BHC News https://gatewaybhc.org/news/default.asp Fri, 5 Jun 2026 04:11:14 GMT Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:47:00 GMT Copyright © 2026 Gateway Business Health Coalition MHI Unveils New Name to Reflect Collaborative Strengths and Commitment to Value https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=718934 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=718934 St. Louis, MO – January 26, 2026 – The Midwest Health Initiative (MHI), a nonprofit organization that activates a broad network of healthcare providers, purchasers, and payers to collaborate for improving care quality and affordability, is excited to announce its official name change to Missouri Health Value Collaborative (MHVC). The new name reflects MHVC’s focus on Missouri, signals the shared commitment to healthcare value improvement, and highlights the multistakeholder collaboration that is key to the organization’s success.


A New Name, The Same Commitment to Change

The change from Midwest Health Initiative to Missouri Health Value Collaborative comes after a thorough strategic planning process, consultation with key stakeholders, and careful consideration. The rebranding to Missouri Health Value Collaborative better represents the organization’s focus on Missouri and unique position as a convener of healthcare stakeholders to improve health care quality and affordability. An updated tag line, “Powered by Data. Driven by Collaboration.”, reinforces the organization’s approach of guiding multistakeholder conversations with regional data and leveraging collaboration to drive lasting change.


A Message from Laurel Pickering, President & CEO

“We are thrilled to unveil our new identity as Missouri Health Value Collaborative. This rebrand not only reflects our focus on Missouri but also reinforces our unique strength as a multistakeholder convener. We look forward to continuing our mission to activate a broad network of healthcare providers, purchasers, and payers to collaborate for improving care quality and affordability.”


What This Means for MHVC’s Work
MHVC’s work will continue to focus on lowering healthcare costs and improving quality in Missouri, while capitalizing on the unique strength of a multistakeholder, statewide Board with a desire for collaboration to solve for pressing healthcare issues. MHVC renewed its role as a convener with a Purchaser-Provider Roundtable on January 14th, 2026. With this event, MHVC brought together St. Louis healthcare providers and purchasers to discuss top concerns for both parties and align on shared priorities and opportunities for action. Meetings like these have always been and will continue to be the driver of MHVC’s mission, no matter the organization’s name.


About Missouri Health Value Collaborative
Missouri Health Value Collaborative (MHVC) is a nonprofit organization that brings together those who provide, pay for, and use health care to tackle some of the region’s most pressing health care challenges. MHVC’s multistakeholder partners share a belief in the power of information and collaboration to transform care. MHVC provides a forum where trusted information and shared responsibility are used to improve health and the quality and affordability of health care. In addition to acting as a community table for multi-stakeholder collaboration, MHVC stewards a voluntary commercial claims data warehouse spanning Missouri and its bordering metro areas. MHVC leverages these data to share findings with local partners to advance better health care value. 

For more from MHVC, follow us on LinkedIn and explore our website.

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:47:00 GMT Three Missouri Hospitals Named Top Hospitals, No Top Ambulatory Surgery Centers in Missouri https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=716593 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=716593 The Leapfrog Group announced today three Missouri hospitals have been named to its 2025 national list of Top Hospitals: Mercy Hospital Jefferson, Mercy Hospital Springfield, and General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital. The elite award is one of the most competitive honors U.S. hospitals and surgery centers can earn for excellence in patient safety and quality of care.

Gateway Business Health Coalition serves as the designated Regional Leader for Leapfrog, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality, which will honor the 2025 Top Hospital Award and Top Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Award winners as part of its Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner tonight.

“Gateway Business Health Coalition is proud to be a Leapfrog Regional Leader and to honor this year’s Top Hospitals in our community—as well as all of the hospitals that compete to achieve this honor by choosing to transparently report their quality and safety performance through the Leapfrog Survey,” said Laurel Pickering, President & CEO of Gateway Business Health Coalition. “We are proud to work with providers, purchasers, payors and patients in Missouri to drive safe, high-quality health care in our community.”

“As Leapfrog Top Hospitals, Mercy Hospital Jefferson, Mercy Hospital Springfield, and General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital serve as examples of high patient safety standards that all hospitals in Missouri should strive for,” said Laurel Pickering, President and CEO. “We congratulate these facilities for putting patients first and commend their leadership for prioritizing patient safety.”

Nationally, a total of 156 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including 15 Top Children’s Hospitals, 52 Top General Hospitals, 16 Top Rural Hospitals and 73 Top Teaching Hospitals. A total of 37 ASCs were selected as Top ASCs.

“By achieving Leapfrog’s rigorous benchmarks for safety and quality, hospitals like this year’s three in Missouri demonstrate an unwavering commitment to putting patients first,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We applaud these outstanding facilities and all those that choose transparency by sharing their performance through Leapfrog.”

