Emphasizing the Health in Health Care

Value Based Insurance Design Health specializes in designing and promoting health benefits plans that get more health out of every health care dollar spent.

The U.S. spends over $3 trillion on health care – everyone agrees we should be getting more “health” out of that investment. Instead, many employers and plans are paying for the wrong things. VBID Health provides streamlined, Value Based Insurance Design consulting services to facilitate creation and adoption of VBID plans and increase patient, employee, and enrollee health.

VBID Health assists employers ranging from Fortune 100 companies to City Governments, health insurance plans, and health systems in designing health care benefits packages.

Plans that incorporate VBID principles increase access to necessary treatments, improve adherence to medication and treatment plans, engage patients, and ensure the best clinical outcomes for employees and enrollees. This ultimately decreases long-term health care costs and increases patient quality of life and worker productivity.

Our clients include entities that are just learning of the benefits of VBID principles as well as companies that are already experiencing the rewards of VBID and are looking to fine-tune their programs.

About Value Based Insurance Design

The premise of Value Based Insurance Design, and the focus of VBID Health, is to align patients’ out-of-pocket costs, such as copayments and deductibles, with the value of health services. By reducing barriers to high-value treatments (through lower costs to patients) and discouraging low-value treatments (through higher costs to patients), these plans can improve health outcomes. Studies have linked lower copayments for drugs to higher compliance, which ultimately has potential to yield long-term savings as a result of healthier enrollees and more productive employees. Value Based Insurance Design (VBID) Health specializes in designing and promoting health benefits plans that get more health out of every health care dollar spent.

Dr. Fendrick and Dr. Chernew of the VBID Health Team are recognized in academic and policy circles as two of the “fathers of Value Based Insurance Design” and have been researching the concept for over a decade.

Dr. Fendrick is the Director of the Value Based Insurance Design Center at the University of Michigan and has authored over 200 articles and book chapters on the quality and cost implications of medical care. At VBID Health he focuses on the “demand side” of health care – mainly recommending ways to redesign health insurance products so they get more health out of every health care dollar. Dr. Chernew is a Harvard Professor of Health Economics and the Vice Chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC). At VBID Health he focuses on the “supply side” of health care – studying health care payment policies and recommending more efficient models.

The health care law, formally known as “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”, recognizes Value-Based Insurance Design. Section 1001 of the law creates a new section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act, which calls for health plan coverage of preventive health services, and features Value-Based Insurance Design. The law says:

”VALUE-BASED INSURANCE DESIGN — The Secretary may develop guidelines to permit a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage to utilize value-based insurance designs.”

In December 2010, the Secretaries of the Departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor issued a “Request for Information Regarding Value-Based Insurance Design in Connection With Preventive Care Benefits” to inform implementation of this section of the law. Additionally, many states are looking for ways to ensure health plans featuring Value-Based Insurance Design are featured on the new health insurance exchanges.

The Administration continues to support VBID. In the spring of 2012, The Department of Health and Human Services also recognized the value and benefits of VBID in the Actuarial Value and Cost-Sharing Reductions Bulletin, which states:

”We also recognize the need to accommodate innovative plan design features that are meaningful to consumers, such as Value-Based Insurance Designs that vary the copayment or coinsurance for items and services based on expected value.”

''Value Based Insurance Design (VBID) Health specializes in designing and promoting health benefits plans that get more health out of every health care dollar spent.''
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