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Innovation &
Policy Design

Driving people-centered health care policy design centered on the needs of people and mapping the building blocks of the health care system.

We believe in the use of data, innovation and collaboration to create solutions that will truly address the needs of people.

We cultivate a new space for innovation and policy design that brings together a diverse set of stakeholders from everyday people, and the public, private, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. We gather and utilize data and research, highlight opportunities, collaborate and envision an improved national health care system centered on people’s needs and shared values.

We leverage our team’s unique expertise and understanding of the existing health care system with our vast network of influencers and partners in order to develop solutions and design criteria for policy changes that are informed by people, meet their needs and create a more equitable system.

The policies we focus on are fully aligned with our vision for the future of health care, which provides people with high-quality, personalized care that meets their unique needs at a price they can afford. In this improved, easy-to-navigate system, people will know they can depend on their health care coverage throughout life’s changes, and get the care they need, when and how they need it.

Actionable Health Care Solutions

The Policy Innovation Hub is a “playground” for policy innovation and design – a space to convene a diverse set of stakeholders to review evidence, highlight opportunities, explore collaborations and envision new national and state-based health care policies. Our goal is to convert different points of view, innovative ideas, existing research, and best practices into actionable health care solutions that meet people’s needs.

This critical work includes:

  • Apply an equity lens to our policy solution creation to ensure we are addressing both shared and diverse needs of people
  • Convening stakeholders including: business leaders, entrepreneurs, advocates, researchers, policymakers and regular people from our Voices of Real Life by creating a new collaborative environment that promotes different thinking, start-up mentality and innovation in policy design
  • Engaging everyday people to be a part of the solution creation and design process of envisioning people-centered health care policies
  • Developing durable policies, better systemic outcomes, and innovative solutions that create improvements, disrupt partisan silos, and lead to changing the health care system
  • Building strong partnerships, starting new conversations, and activating spheres of influence by bringing diverse sets of parties to participate in the design process
  • Gathering data, building a library of resources, and evaluating latest trends, research, and public opinion polls to be used as tools for validation and testing

The Building Blocks of Health Reform

This initiative serves as a research arm to gather evidence and provide expert understanding of the existing health care system.

Building Blocks is informed by our research and listening work to identify the parts of the health care system that are and are not serving people. We are mapping key areas of the current health care system to understand the levers and cogs that require adjustment to achieve better outcomes. We maintain a deep understanding and base of evidence regarding the components of our existing health care system to inform decision making, and identify priorities.

Wooden block cubes

About the Building Blocks Initiative

Liz Fowler, Director of CMS Innovation Center at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, discusses the building blocks of health reform and how we can identify elements of health care reform which are working as well as those elements which need further research.

Our Current Priorities

Our nation’s elected leaders face monumental challenges in improving our health care system. We prioritize improvements that will build the health care system people want.

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

COVID-19 is shining a light on historical inequities in our care system and the underlying disparity and access issues, especially for the most vulnerable. Our team continues to provide real-time resources for federal and state leaders responding to the pandemic.

Health Care Costs

USofCare is working to make sure that people across the country have certainty they can afford their health care. People want to know that they can afford the care they receive and that they won’t have to choose between their health and potential bankruptcy.

Public Option

Getting the health coverage that people need has become too expensive for too many Americans. A public health insurance option, often called a “public option” is an emerging solution that would create a high quality, dependable, more affordable option for health insurance.

Dependable Coverage

Through our listening work and public opinion surveys, we know that people want the certainty they can afford their health care and the security and freedom that dependable health care coverage provides as life changes.

Mental Health

Though demand for mental health care continues to grow, the American mental health care delivery system is underprepared for response. USofCare is working to make sure that people across the country can access the mental health care they need, when they need it.

Virtual Care

With a focus on improving implementation of virtual care to increase access to care, we will achieve our goals that people can get the personalized care they need, when and how they need it.

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