Until recently, health care purchasing is the one area in which usual business practices, such as supply chain management, are not employed to manage cost and quality. Purchasers have often felt powerless to negotiate for better value or felt they have little choice but to accept what health care providers and health insurance plans offer. That is changing. More and more purchasers are looking for value and a few are starting to explore value-based purchasing.

As part of the effort to move the health care market to value, King County organized a learning event on March 1 aimed at purchasers to help educate them on the principles of value-based purchasing. The event was also co-sponsored by the Washington State Health Care Authority, the Washington Health Alliance, Washington Roundtable and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

For those who were unable to attend, we hope the presentations and materials from the event will help others learn more about value-based purchasing and for purchasers to feel more empowered to demand value in health care.

Conference Presentations

• Rick Cooper, The Everett Clinic (PDF)
• Nancy Giunto, The Washington Health Alliance (PDF)
• Dorothy Teeter, Washington State Health Care Authority (PDF)
• Jürgen Unützer, University of Washington (PDF)
• Read tweets from the conference #purchaserpower.
• Slideshow of word clouds generated by workshop activities.

Publications and Articles about Value-based Purchasing

• Paying Providers for Value: The Path Forward | Health Affairs
• Finding the Value in Health: Results from IBI’s 2015 CFO Survey | Integrated Benefits Institute
• The Employer-Led Health Care Revolution | Harvard Business Review
• Alternative Payment Model (APM) Framework – Final White Paper | Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network
• The Power of States as Public Purchasers in Health Care | Hospitals & Health Networks
• Value-based Purchasing: A Definition | National Business Coalition on Health’s Value-based Purchasing Council
• The Long Road to Lower Health Care Costs | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Purchasing Information and Tools

• Purchaser Guidelines to Evaluate Contracts For Accountable Care Organizations, Washington Health Alliance (PDF)
• 2015 Community Checkup: Measuring Health Care in Washington State report
• Washington Health Alliance reports on health care quality, patient experience and cost
• Hospital Sticker Shock: A report on hospital price variation in Washington state, report and supplemental materials 
• Your Voice Matters: Patient Experience with Primary Care Providers in Washington State, report and supplemental materials

Employee Communication Tools

• The Savvy Health Care Shopper
• Own Your Health