Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
August 1, 2007, Vol. 07-119

New Review of Consumer-Oriented Strategies for Improving Health Benefit Design is Available

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released an exploratory review of consumer directed health plans (CDHPs), tiered provider networks, and efforts to collect and disseminate information about provider quality. Increasingly, employers and health plans are experimenting with a set of consumer-driven strategies that are designed to empower consumers as knowledgeable decisionmakers regarding their health and their health care choices. The goals of the report were to provide a framework for assessing the likely effects of these three strategies and to review available published peer reviewed literature. The report was prepared by AHRQ's Stanford University-UCSF Evidence-based Practice Center. For more information, select to access Consumer-Oriented Strategies for Improving Health Benefit Design: An Overview at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/consoritp.htm. Print copies will be available in mid-August by sending an e-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.