicaid redeterminations and issues related to drug pricing, including GLP-1s, biosimilars and industry disruptors.

Ceci Connolly and Praveen Thadani, ACHP Board Member and President of Priority Health, with Dr. Crystal Clark, Deputy Director of UPMC's Center for Social Impact, and Ruth Williams-Brinkley, President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic, recipients of the 2023 Bernard J. Tyson Health Equity Award.

Symposium opened with a rousing African drum experience for all attendees.

Dr. Mark Huth, ACHP Board Chair and President & CEO of Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, opened the 2023 Annual Symposium.

Yasmeen Long, Director at FasterCures, spoke about efforts to remove barriers to care.

Dr. Michael Cropp, ACHP Board Member and President & CEO of Independent Health, and ACHP Board Chair Dr. Mark Huth chat during the Opening Reception of the 2023 Annual Symposium.

Panelists discuss "The Promise and Peril of GLP-1s for Obesity" at the 2023 ACHP Annual Symposium.

120 attendees joined ACHP in Detroit for the Spring Conference: “Transforming Tomorrow Together.” Panels, presentations, fireside chats and small-group breakouts focused on topics such as value-based care, industry consolidation and identifying ways to communicate complexity.

ACHP's Dr. Jennifer Lee leads a discussion at the 2023 Spring Conference in Detroit, MI.

Garlin Gilchrist II, Lt. Gov. of Michigan (second from left), with Dr. Michael Genord, ACHP Board Member and President & CEO of Health Alliance Plan, ACHP's Ceci Connolly and Praveen Thadani, ACHP Board Member and President of Priority Health.

Hayley Skinner, Director of Population Health Management at Capital District Physicians' Health Plan, speaks at ACHP's Spring Conference.

Dr. Pat Courneya, ACHP Board Member and Chief Medical Officer at HealthPartners, is recognized at the 2023 Spring Conference prior to his retirement for his long-term commitment to ACHP's work.

23 CFOs and financial leaders from 13 ACHP member plans came together in New Orleans.

ACHP and several member plan executives provided the voice of regional health plans at nearly two dozen industry meetings as panelists, moderators and keynote speakers

ACHP's Ceci Connolly speaks at the introduction of the "Common Health Coalition: Together for Public Health," organized by Kaiser Permanente.

Ceci Connolly moderated a keynote panel on transforming value-based care at the Thinc360 Value-Based Care Summit.

ACHP's Thomasina Anane, second from left, speaks on a panel at HLTH 2023 in Las Vegas, NV.

ACHP's Dan Jones, second from left, was a panelist at Modern Healthcare's Leadership Symposium in New Orleans, LA.

Securing and Expanding Our Voice

Secured nearly 130 media mentions highlighting ACHP’s policy priorities and positions.

Visited 14 ACHP member plans.

Partnered with Kaiser Permanente and leading health care organizations to create the Common Health Coalition: Together for Public Health to strengthen partnerships between the health sector and public health.

The U.S. is in desperate need of rational, transparent pharmacy strategies that put safety, efficacy, and affordability at the top of the agenda, not drug company profits over all else.
Ceci connolly, QUoted in stat News