What Do I Need To Know About Value-Based Care?
Value-Based Care (VBC) is a new strategy in healthcare, and it's rapidly replacing traditional models. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have been pushing this change, but why and for what benefit? What is the goal? What does this mean for small practices? In this article, we'll answer all of those questions and more.
Value-Based Care is the strategy of reimbursing medical practitioners based on patient outcomes, measured over time. This idea encourages doctors and nurses to practice preventative medicine to increase the quality of care measured on a number of factors. This includes the number of in person visits to the office, the number of readmissions to the hospital, and patient satisfaction scores. Metrics on patients are used to indicate whether they are remaining healthier, and has become more common as a part of insurance plans.
The goal of Value-Based Care is to improve patient outcomes while lowering costs. This strategy has already shown signs of success, with early adopters seeing reductions in hospital readmissions and improvements in quality measures. With fewer visits, hospitals spend less money and save the patient money as well. Telehealth is another measurable aspect of this quality of care and has been a recent requirement for some plans. The CMS and insurance providers see these metrics as positive indicators of treatment, reducing needed intervention and saving costs. Further legislation may further integrate these practices into Medicare.
Small practices are uniquely positioned to succeed under a value-based care model. They typically have close relationships with their patients, and can manage a large number of them without needing to hire extra staff. This flexibility allows small practices to be nimble and adapt quickly to changes in the healthcare landscape. They can also take advantage of technology like electronic health records (EHRs) and practice management software to help measure patient outcomes. This data is important for reimbursement, as insurance providers require reporting to provide this.
Improved pricing codes for telehealth and wellness visits have been added year over year, accelerated by needs presented during the recent pandemic. These allow providers of all sizes to improve their services by being reimbursed for previously uncharged preventative care or remote visits. These value-based care models will continue to grow and be refined as the years progress.
In short, value-based care is a new strategy in healthcare that's rapidly replacing traditional Fee For Service models. The goal is to improve patient outcomes while lowering costs, and small practices are uniquely positioned to succeed under this model. If you're not already doing so, take a look at some of the information provided at CMS.gov on current events.
How are you and your practice utilizing value based care practices? Let us know below!
