New England Alliance for Health (NEAH) provides two types of services and programs for members:
- Core services and programs in which all members participate. Core services and programs are funded by all members through member assessments.
- Other services and programs in which members may choose to participate on a voluntary basis. Other services and programs are funded separately by the members who use each service.
Core services and programs
Quality improvement/loss prevention
This program supports several affinity groups and provides access to resources and expertise to assist the members’ efforts to improve the health of the communities they serve and to improve the quality of patient care.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Provides consultation and assistance to individual members to:
- Strengthen and enhance local quality improvement programs
- Develop effective coordination of patient care and loss prevention programs
- Supports among and across the members:
- Coordination of collaborative patient care quality improvement initiatives
- Coordination of collaborative initiatives to improve quality of care across specific populations, e.g. acute myocardial infarction (MI) and obstetrics (OB)
- Gathering of comparative data and development of quality indicator comparisons
- Forums for networking and sharing of best practices for quality improvement and loss prevention
- Provides continuing educational programs for staff, physicians, multi-disciplinary teams and Trustees of the members
Financial planning and benchmarking
This program supports several affinity groups and provides access to resources and expertise to assist members improve financial performance, operational efficiencies and financial stewardship. Additionally, this program provides financial planning and accounting services to NEAH members.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Provides expertise in financial planning and general financial consultative services to the members, including assistance with annual and long-term financial planning, capital planning, financial accounting and analysis, review and evaluation of financing transactions and review of investment and debt management policies. In addition, NEAH makes resources available to attend Member Finance Committee meetings.
- Facilitates sharing of financial information and activities across the members, including gathering comparative data from the members for the development and comparison of financial benchmark indicators.
- Supports multiple financial affinity groups and provides forums for financial leaders to share best financial practices and discuss and share solutions to common problems, issues and concerns.
- Provides continuing education programs for members’ financial and operational staff and Trustees of the members.
- Coordinates budgeting and financial reporting for New England Alliance for Health. Also monitors and allocates any GPO (group purchasing organization) or vendor distributions received in connection with group purchasing contracts or arrangements.
Materials management and pharmacy services
This collaborative program utilizes the purchasing leverage of the combined membership to help contain health care costs through effective negotiation of pharmaceuticals, supplies, services and capital acquisition contracts. This program also utilizes affinity groups to improve clinical, operational and management services performance.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Leverages the volume of New England Alliance for Health members to access preferred pricing and to negotiate better contract language and terms, enabling members to better control health care costs.
- Provides forums and assists members to work collectively to::
- Pursue contracting opportunities that reduce costs for pharmaceuticals, supplies, services and capital equipment
- Support initiatives across New England Alliance for Health to reduce members’ materials and pharmacy costs, improve operational performance and improve clinical care
- Enhance the effectiveness of materials management and pharmacy services through networking and sharing of best practices
- Discuss and share solutions to common problems, issues and concerns
- Coordinates formal continuing education programs for members’ pharmacists and other professionals
Professional staff education and development
This program supports affinity groups and focuses on access to resources and expertise and providing continuing education programs to assist the members develop and retain professional staff.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Develops ongoing programs to assist members in the professional growth and development of nursing and other professional staff. Also provides access to continuing education for nurses and other clinicians. These efforts are needed to increase the retention of qualified nurses and other professional staff and to improve their leadership capabilities.
- Provides a forum and supports effective collaboration for members’ nurse executives and human resource managers to:
- Share best practices in nurse and staff development, retention, and multi-disciplinary performance improvement
- Discuss and share solutions to common problems, issues and concerns
- Engage multi-disciplinary resources to assist in specific projects (i.e., care coordination, didactic and simulated training and career development)
Program administration
In this program, the leadership of New England Alliance for Health oversees programs and services of New England Alliance for Health, including the affinity groups and continuing education to ensure that New England Alliance for Health is fulfilling its mission to assist its members improve the health of the communities they serve.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Oversees the programs and provision of services to New England Alliance for Health members, including:
- Monitoring the quality of the programs and services provided under the Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) master contract
- Coordinating and managing D-H staff charged with providing the resources and expertise to support New England Alliance for Health core and other services
- Understanding and monitoring Member expectations and soliciting feedback
- Participating in ongoing program design
- Managing the budget and other administrative functions of New England Alliance for Health
- Serves as coordinator for peer affinity groups to enable Member staff and Member Trustees to meet regularly with their counterparts from other members to share best practices, develop collaborative solutions to common problems, and pursue continuing education opportunities.Examples of expected affinity groups, in addition to those noted above, include CEOs, Chief Medical Officers, and other professional groups. Affinity groups may also be organized for Member governance bodies including trustee board chairs, finance committee chairs and trustees involved with quality improvement initiatives.
Other services and programs
Property and casualty insurance program
A voluntary program that utilizes the purchasing leverage of the combined membership to help contain health care costs through effective negotiation of property and casualty insurance premiums on a group basis. A core element of the program is following strong risk management and loss prevention procedures.
As part of this program, NEAH:
- Assists members with approaching the commercial insurance market to purchase medical liability and other property and casualty insurance coverage at lower costs associated with group purchasing contracts.
- Provides insurance program administration and represents members in discussions with insurers to obtain best prices and services for risk management, loss prevention and claims administration.
Licenses
NEAH negotiates certain licenses on a combined basis to help contain health care costs and provide access to new technology that may not be as affordable on a single-entity basis. members participate in these licenses on a voluntary basis.
The Position Manager group license provides the capability for electronic on-line employment applications to be submitted to one or more New England Alliance for Health members.