Since 2012, Catalyst for Payment Reform staff and member organizations have appreciated the value of having pointed discussions with major national and regional health plans through CPR’s health plan user group meetings.

The health plan user groups, or HPUGs, offer a forum for a two-way dialogue on topics of mutual interest to purchasers and plans, including expanding payment reform, new benefit and network design strategies, price and quality transparency, and other emerging strategies.  The HPUGs not only allow purchasers to align their expectations, but also offer health plans an efficient means to deliver information to CPR members.

CPR has conducted user groups with Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA, Elevance/Anthem Blue Cross, Health Care Service Corporation, and UnitedHealthcare. While CPR does not have the bandwidth to host additional user groups, other purchasers are encouraged to use this toolkit to band together and help send a stronger signal to the plans, aligning their expectations with CPR by forming their own HPUGs.

How to use this toolkit:

This HPUG User Guide & Toolkit describes the step-by-step approach for employers and other health care purchasers to establish and maintain their own health plan user groups.  In addition, this toolkit includes several templates for use by the organization(s) establishing user groups with plans of interest.

Included in this tool:

The toolkit includes the following contents:

• Health Plan User Group (HPUG) Preparation Timeline
• HPUG Purchaser Invitation Template
• HPUG Purchaser Presentation Template
• HPUG Plan Invitation Template
• HPUG Plan Presentation Template
• HPUG Purchaser Preparation Meeting Agenda Template
• Inaugural HPUG Meeting Presentation and Discussion Guide
• Inaugural HPUG Meeting Agenda Template
• Subsequent HPUG Meeting Agenda Template
• HPUG Progress Report
• HPUG Special Topics Discussion Guide

By using this toolkit, users agree to the end user agreement contained herein.  For any questions or to obtain the current CPR progress report (this toolkit includes the 2023 version), please contact connect@catalyze.org.