IncentOne and Discern Consulting to establish standardized framework for health incentive programs

Sep 16 2009

IncentOne (http://www.incentone.com), the leading provider of incentive solutions to the healthcare industry, and Discern Consulting, a firm specializing in the development and implementation of provider pay-for-performance programs, have partnered to deliver "the science of health incentives". The collaboration will establish the standard framework for assessing the return-on-investment of health incentive programs. The results will support the integration of incentives for both consumers and providers into a single, synchronized system.

Both IncentOne and Discern bring critical capabilities to the collaboration. Discern's clients include national leaders in value-based purchasing and pay-for-performance, for whom Discern has supported program design, implementation, and ROI analysis. Discern's president Guy D'Andrea was previously a senior vice president at URAC, where he was responsible for developing the quality standards used in various accreditation programs. Mr. D'Andrea recently co-authored papers on health reform and value-based purchasing that appeared in Health Affairs and The American Journal of Managed Care.

IncentOne's programs have driven the achievement of over four million health milestones. IncentOne administers broad-based health incentive solutions for the most innovative health plans, health service companies, PBMs and employers. Through its Healthy Choice Award(TM) and Health Power(TM) platforms, IncentOne integrates with over 300 health data partners and has amassed millions of records of participation, behavior change and outcome data. IncentOne's business model and platform is not dependent on the use any specific incentive type. As a result, IncentOne administers all incentive types (premiums, value-based benefits, gift cards, debit cards) and provides an independent source of data of the effectiveness of these programs. IncentOne has also built an extensive data set of incentive programs administered by third parties.

"Data is crucial to analyzing and designing incentive programs. When Discern was searching for the right partner, it was looking for one with a robust data set and a platform that continued to collect data," says Mr. D' Andrea. "But equally important is that IncentOne's model supports a variety of value-based benefits and non-monetary incentives. This provides the flexibility to design a best-in-class system that integrates incentives for both consumers and providers."

"Health care experts recognize that proper incentives are crucial to improving health system performance, and many employers and health plans have implemented programs that align incentives with better health care and outcomes. The IncentOne/Discern model will be the first to combine incentives for both consumers and physicians into a single, synchronized system," says Michael Dermer, CEO and President at IncentOne. "We are excited to combine Discern's expertise with IncentOne's data and thought leading customers to deliver the science of health incentives."