THE LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM SERIES
VALUING AMERICA’S HEALTH
Aligning Financing to Reward Better Health and Well-Being
WASHINGTON, DC
NAM.EDU
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu
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This publication has undergone peer review according to procedures established by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Publication by the NAM signifies that it is the product of a carefully considered process and is a contribution worthy of public attention but does not constitute endorsement of conclusions and recommendations by the NAM. The views presented in this publication are those of individual contributors and do not represent formal consensus positions of the authors’ organizations; the NAM; or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
This initiative was convened with support from the George Family Foundation, Nemours, Samueli Foundation, Well Being Trust, and Whole Health Institute. Any opinions, findings, or conclusions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that assisted in the development of this project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-70620-9
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-70620-3
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/27141
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023948064
Copyright 2024 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Suggested citation: National Academy of Medicine. 2024. Valuing America’s Health: Aligning Financing to Reward Better Health and Well-Being. Hm. Pham, M. Chesney, D. Chisolm, D. Erickson, C. Koller, P. Long, L. G. Moore, L. M. Nichols, A. Offodile, C. Powell, J. Sharfstein, D. Shurney, S. Szanton, J. Lee, J. L. Flaubert, M. Cocchiola, P. S. Chua, A. Anise, and A. Hunt, editors. NAM Special Publication. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Learn more about the National Academy of Medicine at NAM.edu.
VALUING AMERICA’S HEALTH: ALIGNING FINANCING TO REWARD BETTER HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Steering Group Members
HOANGMAI PHAM (Chair), Institute for Exceptional Care
MARGARET CHESNEY, University of California, San Francisco
DEENA CHISOLM, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
DAVID ERICKSON, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
CHRISTOPHER KOLLER, Milbank Memorial Fund
PETER LONG, Blue Shield of California
L. GORDON MOORE, Goodside Health
LEN M. NICHOLS, The Urban Institute
ANAEZE OFFODILE, MD Anderson Cancer Center
CHERYL POWELL, Ad Hoc LLC
JOSHUA SHARFSTEIN, Johns Hopkins University
DEXTER SHURNEY, Adventist Health
SARAH SZANTON, Johns Hopkins University
NAM Staff
Development of this publication was facilitated by contributions of the following NAM staff, under the guidance of J. Michael McGinnis, Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer and Executive Director of the NAM Leadership Consortium:
JENNIFER LEE, Visiting Scholar (until April 2022)
JENNIFER LALITHA FLAUBERT, Program Officer
MICHAEL COCCHIOLA, Associate Program Officer (until July 2022)
PEAK SEN CHUA, Consultant
AMANDA HUNT, Senior Program Officer (from August 2022)
AYODOLA ANISE, Deputy Director, NAM Leadership Consortium (until February 2023)
SHARYL NASS, Director of the Board on Health Care Services
JENNA L. OGILVIE, Deputy Director of Communications (until April 2023)
MADELEINE DEYE, Editorial Projects Coordinator
TOCHI OGBU-MBADIUGHA, Senior Program Assistant (until June 2022)
DISCLOSURE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
L. GORDON MOORE discloses former employment by 3M Information Systems.
JOSHUA SHARFSTEIN discloses personal fees from Sachs Policy Group, a health care and health care payment consulting company.
NAM LEADERSHIP CONSORTIUM
Collaboration for a Learning Health System
MARK B. MCCLELLAN (Chair), Duke University
AMY ABERNETHY, Verily
SHANTANU AGRAWAL, Anthem Inc.
JEFFREY BALSER, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
GEORGES BENJAMIN, American Public Health Association
RACHELE BERRIA, AstraZeneca
DAVID BLUMENTHAL, The Commonwealth Fund
NAKELA COOK, PCORI
KAREN DESALVO, Google
JUDITH FAULKNER, Epic Systems
DAVID FEINBERG, Cerner
JULIE L. GERBERDING, Merck & Co., Inc.
