The importance of aligning incentives cannot be overstated: for health status to improve all of the stakeholders must be focused on producing a healthier person or persons, which is an investment strategy. But no rational investor just places money down; he or she analyzes the prospects, quantifies the risk, and invests where the best economic opportunities are. The dividend is dependent upon how well the investors’ goals and rewards line up with the investee’s goals and rewards. The importance of this alignment cannot be overstated when considering what is at risk in improving health. The exquisite tension between health and economics can be alleviated when the focus is on engagement and accountability for outcomes. The engagement is not just on the part of the consumer or patient. It carries into the payer or plan sponsor, and it travels across all of the service providers (health plan, clinicians, communications companies, manufacturers of equipment and pharmaceuticals, hospital systems, information management companies). If one of these stakeholders is “squeezed,” while others prosper, the friction is increased. If the dividends of reduced health risks and costs are shared across the stakeholders, then everyone wins–the friction is reduced. The goal, then, is to find that harmony, and it is best found in engagement and accountability that produce healthier people, healthier organizations, and healthier communities. This is accomplished through an Outcomes-Based Contract. Read more from author Cyndy Nayer, and learn how the OBCTM Framework will propel the health, wealth, performance goals of people, organizations and communities…
