National Health Council and National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions Working to Improve Value Assessment

By Deasia Lamar, Communications Intern 

The National Health Council (NHC) was recently awarded a grant from The Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) for an exciting new project, in collaboration with the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (the National Alliance), to make value assessment more meaningful to people receiving health care. 

With the support of the IVI grant, the NHC and the National Alliance will host a series of virtual roundtable discussions with patient group and employer representatives to gather insights on ways to improve value assessment. IVI is a non-profit research organization dedicated to improving the science and practice of value assessment.  

Elisabeth Oehrlein, PhD, MS, Senior Director, Research & Programs at the NHC and Principle Investigator on the project, describes the driving principles of the value-based project. “Productivity and absenteeism play an important role in value for patients, but are often ignored in traditional value-based assessment economic models,” she said. Dr. Oehrlein highlights that “non-traditional” benefits such as parental leave and well-being programs are often not captured in value assessments but are significant value adds to patients in real–life situations.  

In addition to the discussion around “non-traditional” benefits in value assessment, the moderated roundtable discussions are set to highlight current value assessment approaches that can be enhanced to reflect patient and employer views, values, inputs, and needs. These discussions will identify opportunities for value assessment approaches to better reflect both end-users’ views, inputs, and needs. This work builds on IVI’s multi-stakeholder dialogue in February, which highlighted the need to improve value assessment methods for patients and employers. 

For more information, view the full press release here.  

Learn more about the NHC’s work on value here.