Dear V-BID Center Colleagues,

It’s been a busy past few months at the V-BID Center.

Last week, I had the honor to testify to the U.S. House of Representatives Ways & Means Committee on the merits of the CMS Medicare Advantage (MA) V-BID Model Test, that was successfully launched in January by 9 MA plans. (Our newly arrived summer intern class joined me on the Hill).  Due to V-BID’s success in the private sector and the forthcoming TRICARE pilot, bicameral, bipartisan legislation has recently been introduced to expand the demo to all 50 states.  The Center is exploring the establishment of a learning collaborative for MA plans participating in, and considering applying for, the demonstration program.

Momentum continues to grow for our bipartisan, multi-stakeholder initiative to allow HSA-HDHPs the flexibility to cover chronic disease services on a pre-deductible basis. An invited JAMA commentary and bipartisan Congressional briefing contributed to a high level of engagement on this topic by the new administration and Congress.

In March, our Precision Medicine Needs Precision Benefit Design initiative was launched at the National Academy of Science Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health.  Be sure to check out our resources on this timely topic, including an infographic and recently released comic.

The role of patient assistance programs has garnered recent attention.  In response, the V-BID Center has published a brief entitled “Precision Patient Assistance Programs”, funded by the Global Healthy Living Foundation, which calls for a collaboration between payers and manufacturers to serve patients’ best interests by promoting clinically nuanced patient assistance based on specific clinical needs.

In addition, we have also published a Health Affairs blog on the need for equitable health insurance benefits, a brief on Medicare vaccine cost-sharing, and a new video on the importance of aligning payment reform with benefit design.  As always, we’d love to hear your comments on these and/or any of the Center’s resources.

With the financial support of our generous donors and contributions from our research and policy partners, the V-BID Center continues to focus on our mission to promote the development, implementation and evaluation of health benefit designs and payment reforms that ensure consumer access to high-value services and providers. We are always looking for ways to forge partnerships that would allow us to meet these goals.

On behalf of the V-BID Center team, we wish everyone a happy and healthy summer.

Looking forward to working together,

 

 

Mark Fendrick, MD, Director

 

The University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID) leads in research, development and advocacy for innovative health benefit designs.

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To contact the V-BID Center, email us at vbidcenter@umich.edu or call 734-647-9688.