SANDRA HERNANDEZ, California Health Care Foundation
DIANE HOLDER, UPMC Health Plan
MICHELE HOOD, American Hospital Association
FREDERICK ISASI, Families USA
ADAM LENKOWSKY, Bristol Myers Squibb
PETER LONG, Blue Shield of California
JAMES L. MADARA, American Medical Association
LAURA MAURI, Medtronic
SUZANNE MIYAMOTO, American Academy of Nursing
VALERIE MONTGOMERY RICE, Morehouse School of Medicine
MARY D. NAYLOR, University of Pennsylvania
HAROLD PAZ, Stony Brook University
JONATHAN B. PERLIN, The Joint Commission
RICHARD PLATT, Harvard Medical School
DWAYNE PROCTOR, Missouri Foundation for Health
KYU RHEE, CVS Health, Aetna
LEWIS G. SANDY, UnitedHealth Group
LEONARD D. SCHAEFFER, University of Southern California
BRUCE SIEGEL, America’s Essential Hospitals
DAVID SKORTON, Association of American Medical Colleges
JENNIFER TAUBERT, Johnson & Johnson
REED V. TUCKSON, Tuckson Health
DEBRA B. WHITMAN, AARP
NAM Leadership Consortium Staff
LAURA ADAMS, Senior Counsel
AYODOLA ANISE, Deputy Director (until February 2023)
SARAH GREENE, Senior Counsel
AMANDA HUNT, Senior Program Officer
SUNITA KRISHNAN, Program Officer (since December 2022)
J. MICHAEL MCGINNIS, Executive Director
ANNIE MURFF, Senior Program Assistant
STEPHANIE STAN, Research Associate (since June 2023)
ASIA WILLIAMS, Program Officer
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Steering Group would like to thank members of the Health Financing Writing Group, who helped develop and provide independent feedback on the Special Publication’s care financing and economics content featured in sections 4 and 5. The members of the group are as follows.
JI IM, Senior Director, Community and Population Health, Common Spirit
DAN POLSKY, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Economics, Johns Hopkins University
LAUREN TAYLOR, Assistant Professor, Langone School of Medicine, New York University
The Steering Group would also like to thank Maggie Super Church for her contributions in understanding the design, implementation, impact, and current developments related to the Healthy Neighborhoods Study along with the Healthy Neighborhood Equity Fund I and II. Maggie Super Church serves as an independent consultant and the former vice president for healthy and resilient communities at the Conservation Law Foundation.
REVIEWERS
This Special Publication was reviewed in draft form by the Steering Group, who were chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with review procedures established by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
We wish to thank the following individuals for their contributions:
ALICE CHEN, Covered California
MARSHALL CHIN, University of Chicago
CHRIS DEMARS, Oregon Health Authority
CHRISTOPHER B. FORREST, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
ROBERT GALVIN, Blackstone
NEAL HALFON, University of California, Los Angeles
RACHEL WERNER, University of Pennsylvania
CHARLENE WONG, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
The reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, but they were not asked to endorse the content of the publication and did not see the final draft before it was published. Review of this publication was overseen by AYODOLA ANISE, Deputy Director, Leadership Consortium; PEAK SEN CHUA, Consultant; JENNIFER LALITHA FLAUBERT, Program Officer; AMANDA HUNT, Senior Program Officer; and J. MICHAEL MCGINNIS, Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer. Responsibility for the final content of this publication rests entirely with the editors and the NAM.
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CONTENTS
Introduction and Initiative Background
2 A Vision for Better Health and Well-Being
3 Prioritizing Whole Person and Whole Population Health and Well-Being
4 Investment Goals and Priority Actions
5 Health Transformation Through Disruptive Change
A Financing That Rewards Better Health and Well-Being Workshop Series Participant Suggestions
B Stakeholder-Specific Priority Actions by Impact and Feasibility
C Illustrative Models of Implementing Whole Person, Whole Population Health Priority Actions
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BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLE
BOXES
2 Key Pillars of the Vision for Whole Person and Whole Population Health and Well-Being
3 Innovative Whole Person and Whole Population Health Service Providers
5 Food Security: Aligning Federal Policies with the Vision for Whole Person, Whole Population Health
FIGURES
1 Whole person health in the context of whole population health
2 Life expectancy for OECD countries
3 U.S. Veterans Health Administration Circle of Health
4 Key components of multi-stakeholder community collaborations
5 Sample dynamics of disruptive policy | housing stability
6 Sample dynamics of disruptive policy | food security
TABLE
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PREFACE
Whole person, whole population health—the ability for people and populations to thrive and attain their full, optimized potential for health and well-being—is the ultimate goal of a healthy nation. Unfortunately, the United States faces a crisis in our collective health and well-being: declining life expectancy driven by long-standing and deepening inequities, a global pandemic, and the persistent inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and high cost of the nation’s health and health care system.
