Effective care for high-needs patients: Opportunities for improving outcomes, value, and health

Today, the top 1 percent of patients account for more than 20 percent of health care expenditures, and the top 5 percent account for nearly half of the nation’s spending on health care. Improving care management for this population while balancing quality and associated costs is at the forefront of national health care goals, and reaching this particular goal will require active involvement of a broad range of stakeholders at multiple levels. To advance insights and perspectives on how to better manage the care of this population and to stimulate actions on opportunities for improving outcomes and reducing the costs of health care, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), through its Leadership Consortium for a Value & Science-Driven Health System (the Leadership Consortium), in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), The Commonwealth Fund, and the Peterson Center on Healthcare—which funded this initiative—has undertaken a collaborative assessment on strategies for better serving high-need patients.