9. Conclusion: Value-Based Health Care

MODULE 1 | Section 9 of 9

Conclusion: Value-Based Health Care

MODULE 1 SUMMARY

The previous exercise helped identify areas of variation in costs, which is one important component of value. However, remember that the KEY focus of this course is providing the best care possible. We must primarily focus on patient outcomes and the quality of care that we provide. While tools like the VDO calculator can identify areas of variation and opportunity, this is only hypothesis-generating–we must now put these results in context of patient outcomes and experience. The next module will introduce some of the critical definitions and lessons for identifying measures that truly matter for patients.

This module discussed the many current gaps in our ability to provide health care value for our patients. We considered opportunities to improve patient safety, experience, and costs for individual patients, as well as how to look at broader sets of data from institutions to identify opportunities. This is just the start of our journey together to understand value-based health care for patients.

PODCAST

Story from the Frontlines: Uncertainty and Challenges of Being an Informed Patient

Listen to Erin Bredenburg, M.D., discuss her experience as a patient in a health care system that could benefit from increased meaningful conversations between doctors and their patients.

“A provider who takes the time to fully explain the benefits and drawbacks of testing is likely to find that patients are much less desirous of exhaustive testing than they originally seem.”

Erin Bredenburg, M.D.

MODULE 1 SECTION SUMMARIES

Health care in the U.S. is currently fraught with fragmentation, inefficiency, unexplained variation, and waste that adversely affect patients.

Value-based Health care means maximizing outcomes for patients while balancing costs. We must provide value to patients by focusing on patient outcomes.

Up to one-third of health care delivered today is considered “waste,” as it does not improve health for patients. To improve, we must first understand shortfalls, recognize waste, and learn new methods of care delivery.

There are multiple contributors to health care waste. The biggest contributor, overuse of health care, causes harm for individual patients and populations.

To improve health care value, we must focus primarily on outcomes that matter to patients. Key components of value-based health care delivery are teams organized around a patient panel, condition, or circumstance, who are committed to measuring and improving outcomes.

The University of Utah Health Care system provides an inspiring example of a health system committed to measuring and improving value for patients.

Understanding data that shows cost, variance, and outcomes from various perspectives can help identify areas for improvement.

Learn More

BOOK

Understanding Value-Based Health Care

This book is a great primer to value in a health care context and details the core issues involved in maximizing the efficacy and outcomes of medical care when cost is a factor in the decision-making process.

Moriates C, Arora V, Shah N.
Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education; 2015.
If your medical library subscribes to AccessMedicine, you can access the book for free here:
http://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookid=1371

BOOK

Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-based Competition on Results

This book describes competition in the health care delivery system and how it must be changed to deliver lasting benefits for all players in the health care system.

Porter ME, Teisberg EO.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review Press; 2006.

VIDEO

How do we Heal Medicine?

This twenty minute video by New York Times bestselling author and surgeon Atul Gawande describes how our medical system is broken and discusses costs in the context of changes needed for improved patient care and outcomes.

Atul Gawande.
TED Talk. Filmed March 12 2012.