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The Demand Side: Consumer-Focused Strategies to Improve Health System Outcomes

This report reviews strategies that aim to improve value in health care by helping consumers and purchasers differentiate between high- and low-value services and by making consumers more cost-conscious shoppers for services and insurance coverage.

Policymakers and payers are increasingly interested in the potential for consumers and purchasers to improve health outcomes and control costs through their own health care decision-making. Strategies that focus on the “demand-side” include: value-based insurance design, wellness programs, high-deductible insurance plans, price transparency, and shared decision-making. These strategies aim to improve value in health care by helping consumers and purchasers differentiate between high- and low-value services, by making consumers more cost-conscious shoppers for services and insurance coverage, and by raising consumers’ awareness about the consequences of health behaviors.