Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative Unveils New White Paper Aligning Benefits of Value-Based Insurance Design With Medical Home

"Aligning Incentives and Systems" to be released at PCPCC Stakeholders Meeting March 30

WASHINGTON, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new white paper addressing the benefits employers can achieve through the synergy of value-based insurance design and the patient centered medical home will be released at a meeting of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative March 30 in Washington, DC.  Authored by the group's Center for Employer Engagement in partnership with the National Business Coalition on Health and the University Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design, Aligning Incentives and Systems: Promoting Synergy Between Value-Based Insurance Design and the Patient-Centered Medical Home presents the mechanics of both strategies and reviews the evidence for their clinical and economic value.

"Cultivate the PCMH: What Really Matters" will be a working meeting of stakeholders with the shared goal of advancing adoption of the patient centered medical home (PCMH) across the nation.  The meeting will be held at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The PCPCC is a coalition of more than 700 organizations representing the nation's business leaders, consumers, primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders.  

Presentation of the white paper will be the centerpiece of a panel discussion about expanded access to care. Value-based insurance design (VBID) is used by innovative benefits managers to steer employees towards high-value health care services that have proven value—a demand-side employee benefits strategy.  In a parallel fashion, employers are intrigued by the patient centered medical home (PCMH) and its promise to deliver improved quality care more efficiently—a supply-side solution to better care.  

Aligning Incentives and Systems makes the business value case for employers and offers steps employers can take to implement this synergistic strategy.  Ten case studies—from employers, health plans, state governments and a municipality—explore how combining VBID and PCMH can enhance quality of care while lowering costs. The organizations profiled are the Whirlpool Company, the State of Washington, the City of Battle Creek, Mich., IBM, Roy O. Martin Lumber, CIGNA, Universal American, Geisinger Health System/Health Plan, Aetna and the State of Minnesota.

"This white paper is a tool for employers to evaluate the elements that make these two models work together as a whole that is greater than its individual parts," said Edwina Rogers, executive director of the PCPCC.  "When employers customize employee benefits to incentivize the use of primary care and preventive health measures, they win with greater employee productivity and lower overall costs." To preorder a copy of the report, go to https://www.elbowspace.com/servlets/cfd?xr4=&formts=2010-02-03%2015:14:58.342192.

The March 30 Stakeholder's Working Meeting will include expert panel presentations on other topics as well, including:

• Delivering on the Promise: Success Factors to Advance Care Coordination
• Effective Reimbursement Models: Aligning Incentives for Sustainable Value
• Health IT- Performance Measurement-Meaningful Use: A Perfect Fit
• Implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home at the Community Level & Practice Transformation

David Blumenthal, MP, MPP, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' national coordinator for health information technology, has been invited to give the keynote address. A complete meeting agenda is available at http://www.pcpcc.net/event/stakeholder/3-30-10.

The PCPCC is organized and financed to provide better outcomes for patients, more efficient payment to physicians and better value, accountability and transparency to purchasers and consumers. Studies of the PCMH model show that it improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. It also lowers health care costs by improving care coordination and communication between primary care physicians and their patients.

About the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of more than 700 major employers, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians, and other stakeholders who have joined to advance the patient centered medical home. The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. For more information on the patient centered medical home and a complete list of the PCPCC members, please visit http://www.pcpcc.net/.

SOURCE The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative