Confronted with unsustainable costs and millions of uninsured, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. This is likely the first of many steps intended to reshape the U.S. healthcare system. While virtually all stakeholders agree with the overall objective of healthcare reform — achieving better health outcomes at lower cost — there are many different views regarding how best to achieve it.

One point of agreement is that the way we pay for healthcare today isn’t aligned with the objectives of better health outcomes at lower cost! This dynamic puts pressure on healthcare organizations to rethink their business models and challenge fundamental assumptions about their customers, their products and services, and their prices. In this environment the concept of “bundled” pricing has enormous potential as a mechanism for differentiation in an increasingly commoditized and price sensitive market.