The Health Care Transformation Task Force, a cohort of 40-plus healthcare payers, providers, purchasers and patient organizations tasked with aligning private and public U.S. healthcare operations, issued six guidelines for designing health benefits Oct. 30.
"Incorporating the holistic consumer perspective into health insurance benefit structures is a critical step toward a true value-driven healthcare system," Fran Soistman, executive vice president of government services at Aetna and chair of HCTTF, said in a news release.
Formed in 2014, HCTTF's participants span providers like St. Louis-based Ascension, Cleveland Clinic, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, and commercial payers like Aetna and Anthem.
Here are the six guidelines HCTTF outlined:
1. Plan redesign should be centered on the consumer, and all players — payers, providers and purchasers — should obtain consumer feedback through modernized mediums.
2. Payers, providers and purchasers should work together to create networks. These value-based networks should be based on consumer feedback, including member outcomes and experience.
3. Multimodal communication should be made possible by the organizations to help beneficiaries understand payment and care delivery options.
4. Member experience and outcomes should be included in value-based agreements.
5. The patient should be at the middle of all networks, with their needs balanced with those of the purchasers, payers and providers.
6. People-centered health IT should be promoted by the organizations.