The questions that every employer and plan sponsor, every health plan and benefits manager should be asking must reframe the question: How much health, instead of health care, are we buying? How much could we buy with the same money we are spending now, if we purchased services more wisely?
Understanding that things had to change if employers were to be able to continue to afford health care, a few forward thinking payers and influencers began to rethink their health care strategies. Two health care pilots began to take hold. One involved refocusing employees on the virtues of health and wellness. The other focused on decreasing the financial barriers to some of the care that would actually put healthier people back to work because they were compliant with their treatments.
These experiments that utilized reductions in co-pays for some populations continued to broaden with the inclusion of incentives for participation in annual or baseline health risk assessments, health fairs, and disease management. So began the development of behavior change through incentives that actively engage consumers to participate in their health and healthcare. The use of these incentives have evolved into the levers of population change that form the core of value-based design initiatives.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the nature of value-based design and the challenges it is designed to resolve.
Be conversant with the 4 Ds of value-based design . . data, design, delivery and dividends.
Know why health promotion is a foundational element of value-based design.
Learn the key skills and competencies that health promotion practitioners bring to successful implementation of value-based design.
The Center has launched a new white paper that will guide you through the basics of value-based designs. Funded through a generous grant from Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, the matrix was developed by the Innovators who guide the Center. Read more and learn more here
Leveraging Health book launch: September 30, 2009, 8 a.m., National Press Club, Washington, D.C.; Book signing, 5:30 p.m, Consumer Health Care Congress, Alexandria, Va.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – September 09, 2009 –The Center for Health Value Innovation (www.vbhealth.org), the nation’s leading information exchange for value-based design, announces the publication of its first book, Leveraging Health. Authored by three of the recognized experts in value-based design — Cyndy Nayer, president and CEO of the Center, Jack Mahoney, M.D., chief medical officer of the Center, and Jan Berger, M.D., strategic advisor — the book uses real-world case studies from public and private organizations to illustrate 15 “levers” of value-based design.
Raymond Zastrow, M.D., vice president of the Center, will chair the book launch event, September 30, 2009, 8 a.m., at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C. The authors will attend an evening book signing event, 5:30 p.m. at the World Congress, Consumer Health Care Congress, Alexandria, Va. Use coupon code MCM464 to receive a 50 percent discount on registration fees.
“In the past 25 years, cost compression has done little to slow the growth of chronic disease and related costs,” says Dr. Mahoney. “We used our collective expertise and real-world business experiences to showcase the innovations that change the dynamics of poorly managed health. Readers can access insights on where to start, which levers to use, and how to measure outcomes that matter to the C-suite.”
Leveraging Health uses “suites” of levers, a metaphor for plan designs and incentives, to show benefits decision makers how to make informed decisions on benefits and services for better corporate performance.
“The Center’s first book will be a valuable tool for senior level executives at public and private organizations,” says Nayer. “Organizations of all sizes and sectors are faced with the economics of health cost and impact. Leveraging Health is the definitive reference work that dissects plan design and incentives for prevention, wellness, chronic care and delivery services. We expect that this book will expand our scope of influence far beyond the 40 million covered lives that the Center represents.”
“These are exciting times in the world of value-based design,” says Berger. “The Center and value-based design are becoming part of the national dialogue on health policy in this country. The levers of value-based design are thoughtfully articulated and positioned for those seeking strategic and practical solutions.”
Cyndy’s Blog is up and running fast. We took a few days off to consider the new analyses and we’ll have a lot to share. Till then…
It’s shaping up to be a busy fall season here at the Center! Along with following the ongoing national debate on health care reform, we continue to move forward with demonstrating and disseminating the value of the VBID approach.
The most ambitious effort in that direction is our book, Leveraging Health, of which I am very proud. I’d like to publicly thank my co-authors, Dr. Jack Mahoney and Dr. Jan Berger, for the time and effort to produce the first book from the Center. Please sign up now to get your copies, and reserve your seat for the book launch at the National Press Club in Washington Sept. 30!
We will launch our first monograph, the Public Entities: VBD in Cities/Counties/States, with 5 organizational approaches to value-based designs that are very different yet produce better health for their communities. Watch for the announcement on our front page.
