To Promote Health Care Excellence, Let’s Recognize Approaches That Assure Value

Aug 28, 2017

BY BRIAN KLEPPER

A challenge for health care purchasers is choosing vendors whose performance matches their cost and outcomes claims. A 2015 Mercer surveyfound that only 41 percent of worksite clinic sponsors think that they’re saving money. As Al Lewis and Tom Emerick have detailed, many wellness and disease management companies simply overstate their results. In many cases employers may not realize that they, not the vendor, take the risk for results.

One important answer is the Care Innovations Validation Institute, founded by Intel, that offers health care vendors and purchasers objective validation of vendors’ claims.  The Institute stands behind its work with a money-back guarantee. In the Wild West of the health care marketplace, the Validation Institute is an invaluable resource for purchasers, allowing them to confidently proceed with vendors, knowing that their promises have been vetted by scientists.

With these dynamics as backdrop, World Health Care Congress has partnered with The Validation Institute and The Health Rosetta Institute, another not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating adoption of proven fixes to health care dysfunction. Together, they are sponsoring The 2018 Health Value Awards, showcasing health care organizations and programs that demonstrate measurably better health outcomes, costs and/or safety than conventional care.

These awards will recognize health care vendors, brokers, and purchasers who deliver higher value care. They seek to identify high performance organizations that adhere to principles of compassion, evidence, transparency, competition and efficiency, as examples that can be emulated.

The first competition will be held within 11 categories, eight of them formally validated by the Validation Institute: Validated categories cover programming by health plan sponsors (i.e., employers and unions), health plan administrators, and organizations that provide or manage care.

While the awards program’s larger emphasis is on validated high performance approaches, it will also recognize individuals and companies on the basis of more qualitative information. Non-Validated Categories will recognize individuals and firms that are progressive benefits leaders.

Applicants will describe and provide performance data on innovative health benefits programming that has measurably demonstrated significant improvements in health outcomes, patient safety and/or cost Judges will consider not only programmatic impact, but scalability (i.e., ease of program replication in other sites/employers), stickiness (or the durability of impact over time), and the calculation methodology used to demonstrate efficacy.

Online nominations for the 2018 awards competition will be solicited between July 15, 2017 and January 31, 2018. Anyone, including nominees, may submit nominations. Special attention will be given to candidates who receive multiple external nominations.

A multi-stakeholder panel has developed criteria for initial review of the submissions, and an independent panel of experts will review all submissions. Five finalists within each category will be selected and announced by February 28. Final selections will be made by the independent panel.

Health Value Award entrants should plan to attend the 2018 World Health Care Congress unless there are unusual circumstances. Registration for representatives will be complimentary. Finalists will also participate, at a discounted rate, in a validation process developed and managed by The Validation Institute. Stipends will be available to applicants who need support.  Entry is not a guarantee of validation.

The Health Value Award is part of a larger movement to bring health care purchasers clear and transparent value data.  This, in turn, will move competition among vendors to objective, measurable results.  By shining bright lights on those that truly perform, the Award program is an important first step in the right direction.

Brian Klepper is an analyst and Principal in Worksite Health Advisors, which connects health care purchasers with high value offerings.