Shifting the Focus From Cost to Value: An Employer Perspective

OBJECTIVE: To review ways in which pharmacists can help health plans shift their focus from cost to value. SUMMARY: Health care delivery is a continuum. Employers have moved along the continuum looking for value; they are now looking for integrated strategies to decrease cost and improve productivity within the workforce. The key to any integrated strategy is innovative service delivery and ground-breaking partnerships with vendors. Key areas that need to be addressed are medical care, pharmacy, behavioral health, disability, prevention, and presenteeism. Additionally, measuring program effectiveness is becoming more important, especially in terms of continuous improvement. CONCLUSION: Updating data, fine-tuning plan design to improve effectiveness, and abandoning ineffective efforts is critical. The ultimate goal is to modify the target population’s risk.