Increasing attention has turned to value-based health care, with many in the industry arguing that the payment models are a solution to the country's rising health care costs.
So it only makes sense that brokers get in on the conversation. And the National Association of Health Underwriters is helping.
The group announced a new initiative to "stimulate demand for value-based health care purchasing among the nation's health insurance brokers and their employer clients."
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With a $678,280 fund by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the group is aiming to promote greater involvement by agents and brokers in value-based movement — the concept that health care providers should be paid according to the quality of care they offer, as opposed to today's "fee-for-service" payment method — by "arming them with the knowledge they need to encourage value-based purchasing strategies."
"Since employers provide coverage for the majority of people insured today, they are a natural place to encourage value-based purchasing, and since agents and brokers are responsible for the design, recommendation and implementation of these plans, it's important to educate them on the benefits of new purchasing approaches that will help contain the cost of medical care," said Janet Trautwein, CEO of NAHU and its affiliated NAHU Education Foundation.
The education efforts, NAHU said, will cover topics including value-based insurance design, new delivery models such as accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes, new payment mechanisms such as reference pricing, bundled payments and global payments, writing contracts for value-based contracting, and conducting market assessments.
NAHU said it will use a variety of channels to communicate its message, including its website, webinars and Health Insurance Underwriter magazine.
"We think this is a critical effort in the drive for high-value health care," said Suzanne Delbanco, executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, a nonprofit that is helping NAHU with the initiative. "While we have made progress, our approach to healthcare payment in this country needs to evolve much faster. We know traditional fee-for-service payment creates incentives for waste and inappropriate health care."
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