Employers are “playing an increasing role in where their employees go for care,” says Bain & Company partner Joshua Weisbrod, who works in the health-care practice. “They’re setting up specific networks of physicians and setting up quality networks.”

Over the past seven years some large national employers have even started contracting with “centers of excellence,” the most trusted hospitals, to funnel expensive procedures, such as joint replacement surgeries.

“They would pay for the person’s flights, they’d pay for their hotels in order for them to get the highest-quality care,” Weisbrod says.