The Future Of Value-Based Payment — Time To Reexamine And Refocus Our Efforts

Great strides have been made over the years in the care of Medicare beneficiaries by focusing on and implementing quality performance measurement and hospital value-based payment systems. However, the laws and regulations that drive these efforts have not been revisited since their inception, and it is time for reexamination. Changes and adjustments should be made to ensure that the programs continue to advance better and more efficient care across the health care delivery system. Examining The Goals Of Value-Based Payment There remains a broad-based understanding that quality improvement, transparency, and accountability are now accepted across the spectrum of health care stakeholders and that tying the three to payment is an established objective of both the public and private sectors. But value-based programs cannot remain static and still drive quality improvement. So how does Medicare learn from the current programs to remain focused on improving patient care while maintaining relevance for clinicians and hospitals that are ever-improving their metrics and health care delivery? These issues were discussed at a recent Health Affairs forum entitled “Securing the Future of Value-Based Payment.” The event built on the growing evidence that our current efforts aren’t working as designed, a topic of much debate across the quality/performance measurement communities. For example, value-based payment advocate, Ashish Jha, director of Harvard Global Health Institute, recent...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Medicare Payment Policy Quality meaningful reporting value payment value-based payment Source Type: blogs