Dive Brief:
- For lower healthcare costs and better health outcomes, employers are shifting to value-based payment models, writes SHRM. Healthcare providers are paid based on treatment outcomes rather than reimbursed for their services.
- A Willis Towers Watson survey, the 21st Annual Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey, found that more employers were adopting value-based plans that focus on high-quality, cost-efficient treatment.
- SHRM says some employers are making the shift to value-based healthcare by creating excellence centers for specialty treatment, establishing high-performance networks and contracting directly with service providers to secure better prices.
Dive Insight:
HR leaders recognize that plan design alone will not keep healthcare costs down. The next step for many is to work directly with healthcare providers to try and find a way to keep care affordable.
Trevis Parson, chief actuary of health and benefits at Willis Towers Watson’s Philadelphia office, summed up the problem with the U.S. healthcare system. He told SHRM, "As employers grapple with how to lower the cost of health care without lowering quality, they are increasingly looking to pay medical service providers for health outcomes instead of the services they provide."
The Affordable Care Act will likely be repealed by the Republican-led Congress. ACA opponents cite cost as a major flaw in the law. But a shift to a valued-based healthcare model focused on saving lives and reducing costs could present a good argument for reforming — rather than repealing — the law.
