Wisconsin–the state best identified with cheese, high taxes, the Green Bay Packers and beer–is also known for health care, creating diverse collaborative health care systems and well-established prevention programs. But it is also plagued by high costs and expenses.  Despite Wisconsin’s health care woes–it ranked as the 16th state with the highest health spending per capita in 2004 (the most recent year for which comparative state-level data are available), it is a state primed for reform, a path it has been pursuing throughout the past decade. Employers, health plans and county governments all share in the journey towards cost-effective, high-quality, accessible health care.

This report, Wisconsin: Levers Drive Value-Based Innovation Across the State, makes a business case for value-based design as illustrated by Wisconsin companies Quad/Graphics [QuadMed], Humana, Journal Communications and Chippewa County. The four organizations are a representative sample of how innovation is providing resolution and relief in Wisconsin and how the state culture has contributed to the success of their solutions. The report is built on the Health Value Continuum, a development pathway for value-based design that shows the route to quality health improvement and behavior change. The Health Value Continuum was developed by the Center for Health Value Innovation to detail the experiences and path of early innovators in value-based benefit design. The four organizations highlighted in this paper (QuadMed, Humana, Journal Communications and Chippewa County, WI) have each reached different points along the Continuum as they move toward optimal health.

“We think Wisconsin is a truly unique learning laboratory,” says Cyndy Nayer, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Health Value Innovation.  “Wisconsin has demonstrated a willingness to innovate, share, and do more. We want to learn about and share the experience of these Wisconsin companies by cataloguing the levers–or incentives–currently in place, the metrics used to measure outcomes, and how statewide efforts can be replicated in the marketplace. These companies are all members of the Center, and our mission is to provide evidence of improved health value so that other companies can improve the value of their health care spend.”

For the complete report in PDF format, please click here.