The award honors hospitals and ASCs that demonstrate the highest performance in the nation on quality and patient safety, including ethical billing and informed patient consent procedures, lower infection rates, prevention of medication errors and surgical safety. To see the full methodology and list of institutions honored as 2025 Top Hospitals, please visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2025 Top ASCs, please visit www.leapfroggroup.org/ratings-report/top-ascs.

About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is an independent national nonprofit organization celebrating 25 years of driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. Leapfrog sets standards for safety and quality and reports to the public through the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey. It is free to participate in the voluntary Surveys and results are publicly reported on Leapfrog’s website. Follow us on Twitter (@TheLeapfrogGroup), Facebook (The Leapfrog Group), LinkedIn (The Leapfrog Group) and Instagram (@TheLeapfrogGroup) and sign up for our newsletter.

About Gateway Business Health Coalition
The Gateway Business Health Coalition (BHC), formerly St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, is a nonprofit organization representing nearly 70 leading employers, which provide health benefits to thousands of lives in Missouri and millions nationally. For 42 years, BHC has worked to achieve its mission of supporting employer efforts to improve the well-being of their employees and enhance the quality and overall value of their investments in health benefits. To accomplish these aims, BHC centers its work on providing pertinent research, resources, and educational opportunities to help employers understand best practices for the strategic design, and informed use, of benefits to facilitate high-quality, affordable health care. For more from BHC, follow us onLinkedIn and explore our website.]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:54:00 GMT ERISA and COBRA Notice Timelines Suspension https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=531993 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=531993 In May 2020, the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service’s  Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued guidance about suspended timelines for coverage under ERISA and COBRA during the National Emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.1  Retroactive to March 1, 2020, the agencies toll timeline provisions for matters such as coverage election, special enrollment, appeals, claims filings, and premium payment provisions. These timelines are suspended during the “outbreak period:” March 1 until 60 days after the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency.

 

EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2020-01 also relaxes some notice standards for plan administrators, providing that no violation of notice standards will be found for failure to timely furnish a notice, a disclosure, or other required document during the outbreak period  long as the plan acts in good faith and furnishes the notice, disclosure, or document as soon as administratively practicable “under the circumstances.”2


1 Employee Benefits Services Administration (EBSA), Internal Revenue Service, Extension of Certain Timeframes for Employee Benefit Plans, Participants, and Beneficiaries Affected by the COVID-19 Outbreak, 85 F.R. 26351. May 4, 2020.

2 EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2020-01, available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/employers-and-advisers/plan-administration-and-compliance/disaster-relief/ebsa-disaster-relief-notice-2020-01.

]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2020 21:17:12 GMT Defeat Diabetes STL Testimonial (Jan) https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=525393 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=525393 As a medical librarian in a hospital, I knew I needed to make changes to my lifestyle to stay out of the hospital as a patient—but I had a hard time actually doing it. Then I found a CDC-recognized lifestyle change program. I was motivated to join the program to make sure I could play with my grandchildren for many years to come. I enjoy the program because I have met many people who also struggle with diet and exercise. We share healthy recipes and motivate each other to exercise. I now read food labels and ride a stationary bike for an hour a day. I am looking forward to a long, healthy life with my children and grandchildren.

]]> Wed, 9 Sep 2020 20:38:20 GMT Defeat Diabetes STL Testimonial (Deann) https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=522800 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=522800 I am grateful to God for bringing Virta into my life through Bass Pro and for allowing my body to accept the changes I have seen since starting. With the guidance of my Virta team, I lost 18 pounds in less than a month after starting the treatment. I’ve also eliminated one of my medications, and my blood sugar levels have decreased to an average of 120 mg/dL.


Deann McMorris 

]]> Fri, 21 Aug 2020 20:11:01 GMT Defeat Diabetes STL Testimonial (Mary) https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=522716 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=522716 I wanted to take a moment to thank my team leader (Coach Mendy, cohort 257) and your diabetes prevention program for helping me in my journey to return to a healthy weight.


When I started the program in February, I was concerned about my potential for success for a variety of reasons. I have hypothyroidism; every time my prescript ion is adjusted, I gain weight (and it was readjusted the first week in February); my phone is too old to be compatible to a Fitbit or to the scales; I've been unsuccessful in my efforts for the last five years; and I am 68 years old with a slower metabolism and under a great deal of pressure at work.

 

With your program and with Coach Mendy' s encouragement, I am making progress. I have lost 18 pounds since February 10th, I feel lighter, I've dropped a clothing size, I've lost a little more than 1 0% of my starting weight, and most of the time l don't feel hungry or deprived.

 

Coach Mendy was excellent. She was always quick to respond to everyone's emails. She offered great suggestions pertaining to meal plans, dietary restrictions, calorie counting (of home-made recipes). She was consistently positive and provided relevant and practical suggestions throughout this continuing pandemic. I appreciate the personal encouragement she gave me, and I like knowing that I can reach out to her still.

 

And while I am not at my goal weight (I set a goal for the full year-long program), I am only 2 pounds away from having a BMI in the upper level of the normal range for my height. With your program, I think by the end of the year, I' ll be where I want to be. I'll be sure to let you know.

 

Thanks so much for being here for me.



Mary

]]> Fri, 21 Aug 2020 15:53:33 GMT Defeat Diabetes STL Testimonial (John Sanders) https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=487210 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=487210 What prompted you to make a change in your health?  
 In March of 2019, I was doing a routine checkup with my doctor and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I had just retired and was hoping to get a good report and was very surprised and upset to find out I had created the situation by making poor choices.
   What resources, programs, or supports did you use to defeat diabetes?
 The doctor recommended seeing a nutritionist, as well as taking 4 diabetes-related classes (which I did), and also prescribed a meter and test strips to check my blood sugar 2 times a day. I saw Dr. Shital Mehta at SSM in St. Charles, Missouri, for nutrition information and attended 4 diabetes classes hosted by Patty Shelton and Jill Kirks that were in the same building. I also did some online research. I took the diagnosis seriously and was upset. I had higher blood sugars in the past and had let myself get overweight and was doing very little exercise and pretty much eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I was so upset I decided to take the doctor's advice and seek help through the nutritionist and take the 4 classes that were offered. I learned about the amounts of sugar in things I was eating and how to make a lifestyle change that was manageable, with food choices that I could easily do and maintain.   Please describe how your health and life have changed as a result of your journey to defeat diabetes.  
 I was able to choose from different (diet) plans, and I chose to watch carbs and use the plate method for eating. I also learned how losing weight and exercise helped lower blood sugar, so I started exercising with my wife 5 mornings a week before she goes to work, started my own weights and exercise program at home, and also started walking in the evenings. I have lost around 30 pounds since March 1, 2019, and I had my doctor retest my A1c after 4 months from the time I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It went from an 8.0 to a 5.2. I feel a lot better and have a lot more energy. I have a step goal of 20,000 steps and many days I hit or exceed that. I get my eyes checked yearly and after 10 years started going back to the dentist.
   Anything else that you would like to share?  
 Watching and maintaining blood sugars, as well as losing weight, is not easy. I have been on many diets in the past with success in losing weight only to gain it back. I think the key to my success (so far) is that I made a lifestyle change that I can work with every day and monitor my results through my regular blood sugar checks and weight. I constantly remind myself of the motivation of being successful, which is spending time with and being around for my family. There are so many health issues that can come with diabetes, and I would like to not have to deal with any of those. ]]> Thu, 30 Jan 2020 15:13:53 GMT Proposed Repeal of the Cadillac Tax https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=464465 https://gatewaybhc.org/news/news.asp?id=464465 The so-called “Cadillac Tax” may be off to the junkyard—that is, if legislation introduced in either chamber of Congress receives a presidential signature.

 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) imposes an excise tax on employer-sponsored health plans for which combined contributions exceed $10,200 per year for individual coverage and $27,500 per year for family coverage. If not repealed, the tax will be imposed on these employer-sponsored plans in 2022. Congress has acted twice to delay its implementation.

 

On July 17, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act, HR. 748. Introduced by U.S. Representative Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut), the bill passed by a 419-6 margin. The Senate version, S. 684, sponsored by New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich, is currently in the Senate Committee on Finance.

 

The BHC has sent correspondence to its Missouri and Illinois Senate delegations asking them to support repeal of the Cadillac Tax. The BHC also urged senators to pass legislation to increase health care transparency and lower overall health care costs by focusing on the misaligned incentives and waste that are driving health care inflation.

 

The BHC urged passage of the Middle Class Health Benefits Repeal Act on the following grounds:

  1. Health care inflation already overburdens American workers.  This tax would make health care even more difficult for American workers to afford. 

  2. This tax on health benefits tax pushes employers to offer lower levels of health benefits. It holds the potential to worsen the burden of uncompensated care.

  3. The threshold for imposing the Cadillac Tax is too low. By 2025, health care inflation is expected to cause the majority of health plans to reach the $10,200 value threshold for single coverage and the $27,500 threshold for family coverage. Rather than taxing only “Cadillac” plans; the ACA could impose a tax on average American worker’s health benefits.

  4. The U.S. health care system lacks the choice and transparency that are necessary to allow them to shop for lower cost care. 

 

The BHC looks forward to continue to monitor these federal legislative issues on behalf of its employer members. To learn more, please contact Mike Hely, JD, Senior Director, Legal & Policy Services.

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