The rabid expansion of value-based care has left many health-care professionals feeling a bit like an engineer who is designing an airplane while flying it.

"In the last decade, value-based care has grown from almost nothing to an undeniably significant aspect of our health system," said Clif Gaus, president and CEO of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations. "Today, for example, accountable care organizations are 20% of Medicare alone."

The association teamed up with America's Health Insurance Plans and the American Medical Association to develop a playbook on voluntary best practices as part of their efforts to advance adoption of value-based care arrangements in the private sector. Leaders of the three organizations introduced the playbook, Creating a Sustainable Future for Value-Based Care: A Playbook of Voluntary Practices for VBC Payment, during the NAACO spring conference.