Blog Post | March | 2020

Healthcare Value Hub Celebrates 5 Years!

Five years ago – on March 27, 2015 – the Healthcare Value Hub opened its doors. The goal was ambitious – to support consumer advocates in adding value-related topics to their already-packed health policy agendas, and do so in a new way.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has a history of supporting advocates as part of its philanthropic mission. In 2015, consumer advocates across the country already had long track record of working on coverage issues at the state and federal levels and played a critical role in the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The RWJF’s vision was to support these advocates in improving the broader context in which people experience the healthcare system by lowering healthcare prices, improving affordability, and creating more equitable health outcomes.

The vision also included a new model of advocacy support: free assistance to all advocates—regardless of whether or not they were a current RWJF grantee—as well as other industry stakeholders who were trying to build a patient-centered healthcare system. Moreover, this work must be firmly rooted in the evidence with respect to what has worked and what hasn’t. The tagline we adopted is “We read Health Affairs so you don’t have to!” (Sorry Health Affairs!)

We’re immensely proud of all that we’ve accomplished since our 2015 launch. Among other things:

• We’ve worked with advocates in 37 states, many of which we’ve traveled to multiple times, and have provided multiple forms of technical assistance. (We HAVEN’T traveled to Hawaii and Alaska, but are eagerly awaiting our invitation.)
• We’ve produced more than 150 products to support our mission, including:
  • 58 issues of our free e-newsletter Research Roundup;
  • 46 free webinars;
  • 40 Research Briefs, summarizing the evidence around timely policy topics;
  • 16 Easy Explainers, short treatments suitable for a lay-person audience; and
  • Numerous infographics to illuminate key concepts.

Our evidence reviews have helped advance policies that work and discouraged the use of strategies that are not evidence-based.

Additionally, we strive to answer big-picture questions, such as “How do we get to a high-value, patient-centered healthcare system?” and “What policies are needed to make healthcare more affordable?” It is well established that there is no silver bullet when it comes to making the healthcare system work better for the patients it serves. To cut through the complexity, we’ve organized individual strategies into comprehensive roadmaps tailored to specific goals that advocates and policymakers might have.

We’ve also armed advocates and others with tools to help galvanize action in their state. State-specific resources include:

• Our Consumer Health Experience Health State Survey (CHESS), a unique survey instrument that produces state-level estimates of consumers’ experiences pertaining to a wide variety of healthcare topics. A total of 62 data briefs have been created using this survey.
• The Healthcare Affordability State Policy Scorecard, a tool that identifies states’ strengths and weaknesses with respect to affordability policies and outcomes.

We’ve done a lot of work over the past five years, and have had great fun while doing it! In addition to our other products, our talented staff (including our beloved, former research assistants) have created healthcare value game shows, quizzes and a board game to boot! These products and more can be found on the Healthcare Value Hub’s award winning website.

We are grateful to the RWJF for their innovative vision and continued support.

Here’s to the next five years!