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Care Continuum Alliance Releases Value-Based Addendums to Outcomes Guidelines

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Care Continuum Alliance today released three addendums to its Outcomes Guidelines Report that illustrate how the guidelines’ evidence-based program measures can support a value-based benefits design framework developed by the Center for Health Value Innovation (CHVI).

The addendums build on work started in 2010 to combine the Care Continuum Alliance’s structure for measuring outcomes in population health management with the CHVI’s framework for “Outcomes-Based Contracting.” At the Care Continuum Alliance’s 2010 annual meeting, The Forum 10, the groups presented the concept during a joint educational session.

Each of the addendums released today includes a matrix that provides guidance on data and outcomes measures, incentive “levers” and delivery methods for three value-based design approaches: waste reduction, risk reduction and performance and productivity improvement. The addendums also include case studies keyed to each of the value-based design levels to demonstrate the various approaches in practice.

“Our collaboration with CHVI is a valuable extension of our Outcomes Guidelines work and these new documents show the synergy between our approaches to improving care quality and value,” says Jeanette May, PhD, MPH, Care Continuum Alliance research and quality vice president.

“The Care Continuum Alliance has repeatedly published the evidence of coordinated care management for better outcomes. Linking this with the work of our CHVI has been a joy, as it shows the alignment of incentives for better outcomes through engagement, accountable care and predictable cost trends,” says CHVI President and Co-Founder Cyndy Nayer, MA.

The Care Continuum Alliance last year produced a fifth volume of its landmark Outcomes Guidelines Report, an industry consensus, evidence-based approach to measuring clinical and financial outcomes in wellness and chronic care programs. The guidelines and new addendums are available as free downloads from the Care Continuum Alliance at www.carecontinuum.org.

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About the Care Continuum Alliance

The Care Continuum Alliance represents more than 200 organizations and individuals and aligns all stakeholders in the care continuum toward improving population health. Through advocacy, research and education, the Care Continuum Alliance advances strategies to improve care quality and outcomes and reduce preventable costs for the well and those with and at risk of chronic conditions. Learn more at www.carecontinuum.org

About the Center for Health Value Innovation

The Center for Health Value Innovation (CHVI, 501c3) showcases evidence of improved health quality and economic trend through value-based benefit designs. CHVI has developed the Health Value Accelerator™ so that the market can use the evidence to improve business health outcomes. Evidence and Health Value Accelerator are available at www.vbheath.org

Reprinted with  permission of the Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org), Alexandria, VA, publisher of HR Magazine. © SHRM

Laying Hands on Health Data
Vol. 55 No. 2
Acquiring the underlying facts and figures on your organization’s health costs may be easier than you think—and more worthwhile.
2/1/2010 By Joanne Sammer

Health costs are up, so—not surprisingly—crunching numbers is in. Many  employers want to look closely at their health care claims and utilization data to find ways to reduce health expenses. After all, employers can’t manage health costs unless they know what drives those costs.  But many HR professionals aren’t sure what health data may be available and whether they can obtain such data cost-effectively—if at all.

The good news is that many health insurers and other health care vendors are making more data available, and not just to large employers. Certainly, major self-insured companies such as IBM have always had sufficient leverage wit h their plans’ administrators to obtain data. But employers with smaller payrolls, especially those that buy health coverage rather than self-insure, historically have been less successful. The reasons have ranged from insurers’ professed inability to segregate one client’s data from data for a multi-employer group, to a small employer’s lack of resources for analyzing such data.  Today, howevr, employers of all sizes have more options than they may realize. Sometimes gaining access to information is simply a matter of asking insurers what data are or could be made available.  The challenge comes in interpreting and acting on the information. HR executives must understand what they’re looking at and must become familiar with the methods and the rationales for the various ways health data can be cut, organized and interpreted.

Read more here -

CAT–SHRM Laying Hands on Health Data-1

ST.  LOUIS, Mo./MILWAUKEE, Wis. – January 05, 2010 – The Center for Health Value Innovation (www.vbhealth.org), the nation’s premier information exchange for value-based design, announced today that Raymond Zastrow, M.D., FAAFP, president, QuadMed, and vice president for evidence of the Center, was recognized by BizTimes Milwaukee for Corporate Achievement in Health Care during its recent sixth annual Health Care Heroes Awards ceremony.

“Dr. Zastrow exemplifies the Center’s commitment to value-based design, and we are extremely gratified that his work is receiving such high-profile recognition,” says Cyndy Nayer, president and CEO of the Center. “As one of the brightest minds working at the frontlines of health care reform, his ongoing efforts to influence decision-makers in Washington D.C. and Wisconsin, as well as his accomplishments at QuadMed, have been nothing short of triumphant.”
Chosen from a field of nominations by an independent panel of health care professionals, Dr. Zastrow is responsible for clinical quality oversight, clinical process re-design, and health care benefit design for Quad/Graphics. QuadMed, a subsidiary of Quad/Graphics to provide affordable, high-quality health care for the company’s employees, has reduced health care costs to approximately $6,800 per employee – 30 percent less than the average similar-sized manufacturer in the Midwest. QuadMed provides on-site, employer-directed primary care and prevention/wellness programs to Quad/Graphic and several other large employers.
“I was very proud to receive this award, which I accepted on behalf of the entire Quad/Graphics / QuadMed organization,” says Dr. Zastrow. “The health care model developed for our employees is based upon staying healthy rather than attempting to fix avoidable problems after the fact. It’s an approach that empowers primary care and that has allowed QuadMed to serve as an example of excellence in on-site care for companies across the nation.”
About The Center for Health Value Innovation Information Exchange for Value-Based Design
The Center for Health Value Innovation has grown into the nation’s premier organization dedicated to sharing the evidence of improved health and economic outcomes through value-based designs for sustainable health and financial improvement.
www.vbhealth.org