Progress of value-based care has stalled
67 percent of physicians and health plan executives say that the U.S. still has a fee-for-service system, and physicians don’t have the tools to succeed under a value-based care system.
There’s not much progress toward the adoption of value-based care, according to a new study from Quest Diagnostics.
The study “Stalled Progress on the Path to Value-Based Care” finds that not only do 67 percent of physicians and health plan executives say that the U.S. still has a fee-for-service system, but 57 percent of executives now say physicians don’t even have the tools to succeed under a value-based care system. That’s actually risen substantially from last year, when just 45 percent said so.
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In fact, last year 63 percent said we operate under a fee-for-service system, with just 29 percent saying it’s a value-based system, but in an indication of lost ground toward value-based, this year more respondents in both categories—67 percent—come down on the side of fee-for-service, while 27 percent choosing value-based.
Electronic health records apparently aren’t much help, with just 39 percent of physicians saying that EHRs give them all the information they need for patient care. And although 80 percent of health care execs say that investments in technology for quality initiatives have increased health care’s value for patients, only 68 percent of physicians agree.
In another disconnect between the two groups, 62 percent of health plan executives said there’s been progress toward alignment between payers and providers—but only 41 percent of physicians agreed with that assessment.
Technology is a big item, however, with more than 60 percent of all physicians and health plan executives agreeing that such systems bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, the SMART App Platform, FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and machine learning have the potential to improve value-based care. In addition, 64 percent of health plan executives said one advantage of blockchain in healthcare is that it can promote shared data across organizations to surmount interoperability.
However, there are differences of opinion on just how useful consumer-based strategies and investments in new technologies are, compared with existing technologies in making the switch to value-based care.
“While our study suggests the healthcare industry still has a long way to go to deliver value-based care, it reveals avenues to speed the journey,” L. Patrick James, M.D., chief clinical officer, health plans and policy, medical affairs, Quest Diagnostics, says.
James adds, “Measures that optimize EHRs, make data more accessible and insightful and reduce complexity of quality measurement are much needed steps to accelerate this transition. First, however, it’s clear that health plan executives and physicians need to better align around a shared vision of how technology and data can improve patient care.”