Want an alternative approach to health insurance? DLA Piper recently held a seminar on a concept called V-BID, featuring Rep. Diane Black. Value-based insurance design, as it's called, is about lowering financial barriers to essential services. For instance, since diabetes causes eye problems, V-BID could make eye exams inexpensive or free for individuals with diabetes. The idea is to align incentives (eg, low cost) with the value of service.

"Clinical nuance" is a term that came up frequently. We snapped former Senate Majority Leader and DLA Piper senior policy advisor Tom Daschle, second from right, with CVS Caremark chief medical officer Dr. William Shrank, University of Michigan professor A. Mark Fendrick, and DLA Piper senior policy advisor Krista Drobac. Mark heads the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at Michigan.