Cost of Care: Creating a Demand for Value Across Communities

What does it cost? It’s a question most health care providers can’t readily answer. A handful of communities participating in the AF4Q initiative have been working with local health plans and providers to answer this question and are now at a tipping point. The regional health improvement collaboratives in Maine, Oregon, and Minnesota will soon begin publicly reporting National Quality Forum-endorsed total cost of care and resource use measures. Based on multi-payer commercial data, this information will enable cost comparisons among providers within and across regions and enable stakeholders to make meaningful change in their communities.

 

Cost information is a disruptive force, and with support from the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AF4Q communities are engaged in robust discussions with community stakeholders. This session will offer a frank discussion of both the opportunities and barriers these communities have faced as they seek to report cost data. Panelists from Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, and HealthPartners, which developed the measures, addressed the potential uses of the data, the technical issues, and the political tensions they have encountered.