Value Innovations by Employers: Examples Beyond Cost Sharing

Employer-sponsored health insurance plans face rising costs that impact firms’ bottom lines and employee wages. In response, many employers have adopted cost-sharing strategies, such as high deductible health plans, but there may be limits to how well these designs can contain costs and improve health outcomes. Many employers are seeking new ways to increase the value of care they purchase through their plans, such as by managing population health, implementing payment reforms, and helping patients navigate the health system to high-value providers. We examine innovative models of value-based insurance design that have been developed within the employer-sponsored market, consider how they may continue to spread and expand, and explore the implications for broader transformation of the health care system.