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Employers Have Leverage to Improve the Quality of Care for Employees

Using value-based purchasing to steer employees to high-quality care and influence the health care delivery system is traditionally associated with the U.S., but employers have leverage outside the U.S. too.

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February 01, 2024

Driving Value in Health Care Around the Globe
The goal of this three-part guide is to inform multinational employers about ways to use value-based approaches and outcome-driven strategies in their global health benefit strategy.
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People across the globe want many of the same elements of what we’d consider “high-value” health care, regardless of where they live. This includes a good patient experience, high-quality care that keeps patients healthy and efficient access to appropriate services at appropriate facilities when needed.

There are several ways in which employers can help connect their employees to high-quality health care services. Listed below are four strategic aims followed by key action steps for employers to consider in these efforts:

  • 1 | Strategic Aim #1: Integrating financing mechanisms/metrics;
  • 2 | Strategic Aim #2: Steering employees to high-quality care;
  • 3 | Strategic Aim #3: Effectively communicating with employees; and
  • 4 | Strategic Aim #4: Attaining organizational buy-in.

Strong Vendor Partnerships Are Vital

To satisfy each of these strategic aims, employers will need strong relationships with several vendors, both local to a particular region or country, as well as those who can deliver services globally. These vendors will include global brokers, private insurers (where available), virtual care providers, employee assistance programs (EAP) and others.


Some of these strategies are easier to implement than others, but each represents an area of opportunity for employers looking to drive high-quality care and create consistency in their health care strategy across regions.

Strategic Aim #1: Integrating Financing Mechanisms/Metrics

Leverage captives and other financial mechanisms

Employers can partner with their brokers, consultants and fronting networks to explore opportunities to tie the level of reimbursement an employer will pay for particular health care services to the outcomes that a vendor in the employer’s network achieves. This requires the ability to track outcomes, as well as leverage arrangements like captives that give an employer greater insight and control over their health care spend and networks.

Tie payments for global virtual health vendors to outcomes and the patient experience

Employers may work with their global benefit partners (e.g., broker, private insurer, virtual health and EAP platforms) to incorporate outcomes and member experience measures into health offerings to ensure that care received is rooted in a value-based model. Having vendors provide an aggregated dashboard of those measurements can help employers understand if the services are hitting the mark.

For further information about various financing mechanisms that global employers may want to consider leveraging, check out the Business Group’s Utilizing Financing Mechanisms to Implement a Global Consistency Strategy; for deeper insight into leveraging a global broker and/or captive partners, take a look at the Strategic and Effective Global Broker Partnership guide. 


Strategic Aim #2: Steering Employees to High-Quality Care

Provide access to on-site clinics with primary care medical home elements

Employers offer on-site clinics in many countries/regions. Where legally allowed and financially efficient, employers may want to incorporate primary care into those clinics utilizing the medical home model to fill gaps where employees may not have access to those services in the local market.

Direct employees to Centers of Excellence (COEs)

In available markets, employers can drive value of services by connecting employees to COEs that specialize in providing high-quality care paths for different disease areas (e.g., cardiovascular health, cancer, diabetes, etc.).

Strategic Aim #3: Effectively Communicating with Employees

Promote engagement through employee communications

Employers have a unique opportunity to educate employees about the programs or benefits related to high-quality care available to them, as well as incentivizing healthy behaviors. Even in markets where employers do not offer medical plans, this education can save downstream indirect costs for employers in the areas of employee absenteeism and disability. Education does this by helping employees become healthy faster and remain so for longer.

Strategic Aim #4: Attaining Organizational Buy-In

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) goal incorporation

To get buy-in within one’s organization, especially the C-Suite, employers may advocate for value-based care being tied to ESG efforts. International organizations, like Global Innovation Hub for Improving Value in Health, have tied value-based care to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Showcasing innovation in value-based care may also help with retention and attraction efforts.

Global consistency considerations

As employers work toward being consistent across their benefit offerings and worldwide operations, they have the opportunity to set strategic guidelines for access to high- value care across the globe.

For more insight into what employers may want to consider when developing a global consistency strategy, read the Business Group’s guide, Creating a Globally Consistent Benefits Strategy. 


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