eBook

Real-world examples of value-based healthcare transforming care delivery

Healthcare Transformers Insights
Published on August 9, 2022 | 5 min read
free-ebook-9

Key takeaways

  • Current healthcare systems are under tremendous pressure, and value-based healthcare (VBHC) may help improve outcomes and optimize resources
  • Implementing VBHC is a complex effort that needs a strategic framework because it requires the very fundamentals of how healthcare is delivered to be rethought.
  • Examples of successful VBHC models from around the world show that VBHC is already helping improve patient health outcomes and optimize healthcare system spending.

Wasteful spending on health and an unprecedented demographic shift contribute to unsustainable healthcare systems

Several challenges weigh heavily on healthcare systems today. Together, these are driving costs upward while not necessarily achieving expected patient outcomes. In the end, the risk is that healthcare systems become unsustainable. 

Enormous investments are being made in health, and yet these are not translating into fundamental improvements in health outcomes. In fact, in higher-income countries, greater healthcare spending does not seem to correlate with improved care or health outcomes at all. 1, 2

One factor contributing to this global contradiction is the high amount of wasteful spending on health. In 2017, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that at least one-fifth of healthcare spending could be channeled towards better use.3 Beyond this, many patients are unnecessarily harmed at the point of care, or receive unnecessary or low-value care that makes no difference to their health outcomes.4

On top of this is an unprecedented demographic shift occurring in higher income, typically Western countries.4 This is characterized by an aging population at high risk for an avalanche of chronic diseases in the next years and decades coupled with low birth rates below the replacement rate.

So, how can a health system sustain itself if its spending is not resulting in better outcomes, paying contributors become fewer, while the number of individuals with chronic conditions increases?

Mounting evidence demonstrates that value-based healthcare (VBHC) can help improve patient outcomes and optimize healthcare system spending

To help alleviate this potentially catastrophic situation, experts worldwide have been looking at VBHC. VBHC is a patient-centered approach to healthcare delivery focused on improving the health outcomes that matter most to patients across the entire cycle of care. Concurrently, this approach aims to optimize healthcare resources and costs. It does so through a shift in the reward system, incentivizing improvements in value rather than volume, thereby shifting the goal of healthcare from treating a condition to solving a patient’s needs.

While VBHC sounds promising, implementing VBHC is easier said than done. It requires the very fundamentals of how healthcare is delivered to be rethought. Resistance to this change is often found in the traditional siloed culture within healthcare organizations themselves. This must change: appropriateness of care must become central to value.5

This is why, at the moment, there are no single, national VBHC systems in place. However, there are many regional or local attempts at implementing value-based care within differing existing healthcare systems. Hundreds of private and public organizations across the world have begun to implement VBHC initiatives, on scales both large and small. These examples span a spectrum of countries and health systems, but these pioneers have shown that the tools required to successfully implement VBHC exist, and are available today.

Thanks to these individual programs from around the world, there is a growing body of evidence to support the idea that VBHC can help to improve patient health outcomes while at the same time optimizing healthcare system spending.

To learn more about concrete examples of local VBHC implementation around the world, we have put together an e-book entitled “9 real-world examples of value-based healthcare transforming care delivery”. This e-book aims to answer several questions regarding VBHC implementation, including:

  • What are the benefits of VBHC?
  • Does VBHC work in the real world?
  • What are some successful examples of VBHC initiatives?
  • What are the outcomes and lessons learned from these initiatives?
Two professionals collaborating.

9 real-world examples of value-based healthcare transforming care delivery

Email Icon

Get our latest insights

Join our community and stay up to date with the latest laboratory innovations and insights.

Subscribe now

Contributors

Healthcare Transformers Insights headshot

Healthcare Transformers Insights

Healthcare Transformers Insights are expert insights, opinions and strategies aimed at helping healthcare executives deliver improved patient care and financial value across the continuum of care.

Explore articles from our community

Join our community

Drive healthcare innovation with access to critical perspectives and exclusive events.

Healthcare Transformers delivers insights on the emerging trends shaping modern healthcare: digital health, patient experience, value-based care, and data security. Partnering with global experts and innovators, we tackle the industry's toughest challenges and explore actionable solutions.

Subscribe to our newsletter today to get invaluable perspectives delivered straight to your inbox.

References

  1. Tikkanen, R et al. (2020) The Commonwealth Fund. Issue brief available at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019 [Accessed May 2022]
  2. Nixon, J et al. (2006) The European Journal of Health Economics 7(1):7-18
  3. OECD. (2017) Tackling Wasteful Spending on Health. Report available at https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Tackling-Wasteful-Spending-on-Health-Highlights-revised.pdf [Accessed May 2022]
  4. Schurman, B (2022). Healthcare Transformers. Article available at https://healthcaretransformers.com/healthcare-business/aging-population-and-healthcare/ [Accessed May 2022]
  5. EIT Health. (2020) Implementing Value-Based Health Care in Europe: Handbook for Pioneers (Director: Gregory Katz). Report available at https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Implementing-Value-Based-Healthcare-In-Europe_web-4.pdf [Accessed May 2022]