Cost sharing, often seen in the form of copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles, is commonly used to reign in health care spending. While the intent of cost sharing is to promote greater patient engagement around value-based health care choices, it can lead to patients avoiding necessary medications or services. Value-based insurance design plans (VBID) plans reduce this effect by limiting or eliminating cost sharing for medications and services that offer patients a high value return on their health. How VBID plans are structured and implemented can have differential effects on patient behavior and their ultimate outcomes.
In a HCFO-funded study, Niteesh Choudhry, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and colleagues examined how different characteristics of VBID plans affected medication adherence and identified best practices for the future implementation of VBID plans.
