Health plans and insurers, who have endured the brunt of criticism for soaring healthcare costs, are bracing for change as the nation moves toward reform.

At America’s Health Insurance Plans Institute 2010, being held this week in Las Vegas, hundreds of health insurance executives are trading ideas about how best to move from an episodic-based care delivery system to one that provides better value for the healthcare buck. Ideas like patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations and value-based insurance design are just some of the popular themes for discussion in the Caesar’s Palace Convention Center.

“Everyone is anxious,” said J. Christian Kryder, chief executive officer of Waltham, Mass.-based Verisk Health, who sees data-mining technology as the cornerstone to improved quality. “Some payers are embracing change, some are going out and sponsoring patient-centered medical homes, and some are in denial.”

AHIP 2010 kicked off Wednesday with a series of workshops touching on subjects like ICD-10, consumer-focused health plan design and managing molecular diagnostics. Other workshops scheduled today and Friday will focus on topics such as provider-payer collaboration, population health, wellness initiatives and retail and employer site clinics.

Executives here say health plans and insurers need to be prepared for big changes, ranging from better communication with both physicians and patients to more emphasis on telehealth, preventive care and wellness programs.  

Gail Knopf, vice president of enterprise strategy for Newport Beach, Calif.-based TriZetto, and Chris Stidman, senior vice president of care provider solutions for Golden Valley, Minn.-based OptumHealth Care Solutions, both pointed out that many health plans are being urged forward for employers who want to find better ways to manage the healthcare of their workers.

Thursday’s opening general session, “A Way Forward: Next Steps for America’s Health Care System,” will be led by Harvard University’s David Cutler, former U.S. Sen. William H. Frist and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. The lunch keynote speech, “Embracing Our Common Humanity,” will be given by former President William Clinton.

Friday’s general sessions will be led by David Gergen, professor of public service at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University, as well as former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich, the Brookings Institution’s Alice M. Rivlin and David M. Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. And David Kessler, of the University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine, will close the conference with a discussion on “Advancing the National Conversation Around Prevention and Wellness.”