New White Paper on VBID and Transparency

The Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) and the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan released a joint white paper examining obstacles to quality and price transparency. The paper highlights ways to motivate consumers to shop for care based on value and focusing on initiatives that meld consumer incentives with greater price transparency. The paper examines several successful models, including some used by CPR members, CalPERS, Group Insurance Commission of Massachusetts, Pitney Bowes, and Safeway, Inc. These initiatives include reference and value pricing, tiered and narrow networks, centers of excellence contracting, and value-based insurance design. Blending quality and price transparency with evidence-based consumer incentives can lead to an increase in the use of higher-value care and clinically appropriate services delivered in the most appropriate venue. In turn, this should also lead to a decrease in inappropriate and potentially harmful medical expenditures.