Evidence Accumulates for Value-Based Insurance Design

From the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design:

The basic premise of Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID) is to align consumer incentives with value by reducing barriers to high-value health services and providers ("carrots". When "carrots" are used in a clinically nuanced manner, V-BID improves health care quality and controls spending growth.

Recent evaluations add to the published evidence that clinically nuanced copayment reductions lead to improvements in medication adherence. A 2014 Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy study reported that copay reductions for Medicare beneficiaries prescribed statins resulted in a 5.9% increase in adherence over 6 months compared to those paying standard copayments. A second 2014 JMCP study found a 4.9% increase in adherence among commercially insured individuals enrolled in a $0 copayment program for generic anti-diabetic and anti-hyperlipidemic medications.

Momentum for V-BID continues to grow among private payers, state employee plans and in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Accumulating evidence on V-BID's clinical and economic impact and the identification of plan characteristics that predict program success can shape future public and private V-BID programs that both improve quality and contain cost growth.