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Value-Based Insurance Design Can Improve Health at No Added Cost, Study Says
January 21, 2010Value-based insurance design programs — which reduce patient co-payments for highly effective treatments — can break even financially or possibly save money, according to a new study from University of Michigan, Harvard and other researchers. In an article published today by Health Affairs, the researchers analyzed data from a large corporation that implemented a VBID program in 2005. Co-payment rates were reduced for employees using five classes of drugs used to treat several serious but common chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. In this VBID program, patients using the specified medications were offered at least a 50% co-payment reduction. The study's authors examined both the amounts spent on the high value services and overall spending by the employer using the VBID plan. "From a total cost perspective, the VBID program likely broke even, and possibly saved money," said A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., co-director of the University of Michigan's Center for Value-Based Insurance Design [www.vbidcenter.org]. Full release.