Collecting and Using Cost Data

What have AF4Q Alliances learned from their experiences in collecting and reporting cost data and in reducing health care costs? Over the course of the AF4Q project, Alliances addressed cost and efficiency of care in a defined and measureable way by focusing their cost reduction efforts on conditions their communities specifically selected. Cost is a particularly difficult issue because of differing stakeholder perspectives on what is cost versus revenue, emergent cost measures, the real and perceived barriers to accessing data, and concerns about unintended consequences. This complexity resulted in many Alliances initiating their efforts by addressing waste, utilization rates, high-tech imaging, and other less politically charged issues, instead of addressing cost or prices directly. Alliances included a set of health care cost or efficiency measures in their public reports with the goal of increasing transparency in health care costs. Alliances learned through their experiences about the challenges of measuring cost, accessing and using data on cost, and the importance of political will to publicly displaying cost information. At the end of the AF4Q project, the majority of Alliances have reduced the cost of health care in their market.

• The Evolution of Aligning Forces
• Cost: Measurement and Data Sources
• Lessons Learned
• Looking Forward