On December 21, 2021 Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed Executive Order #277, launching the New Jersey Health Care Cost Growth Benchmark Program.
The Governor signed Executive Order #277 directing the development of a health care cost growth benchmark program to mitigate the rate of health care cost growth in the State, and takes a concrete step toward curbing health care cost growth. The benchmark program also offers an important opportunity for the implementation of market-based strategies rooted in broad stakeholder commitment and industry- wide collaboration to support benchmark attainment.
The New Jersey Health Care Cost Growth Benchmark Program will provide everyone in the state with a shared understanding of how much health care costs are growing and factors contributing to high costs and cost growth. Over time, the benchmark program aims to decrease how much health care costs grow each year, and to contribute to making health care more affordable. The Governor’s Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency and the Department of Banking and Insurance will lead the efforts of the benchmark program, along with committed partners at the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of Treasury, and the Division of Community Affairs. The Health Care Affordability Advisory Group, developed per EO #217 has also been critical to the development and launch of this program.
The program is also bolstered by a stakeholder compact organized by the Murphy Administration consisting of advocacy groups, hospitals and health care providers, leading insurers, a union, employers and other stakeholders across New Jersey and is a collaborative agreement memorializing the collective commitment of stakeholders to work toward implementing the benchmark program, it sets forth the benchmark plan and establishes a commitment to take actions to make health care more affordable and to participate in the data collection, validation, analysis and reporting processes.
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