ELVIS

Eliminating Low Value in Services

The Center’s ELVIS project focused on system-level levers across state purchasing arms (e.g., Medicaid, public employees, corrections, and other agencies) to develop payment approaches designed to dis-incent low value services, and to accelerate state efforts to increase value in their health systems. With grant funding from Arnold Ventures, the Center’s ELVIS team spent nine months engaging with our state partners and training their sights on opportunities to address low-value care.  

The Center’s ELVIS team sifted through evidence for high and low value care and drafted briefs summarizing this evidence for hospital, maternal and child health, prenatal care, and care coordination services. In addition, we assessed innovative payment models including bundled payments, capitated payments, cost growth targets, global payments and outcome incentives and disincentives, and created briefs to describe how and where the models have been used, results reported to date, and operational considerations for states. Links to these payment model briefs are included below.  

Our team also worked individually 5 states to identify a focus area and proposed payment model to address low-value care and analyzed the possible opportunity for cost savings if implemented. These 5 states completed a readiness assessment, and the Center team identified the workstreams and implementation steps that would be necessary for an implementation phase. These states leave the ELVIS planning phase with project concepts that are “shovel-ready” for executive and legislative review. 

ELVIS Payment Briefs