Value-based care (VBC) shifts the healthcare focus from volume to quality. This results in higher quality coordinated care for patients, smarter spending and healthier populations. It also benefits providers with increased efficiency, stronger cost control, less risk and better health outcomes, suppliers and society with reduced healthcare costs.
It is important for practices to implement value-based care models carefully and with the help of experts.
Better Patient Outcomes
Patients seek medical practices and hospitals with a reputation for better patient outcomes and satisfaction. This pressure may result from value-based care incentives from payers, such as Medicare or private insurers. Still, it could also be the direct result of informed patients choosing to avoid costly hospital admissions and visits to expensive clinics by opting for medical groups and providers with a track record of providing high-quality, coordinated care at a lower cost. Value-based care is an alternative to traditional fee-for-service reimbursement, and it promises healthier patients and a stronger connection between physicians and their clients. Whether through bundled payments, preventive care, or wellness programs, this new model of healthcare rewards providers for doing less while keeping costs low for their patients. But, the key to implementing this model is to develop effective measures that can be used to evaluate patient outcomes with the use of value based care software. It will allow practices to determine how well they meet their value-based goals and provide them with the necessary tools to improve further. Ultimately, this will lead to better patient outcomes and a happier, healthier clientele for your practice.
Better Patient Experience
Value-based care aims to improve patient experience at a lower cost. It’s a long-term concept that will keep healthcare costs down, produce better health outcomes, and ultimately improve patients’ overall health. Value-based care rewards medical practices for delving into underlying problems and solving them in ways that help prevent future issues from arising instead of just treating symptoms when they arise. It focuses on finding the most efficient way to treat each patient and enables physicians to reduce the required tests and procedures.
It also encourages healthcare organizations to provide patients with the necessary resources to be healthy, a vital step in improving healthcare. It allows physicians to create a more collaborative healthcare experience, allowing the whole team of doctors and nurses to work together to ensure each patient gets what they need. It is a powerful model that aligns the goals of all stakeholders involved in the healthcare system, including patients, providers, and payers. In addition, it can eliminate the disparity between what healthcare organizations spend and their performance.
Patient-Centric Care
Patient-centric care involves listening to patients, providing information about their treatment options and respecting their decisions. It also means considering their culture and values and directing them to social or mental health resources when needed. Patient-centric care is a vital component of quality healthcare and can help improve the patient experience, leading to better outcomes. Value-based care requires medical practices to document patient-facing data and metrics, such as visit reports and test results. These data-intensive processes can detract from clinicians’ most valuable resources: time and energy. Many value-based groups contract with narrow networks of specialists and hospitals. It can lead to a need for more choices for patients who are used to being able to go wherever they want for care. And it may encourage value-based groups to focus on cost rather than quality when choosing which physicians to include in their network.
Additionally, value-based groups can often be slow to adopt new drugs on their formularies or to update old ones for advanced diagnostics or procedures. It is sometimes done to save on costs and protect quarterly earnings, but it can also result in patients not receiving the most efficient care possible.
Affordable Care
The Affordable Care Act encourages medical practices to implement value-based care and improve patient outcomes. It also ensures that patients can purchase affordable health insurance through a marketplace where insurers can’t discriminate against people with preexisting conditions or set annual spending caps on essential health benefits. Medical practices that embrace the value-based care model can reduce costs by avoiding unnecessary tests or treatments. They can also reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions or emergency department visits that lead to higher prices by providing better care coordination and ensuring patients have a dedicated primary care physician who manages their care across all specialties.
The key to success in the value-based care model is effectively tracking the metrics required to measure quality and cost. It includes staffing data, patient acuity data, cost data, and performance metrics. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can help practices track and report this information. Medical procedures must also build strong relationships with referral partners, such as palliative care specialists, home health aides, and social workers. They can share patient data with these professionals to coordinate care and ensure patients receive the most effective treatment at the lowest cost.
Better Health Outcomes
The goal of value-based care is to link healthcare payments to health outcomes. It helps to change the financial incentives built into the current fee-for-service model, which skews toward over-delivering services that don’t yield better results. Value-based care aims to decrease the need for costly medical treatments and pharmaceuticals by promoting health and preventative screenings. It also encourages a more collaborative approach to care, involving patients in their healthcare. Getting involved in VBC is more than just a marketing strategy; it’s an opportunity to improve your patient’s health and your practice’s profitability. However, the process can be challenging for both physicians and patients.
Practices need to gather and report accurate data on patient outcomes. To do this, they must use an electronic health record (EHR) that can help them track and coordinate patient care. Chronic Care Management (CCM) programs are inherently VBC, which makes them a great option for your practice to take the next step toward improving patient outcomes and controlling costs. It’s a long-term approach, but taking strong steps in that direction can now pay off in healthier clients and more profitable practice.
