RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Tuesday that he would like to see chartered value exchanges (CVEs) increase from 14 nationwide to 25 by January.

According to the HHS, a value exchange is a multi-stakeholder collaborative that has taken "clear action" to promote the use of healthcare IT and transparency in healthcare quality of care and pricing. CVEs are part of the Bush Administration's value-driven healthcare plan, embraced by hundreds of organizations nationwide.

At a town hall meeting organized by the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc.  and the WNC Health Network, Leavitt said CVEs will help organize the U.S. healthcare sector into a healthcare system.

"We need national standards, but local control," he added.

Leavitt put Medicare at the heart of America's healthcare woes, because other insurance companies pattern themselves after Medicare. Incentives based on volume, not value, are part of the problem, he said.

President Bush's value-driven healthcare plan, which began by executive order in August 2006, has four cornerstones: adoption of interoperable healthcare IT, the measurement of quality of care, price and care transparency and incentives based on performance.