A response proportional to this crisis is required. To mobilize real-world implementation, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) convened 13 eminent experts, with experience across care financing and payment, equity and community engagement, and private capital markets, to review a full set of opportunities, levers, and disruptive forces that could uproot dominant fee-for-service interests and effect a shift toward whole person, whole population health.
This NAM Special Publication, Valuing America’s Health: Aligning Financing to Reward Better Health and Well-Being, clearly underscores the urgency for the nation to reckon with the glaring shortfalls in the nation’s health system. It also describes why health cannot be financed, delivered, and sustained by the health and health care sector alone. Health consequences are resident in virtually every decision, policy, and action taken throughout the individuals, organizations, and sectors that constitute our nation’s society and economy. Furthermore, with the necessary leadership from government, and grassroots demand for solutions from communities, all members of society can contribute to an immediate, forceful, and momentous shifting of values, incentives, and culture that are both exogenous and endogenous to the health and health care system. Finally, the Special Publication outlines transformative actions that will help critical system stakeholders to more effectively execute responsibilities for our collective health and well-being.
The partnership between the NAM and the involved stakeholders is part of extensive and ongoing contributions to transformative health financing. Over
the past 2 years, the NAM has conducted a phased release of nine sectoral impact assessments and an associated discussion of cross-cutting policy implications. The final synthesis publication was released in August 2022. In 2021, the NAM conducted a broad appraisal of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) on the effectiveness of alternative payment models, gaps in data collection to support equity, and opportunities to engage beneficiaries, businesses, payers, and providers more meaningfully. The resultant publication, the CMMI Opportunity Agenda, was released in September 2022 and has already informed CMMI’s current strategic plan.
Given these contributions, it is clear that additional partnerships, cross-sectoral connections, and continuous engagement are required to realize this Special Publication’s vision of whole person, whole population health. We look forward to assisting in the achievement of that vision.
J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP | Hoangmai Pham, MD, MPH |
Leonard D. Schaeffer Executive Officer | President |
National Academy of Medicine | Institute for Exceptional Care |
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ACA | Affordable Care Act |
ACAP | Association for Community Affiliated Plans |
ACO | accountable care organization |
ASTHO | Association of State and Territorial Health Officials |
BIPOC | Black, Indigenous, and People of Color |
CAPABLE | Community Aging in Place: Advancing Better Living for Elders |
CAPGI | Collaborative Approach to Public Good Investments |
CBO | community-based organization |
CDFI | Community Development Financial Institution |
CHA | Community Health Assessment |
CHART | Community Health Access and Rural Transformation |
CHIP | Children’s Health Insurance Program |
CHIP | community health improvement plan |
CHNA | community health needs assessment |
CLF | Conservation Law Foundation |
CMMI | Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation |
CMS | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services |
COVID-19 | coronavirus disease 2019 |
D-SNP | Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan |
EHR | electronic health record |
EIA | environmental impact assessment |
EPSDT | Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment |
ERISA | Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 |
ESG | Environmental, Social, and Governance |
FIDE-SNP | Fully Integrated Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan |
FMAP | Federal Medical Assistance Percentage |
FQHC | Federally Qualified Health Center |
FY | fiscal year |
GDP | gross domestic product |
HCBS | home- and community-based services |
HEDIS | Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set |
HHS | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
HIA | health impact assessment |
HIDE-SNP | Highly Integrated Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan |
HNEF | Healthy Neighborhood Equity Fund |
HNS | Healthy Neighborhoods Study |
HUD | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development |
IRIS | Include, Respect, I Self-Direct |
LISC | Local Initiatives Support Coalition |
LTSS | long-term services and supports |
MBE | Minority Business Enterprise |
MedPAC | Medicare Payment Advisory Commission |
MLR | medical loss ratio |
MMA | Medicaid Modernization Act of 2003 |
NAM | National Academy of Medicine |
NIMHD | National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities |
NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
NOLA | New Orleans, Louisiana |
OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
PACE | Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly |
PCMH | patient-centered medical home |
PIB | Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief |
REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
ROI | return on investment |
SAS | Statistical Analysis System |
SBHC | school-based health center |
SCF | Southcentral Foundation |
SDoH | social determinants of health |
SIM | State Innovation Model |
SNAP | Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program |
SNP | Special Needs Plan |
VA | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs |
VBC | value-based care |
VBP | value-based payment |
VHA | Veterans Health Administration |
WHS | Whole Health System of Care |
WI DHS | Wisconsin Department of Health Services |