Risk adjustment conference: Key messages

As explored in a recent Nuffield Trust publication: Predictive risk and health care: an overview, risk adjustment techniques are increasingly being used by the health care systems of many developed countries, including in the NHS in England where they have recently started to be used to set budgets for GP practices and will come to be used by clinical commissioning groups.

Without adequate risk adjustment, health care providers may select patients based on their profitability

Speakers at the Nuffield Trust conference in June included a number of world experts in this field from the United States, the UK and continental Europe. The conference began with an overview of current risk adjustment methods and uses. This was followed by sessions on the new Person-based Resource Allocation (PBRA) formula being used to set commissioning budgets in England.

Current controversies in the field were also discussed, along with international perspectives on applying risk adjustment in practice.

We recorded video interviews with a selection of the keynote speakers from the conference, including Professor Wynand van de Ven from Erasmus University Rotterdam; Professor Ian Duncan from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Founder of Solucia Consulting; and Dr Dirk Göpffarth of the German Federal Social Insurance Office.

To watch the video interviews and access other highlights from the conference, use the arrow buttons on the 'Talks' block in the right hand column to scroll through the interviews and slideshow content.