The launch of both the book and the monograph is being timed to coincide with the Consumer Health Care Congress in Alexandria, Va. — I predict some fascinating and very timely discussions and information-sharing. World Congress, our industry ally and the producer of the Consumer Health Care Congress, is hosting a book signing for us, and we want to thank them publicly.
IMPORTANT TRAINING: The Center, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), and the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) are co-sponsoring an introductory Health and Productivity Clinic on Sep 16 12 noon ET. It’s directed to Brokers and Consultants to formally introduce the philosophy, process and some tools for Value-Based Designs. To register, go to acoem.org.
Dr. Jack Mahoney and I have also been asked to speak at the Next Generation HealthCare Delivery conference Oct. 26, also in Washington (it makes sense, since that’s where a lot of the action on health care reform is taking place!). Jack, Jan, and I will have a book signing there, as well. We want to thank the Institute for International Research (IIR), which produces the Next Gen conference, for including us in their plans.
Finally, I want to highlight some upcoming and continuing efforts that you’ll want to keep an eye on. It’s always important to me to acknowledge the immense amount of support that our members, allies and funders provide to us. Here are a few such thank-you’s with the hope to continue the work into 2010:
HPM Clinic/webinar: Value-based designs for broker-consultant communities. We’ve worked hard with ACOEM and IBI– there’s an enormous amount of work that goes into aligning 3 organizations and launching a new educational forum. Doris Konicki, Ron Loeppke, Pam Hymel, Bill Molmen, and Tom Parry–thanks for welcoming us to your team.
Battle Creek Michigan VBD efforts: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–These folks believed in our community efforts from the beginning. Through their grant, we will be able to create a roadmap for community collaboration based on value that will be produced in early Spring 2010. But the community work itself happened due to the diligence and commitment of companies and people who saw a different answer to mending healthcare and producing health. All of the folks who have contributed their time, expertise, and funding in the Michigan arena, including Integrated Health Partners (Ruth, Mary Ellen–what visionaries!), Kellogg, Battle Creek Health System, City of Battle Creek, Kellogg Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Priority Health, and Denso, plus many of the companies on our Board of Advisors. This has been an amazing project with multiple stakeholders that has taught us all what “reform” could really be: better health for our citizens and our communities when the patient centered primary care is linked to value-based designs. Let’s also publicly thank the folks at Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, Novo-Nordisk, Pfizer and sanofi-aventis for the generous commitment to outcomes assistance and communication expertise.
Camden County NJ–Jim Rhodes and Greg Smith have led a team of curious, committed folks to begin a process of value-based designs for their community. As we begin the modeling, we acknowledge the efforts of Jim/Camden County Government, Greg/Dept of Social Services, and Campbell’s, Cooper Hospital, AmeriHealth, Aetna, Horizon BCBSNJ, Medco, Conner Strong, and our early support from Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Novartis and sanofi-aventis. Partners in Care (on our Board of Directors) has been stellar as a guide in patient-centered care for this endeavor.
First Innovators’ Summit. In June, we hosted our first innovator’s summit in June due to the generosity of the folks at Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, who provided an educational grant to the Center As a result, we’ll be publishing a decision matrix later this fall, hosting a webinar, and creating speaker slides for Value-Based Design for our Board. Watch for these posts, and many thanks to the folks at Takeda.
Wisconsin Innovators Summit. Thank you to Merck and Co., Inc., and to Humana for the educational grant and support that will fund our next summit, an invitation-only event to showcase best-practices across the state, create a learning collaborative and monograph and highlight the variety and success of VBD.
To our Board of Directors, our Executive Board and Laura Carabello and the folks at CPR Marketing–we’ve been running fast and furiously to share our learnings, educate and define the pathways of VBD, and provide ongoing stability to our Board.
A Special Thank You to Mike Taylor, Medical Officer for Health Promotion at Caterpillar, and our Chair. What a yeoman’s task you have taken on, willingly and bravely, and, as the first member of our Board, I’m profoundly grateful.
Thank you, all of you, for all you do! And to you, our readers: To Your Health!!
