What if you could pay for healthcare based on the results of your treatment? With value-based healthcare, providers, physicians, and even facilities like hospitals are rewarded for the quality of care they deliver and the outcome of the treatment for the patient. In turn, patients see improvements in their health, reduced effects or incidence of chronic illnesses, and live overall healthy lives from this kind of care.
To explain the benefits of value-based healthcare in a little more detail, here are a few examples of how this healthcare trend is improving the lives of patients, providers, and the country as a whole.
Reduced Cost and Better Health
Value-based care helps patients avoid and manage chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer. By assisting patients with the prevention and management of these conditions, patients are able to spend less on doctor visits, continuous treatment, and medications related to these diseases. And those that already suffer from chronic conditions have seen faster recovery times and improved long-term health.
Improved Efficiency
Under value-based healthcare, doctors can spend less time treating chronic illnesses and spend more time on prevention services for patients. This focus on prevention and quality of care, instead of quantity of care may increase overall patient satisfaction, while financially benefitting the provider with improved efficiency per visit.
Societal Impact
In theory, by reducing the number of people who are suffering or will suffer from a chronic illness, Americans and insurance providers will spend less on medical emergencies and expensive hospital visits. And in a country where 18% of its Gross Domestic Product is spent on healthcare expenditures, the reduction of payment and cost can go towards other areas of society to improve other areas of life.
Though, the transition from fee-based to value-based care won’t be the smoothest, with short-term financial hits potentially occurring before overall costs decline, the improvements to patient’s quality of life and the quality of care they receive will yield benefits larger than any financial loss or gain.