Driving Forces Behind Value-Based Care

The shift to value-based care was seemingly only a matter of time. As the industry continues to focus more on the patient and their overall health and well-being, there are a few drivers behind the recent push to this care model.

Colin Hung, chief marketing officer and editor of Healthcare Scene, told Inside Digital Health™ at Expo.Health in Boston, that there are two main reasons for the shift.

For one, economics.

He said a simple sentiment: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Because of the rise of digitization in healthcare and the hundreds of tools and technologies available, a lot of chronic conditions can be prevented. And studies and data show that preventing someone from getting diabetes or a heart condition is cheaper than if a patient had one of those conditions.

“And now that the paying bodies have realized this too, they’re saying, ‘Well we shouldn’t pay then for certain care, we’d rather pay for the prevention,” Hung said.

The shift results in a stronger focus on population health, rather than episodic treatment of care, he added.

The other big driving force behind value-based care is the patient and their point of view.

“I think finally we’re getting to where the patient’s perspectives are being respected and listened to,” he said.

Patients say that they don’t want to go to the hospital or to the doctor’s office and are willing to get treated in alternate facilities, like an urgent care clinic.

Before, people were stuck thinking they needed to go to the emergency room to be treated. But there are other modalities of care.

“And now I think because of the economic reasons and because of the patient’s needs, we’re now at a point where value-based care makes total sense,” Hung concluded.

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